In our present liturgical calendar, the feasts of Sts Louis Grignon Mary de Montfort, Catherine of Siena, and Pope Pius V fall one after the other. Together these saints provide a rich commentary on the particular devotion to our Blessed Lady that should flourish among Dominicans. De Montfort's True Devotion and Pius V's "Help of Christians" are well known. However, Catherine's Mariology requires probing. There follows some samples of her devotion to Mary. Since Catherine of Siena's Letters uncommonly reveal the personal qualities and spiritual characteristics that distinguish this unique sister in the Order of St Dominic, we can use Catherine's collected Letters as a means to learn about how Catherine considered Mary's place in our spiritual lives. Recall that Catherine begins each letter by invoking her "sweet Jesus" and his "most sweet mother Mary."

Above all, Mary appears as the sweet mother of Catherine's beloved Jesus: "his sweet mother, Mary." "The Eternal Son was wounded in his body and so," Catherine maintains, "his Mother, for that bodily flesh was from her." The Word took flesh of the Virgin Mary, born of the womb of the Virgin. Catherine describes the Incarnation "like seed taking root in the field that is Mary: "O happy and sweet Mary: you have given us the flower of sweet Jesus." Catherine tells a correspondent: "Truly, truly, in this blessed and sweet field of Mary, the Word was inserted into his flesh. Like the grain of his Word in the field of Mary." "Consider, consider," she begs the Queen of Naples, "the ineffable love of God and the sweetness of the delicious fruit of an immaculate heart...that was in Mary." Catherine finds joy on Mary's days. She tells us that she prayed "with Mary and St Catherine [of Alexandria]" while awaiting the execution of a Sienese political prisoner, and then openly cried out "Maria" as a sign that she dearly wanted his conversion. And she received it, for, with his last words, he replied "Jesus, Catherine."

Catherine's teaching on Our Lady insists that the mother of her sweet Jesus is also our most sweet mother. And Catherine makes this point again and again. To Lady Paula of Fiesole, Catherine says that Mary works only for the honor of God and the salvation of souls. To Dona Lapa, her natural mother: "Stay close to the most sweet mother Mary, for she knows the sufferings of discipleship. If you would have asked the apostles, ‘why are you so happy with Mary?' They would have responded ‘Because we have denied ourselves and are now dedicated of the honor of God and of the salvation of souls.'" Again, the apostles, says Catherine, stay close to Mary for the development of their faith.

Catherine goes on to urge all sorts of people to remain united with Mary. To a married woman of Lucca: "In great tribulations stay close to Mary, who loves without measure." To the Prior and the Brother of the Company of the Virgin Mary: No one wants to be deprived of the affection of Mary. Practical advice to a Sienese burger and his sons, "Keep Saturdays for Mary!" To a recently widowed woman, whom she wished to comfort: "Take communion on feasts of Mary." To a prostitute, whom she wished to console: "Run to Mary! For she is the mother of mercy and compassion." Catherine tells soldiers who, during a period of open hostility to the papacy, remain loyal to the Pope that Mary will strengthen and protect them in battle. And Catherine, of course, does not fail to tell the Pope himself, Urban VI, how happy she is that the most sweet Mother Mary and sweet St Peter (after all, he was the Pope!) will protect him.

But Catherine's Mariology manifests itself most clearly when she writes to her counselor and guide, the Dominican friar Raymond of Capua. Indeed, Raymond is the son given to her by the Virgin Mary. Later after he becomes Master of the Order, she declares that "As a father and son (Raymond) was given to her by the sweet Mother Mary." She counsels Raymond: "Do not put the end, the finis, of your life in anything other than to delight and to repose in the cross with Christ crucified. When you act like this, you will be a son of Mary and a spouse of the eternal word." Again, she insists in a Dominican way, "Remember the doctrine of Mary and of the sweet and first Truth." "Maintain self-knowledge and the offering of humility and of continual prayer." When Raymond is troubled, she comforts him: "Have confidence that the Virgin Mary will fulfill my desire for you." "In periods of spiritual turbulence," says Catherine, "keep to the little boat of divine mercy that Mary obtains in her embrace of the cross." She further counsels Raymond straightforwardly to tell the Pope that he should find his strength in Mary and before the holy cross "with most devout and humble prayer, with a candid knowledge of self, with an alive faith and the will to suffer."

Today, Catherine tells the members of her Dominican family and communion that devotion to Mary and union with Jesus, the Eternal Wisdom of the Father form the heart of their life and apostolate. For the spiritual heirs of Catherine as well as for all Christains, her most clear and unequivocal teaching insists that Christians, and especially Dominicans, should invoke the most sweet and holy name of Mary. They should do this in every circumstance, especially stressful ones, and with great love. Her own Letters witness to her practice of this golden rule of the spiritual life, for Catherine never utters a word-any word-to anyone with out first saying, Sweet Jesus, Jesus Love, most Sweet Mother Mary