Dialog of Catherine of Siena

1 CONTENTS 2 INTRODUCTION 3 How a soul, elevated by desire of the honor of God, and of the salvation 4 How finite works are not sufficient for punishment or recompense without 5 How desire and contrition of heart satisfies, both for the guilt and the 6 How every virtue and every defect is obtained by means of our neighbor. 7 How virtues are accomplished by means of our neighbor, and how it is that 8 How virtues are proved and fortified by their contraries. 9 How the affection should not place reliance chiefly on penance, but rather 10 A parable showing how love, humility, and discretion are united; and how 11 How penance and other corporal exercises are to be taken as instruments 12 How this soul grew by means of the divine response, and how her sorrows 13 How God grieves over the Christian people, and particularly over His 14 How sin is more gravely punished after the Passion of Christ than before; 15 How God induces the soul to look at the greatness of this Bridge, inasmuch 16 How this Bridge has three steps, which signify the three states of the 17 How this Bridge is built of stones which signify virtues; and how on the 18 How this Bridge, having reached to Heaven on the day of the Ascension, did 19 How this soul wondering at the mercy of God, relates many gifts and graces 20 Of the baseness of those who pass by the river under the Bridge; and how 21 How the fruit of others is avarice; and of the evils that proceed from it. 22 How through these and through other defects, one falls into false 23 Of the words that Christ said: "I will send the Holy Spirit, who will 24 Of the second reproof of injustice, and of false judgment, in general and 25 Of the four principal torments of the damned, from which follow all the 26 Of the third reproof which is made on the Day of Judgment. 27 Of the glory of the Blessed. 28 How, after the General Judgment, the pain of the damned will increase. 29 Of the use of temptations, and how every soul in her extremity sees her 30 How the Devil gets hold of souls, under pretense of some good: and, how 31 How, the world having germinated thorns, who those are whom they do not 32 How the three steps figured in the Bridge, that is, in the Son of GOD, 33 An exposition on Christ's words: "Whosoever thirsts, let him come to Me 34 The general method by which every rational creature can come out of the 35 How servile fear is not sufficient, without the love of virtue, to give 36 Of the imperfection of those who love GOD for their own profit, delight, 37 Of the way in which GOD manifests Himself to the soul who loves Him. 38 Why Christ did not say "I will manifest My Father," but "I will manifest 39 How the soul, after having mounted the first step of the Bridge, should 40 How an imperfect lover of GOD loves his neighbor also imperfectly, and of 41 Here, touching something concerning the Sacrament of the Body of Christ, 42 Of the method by which the soul separates herself from imperfect love, and 43 Of the signs by which the soul knows she has arrived at perfect love. 44 How they who are imperfect desire to follow the Father alone, but they who 45 How even the devils render glory and praise to GOD. 46 How the soul, after she has passed through this life, sees fully the 47 How the soul who finds herself in the unitive state desires infinitely to 48 How they, who are arrived at the aforesaid unitive state, have the eye of 49 How this devout soul seeks knowledge from God concerning the state and 50 Of the difference of these tears, arising from the explanation of the 51 How the four stages of the soul, to which belong the five aforesaid states 52 Of the fruit of worldly men's tears. 53 How this devout soul, thanking God for His explanation of the 54 How the light of reason is necessary to every soul that wishes to serve 55 Of those who have placed their desire rather in the mortification of the 56 Of the third and most perfect state, and of reason, and of the works done 57 In what way they, who stand in the above-mentioned third most perfect 58 How this soul, rendering thanks to God, humiliates herself; then she prays 59 Of the dignity of the priest; and of the Sacrament of the Body of Christ; 60 How the bodily sentiments are all deceived in the aforesaid Sacrament, but 61 How the things which have been said about the excellence of this 62 Of the excellence, virtues, and holy works of virtuous and holy ministers; 63 A brief repetition of the preceding chapter; and of the reverence which 64 Of the difference between the death of a just man and that of a sinner, 65 Of the death of sinners, and of their pains in the hour of death. 66 How this devout soul, praising and thanking GOD, made a prayer for the 67 Here begins the treatise of obedience, and first of where obedience may be 68 How obedience is the key with which Heaven is opened, and how the soul 69 Here both the misery of the disobedient and the excellence of the obedient 70 How a soul advances from general to particular obedience; and of the 71 Of the excellence of the obedient, and of the misery of the disobedient 72 How the truly obedient receive a hundredfold for one, and also eternal 73 Of the perversities, miseries, and labors of the disobedient man; and of 74 How God does not reward merit according to the labor of the obedient, nor 75 This is a brief repetition of the entire book. 76 How this most devout soul, thanking and praising God, makes prayer for the 77 Letter of Ser Barduccio di Piero Canigiani, containing the Transit of the