5.26 St. Catherine of Siena: Mother of a Thousand Souls
By Dr. James Papandrea ( bio - articles - email ) | Jan 14, 2026 | In Way of the Fathers (Podcast)
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St. Catherine of Siena (1347—1380) was a “third order” Dominican, spiritual advisor, and a mystic, but also a nurse, and a kind of free-lance politician. She wrote letters of advice (and criticism) to cardinals, bishops, and royalty. She negotiated peace (or tried to) between warring city states, and—like St. Hildegard before her—she had permission to preach and teach. Her “disciples” and spiritual advisees included women and men, laity and clergy.
Links
The letters of St. Catherine online: http://www.domcentral.org/trad/cathletters.htm
Dr. Papandrea’s Homepage: https://jimpapandrea.wordpress.com/
Dr. Papandrea’s latest book is The Original Church: What it Meant—and Still Means—to Be a Christian: https://scepterpublishers.org/products/the-original-church-what-it-meant-and-still-means-to-be-a-christian
Dr. Papandrea’s YouTube channel, The Original Church: https://www.youtube.com/@TheOriginalChurch
Theme Music: Gaudeamus (Introit for the Feast of All Saints), sung by Jeff Ostrowski. Courtesy of Corpus Christi Watershed: https://www.ccwatershed.org
Dr. James Papandrea is a senior fellow of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology and a Catholic member of the faculty at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. A theological consultant for EWTN’s series The Heresies, he is also the writer and presenter for The Original Church series on YouTube. See full bio.
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