Hey Everybody, it's Bishop Barron I am so excited to be able to tell you about this
marvelous book, Saint Catherine of Siena: Mystic of Fire, Preacher of Freedom
It's the first book published by our Word on Fire Institute, and it's by one of our great Word on Fire fellows, Fr. Paul Murray
Dominican friar teaches spirituality at the angelicum in Rome
Well, let me tell you first a little bit about Fr. Paul then just a bit about St. Catherine
It's been a privilege of mine to have been a friend of Paul Murray now for about 20 years
We first met when he was a visiting scholar at Mundelein seminary
we hit it off right away and
father Paul comes to the States usually every summer and we get together and
Then I go to Rome fairly frequently and every time I go to Rome
I make a point of having dinner with Fr Paul and they are some of my favorite memories of my time in Rome
Maybe you know, the Romans have this weird uncivilized custom of not eating till about 8 o'clock in the evening
But Paul and I will meet
somewhere in Rome and
We sit down and then we just talk for
Three hours, four hours. He's one of the most sparkling
Conversationalist in the Catholic Church, I think. We talk philosophy theology culture. We laugh all the time
He'll describe what he's working on. I'll talk about what I'm working on
Well, as I was reading this book, I thought boy it just reminds me of so many conversations
he and I had in Rome because he was going through the process of producing this book and
What it does is as you read it is it it gives the impression of you're sitting across the table from this
marvelous figure as he talks about
St. Catherine
You know, she's one of our pivotal players. So I did that 12 part series on great figures and Catherine was one of them
What a fascinating figure 14th century Saint mystic
an unlettered uneducated woman no official status, but gathered round her a
Community that was so impressed by her own
spiritual power by the the sheer force of her personality
That she became first in a regional sense, but then really in an international sense a major player in the Catholic Church
Famously telling the Pope himself to get from Avignon back to Rome and and he listened to her
Well Fr Paul tells some of the story here of Catherine, but he really delves into her thought and you know
those marvelous dialogues that she
dictated her her real conversations with the Lord
Two themes he brings out really powerfully. One is
The relationship between Saint Catherine and Pico della Mirandola
Maybe not a household name, but they should be a man who died very young in the medici circle. He would have known the young
Michelangelo, he was a friend of Savonarola the great Dominican preacher
But Pico was also one of the most influential intellectual figures in the development of the Italian Renaissance
Well father Paul looks at his whole idea of freedom and argues. I think quite persuasively that he was influenced by
St. Catherine of Siena's
understanding of freedom
But a section of the book that I think is worth the price of admission is the section on Catherine of Siena and Carl Jung
the 20th century psychologist who famously
Speculates about what he calls the shadow, you know the unkind of underdeveloped largely unconscious side of the of the psyche
Well father Paul shows again. I think quite persuasively that something like
this idea is
anticipated in Catherine of Siena
Anyway, it just gives you a little hint of what's going on here. It's a serious book
well researched lots of footnotes
So I mean scholars will find it interesting but it's got the father Paul Murray mark of deep scholarship
That's at the same time never ponderous. It's always inviting to read
It's an uplifting book. So I get I guess you have the impression that I rather liked this book
So get it buy it maybe buy some copies for your kids for your grandchildren. Maybe someone that's been
Alienated from the church or wandered away. This might be good way to kind of draw them back. So really proud of it.
Saint Catherine of Siena: Mystic of Fire, Preacher of Freedom
First book published by the Word on Fire Institute and God bless you