Confession and Catherine

Giovanni di Paolo’s The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Siena

Saint Catherine of Siena. Dominican. Mystic. Doctor of the Church. In her masterpiece, The Dialogue of Divine Providence, we read a beautiful description of the Sacrament of Penance, given to her by Christ Himself:

This is the Divine charity provided in the Sacrament of Holy Confession, the soul receiving the Baptism of Blood, with contrition of heart, confessing, when able to My ministers, who hold the keys of the Blood, sprinkling It, in absolution, upon the face of the soul.