Today is the Feast Day of Saint Catherine of Siena. She was a Dominican nun best known for her extraordinary piety and for her stigmata, wounds she received for her adoration of the cross.

St. Catherine of Siena is the patron saint of Europe, firefighters, fire prevention, bodily ills, illness, miscarriages, nurses, Italy, people ridiculed for their piety, against sexual temptation and sick people. Her patronage of firefighters has an interesting history: During her ecstasies, St. Catherine, at times fell into fires, so transported was she from her surroundings; however, her skin and clothes remained untouched by the flames.

Dear St. Catherine of Siena, pray for us.