A Modern Day Comparison of St Catherine of Siena
A Modern day contemporary Christian who shares the same qualities as St Catherine of Siena is Nelson Mandela. It is doubtful whether St Catherine would have been born; she was the youngest of a family of twenty-five children. Yet she was to become the most powerful women of the fourteenth century, in fact one of the most powerful women of any century. Nelson Mandela was also an extremely powerful and influential public figure. He participated in the eradication of apartheid and in 1994 and became the first black president of South Africa, but of course like St Catherine of Siena while fighting and persisting with the determination to achieve their goals they were both equally faced with challenging obstacles that were not easily overcome. St Catherine chose to be faced with the task to establishing peace and to reunite the Italian city-states, Florence and Rome. She went to Avignon, France where the Pope Gregory XI was situated in order to tell the pope herself, although she failed to make peace with Florence. St Catherine tried to settle the dispute between Rome and Florence but aroused such anger in her opponents they threatened her life. Although Because of her determination and respect everyone had for this holy lady she finally established peace between Florence and Rome and reunite the Italian city-states. Like St Catherine of Siena, although their situations and circumstances were quite different Nelson Mandela was faced with the brutal reality of a racially divided South Africa and believed that he could make a difference and reunite the divided country just as St Catherine had achieve with the Italian city-states Rome and Florence. Mandela wasted no time to put his plans into action. He began attending meetings of the African national congress and organisation that aimed to establish a democratic government. By the end of 1952 Mandela had become such a thorn in the government’s side that they decided that he had to be silenced and he was served with a banning order, this severely restricted his freedom of speech and movement, he was not permitted to attend public meetings or to speak to more than one person at a time. June 12th 1964 at age 45 he was convicted with 7 others of conspiracy to over throw the government and they were sentenced to life in prison. February 11th 1990 after nearly 30 years Nelson Mandela was released from prison at the age 71. In Cape Town more than 500,000 supporters, black, white young and old gathered at the central square to hear him speak for the first time in nearly three decades. Just three months after his release Mandela was asked to lead the official African congruent, after three days the two sides committed themselves to peaceful change. He realised early on in order to create a unified non-racial South Africa it had to be done in a way that was totally devoid of bitterness; he couldn't be seen to be bitter he had to be bigger than it all.
Ultimately I believe that Nelson Mandela possesses the same qualities in the modern world as St Catherine of Siena possessed in her time which was the fourteenth century. The issues they faced were similar, both striving to re-unite and re-connect broken civilizations, they both saw an issue that they believed needed strong attention and so they went out into the world and strived to make a difference. Although they were constantly faced with obstacles and were faced with rejection and the feel of failure; St Catherine of Siena and Nelson Mandela both neglected to take no for an answer and persisted to complete their endeavours, the fear of failure was no barrier for them. Due to their determination and respect everyone had for St Catherine and Nelson Mandela, finally St Catherine established peace between Florence and Rome and reunite the Italian city-states, St Catherine also managed to bring the papacy of Pope Gregory XI back to Rome from its displacement in France. Nelson Mandela became the first black prime minister of Africa and became the face of the antiapartheid movement both within his country and internationally. Additionally these extremely influential, powerful people share the same qualities as their choice to see an issue that they believed needed attention reflected their hopes to do something about it. Nelson Mandela once said "It always seems impossible until it is done".
Click here to listen to a prayer written by St Catherine of Siena https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLDdGFhmPbo
Click here to watch a snippet of the life of Nelson Mandela