Life and Accomplishments

St. Catherine of Siena was always willing to aid in troubled times to the best of her abilities. When the Black Plague swept across Europe in the Middle Ages, Catherine worked tirelessly to get to every dying person, and, in their final minutes, worked to relieve their suffering. She would try to convert them so that they may go to Heaven. One priest she had known from early childhood wrote, "Never did she appear more admirable than at this time. She was always with the plague-stricken; she prepared them for death and buried them with her own hands. I myself witnessed the joy with which she nursed them and the wonderful efficacy of her words, which brought about many conversions." (ewtn.com). Another adventure St. Catherine embarked upon was when she went to Pisa in 1375. St. Catherine was sent by the Florentines to meditate with the pope, and Catherine, always eager for peace, set out. However, when she got there, she was told that no one had invited her, proving Florentine's untrustworthiness. Although, now that she and the pope were face to face, she managed to urge him strongly to do what she had been telling him to do in letters for years; to return to Rome with his court. Even after the Pope fulfilled his promise, she kept sending letters probing peace between the papacy and city governors. She finally got this request fulfilled, although it was his successor who finally established it.