Fourteenth century Dominican nun Saint Catherine of Siena appears at the back of the church-turned-theater, with eyes smiling. She warmly greets us: "Buon giorno! How are you?"
Sister Nancy Murray has traveled to Saint Catherine of Siena Church in West Dundee, Illinois to dramatize vignettes of the life of the famous saint. Influenced by her teacher Sister Kathy Harkins' one-woman style of acting, and relying heavily on Catherine's own words taken from a biography written by Raymond Capua, Sister Nancy Murray OP, an Adrian Dominican nun (and real-life sister of star Bill Murray) fulfills the order of her mission—the Order of Preaching—and takes her dramatic spreading of the word to Catholic Churches, schools, prisons, wherever she is called, anywhere in the world.
And like the great figure she portrays, she manages to charm, entertain and instruct. Did I mention inspire? Relying heavily on audience participation, Sister Nancy physically touches as many in the pews as she can reach: shaking hands as she enters, grasping hands during a "tarantella" dance with a ring of volunteers, blessing heads at the work's climax—touching, in fact, is a metaphor for the life of the saint and a primary tool for Sister Nancy.
Rather than emphasizing the last, well-known part of Saint Catherine's life when she convinced Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome, Sister Nancy charts her childhood and family life, and the teen years when she begins her charitable mission with the poor. Thus, we meet Caterina Benincasa, a merry, warm and real person; not a penitential, ethereal or stoic individual we might envision as a saint.
She tells of a journey starting in 1347, in Siena, Italy, at the beginning of the dreadful bubonic plague when Caterina (one of 25 children) was born. Caterina grew up near a church, the only access a girl at the time had to education and there learned to love the stories told by Dominican priests.
At age six or seven, a vision of Jesus inspired her, in her child's way, to live her life for God alone. By age 12, Caterina had to contend with the realities of her day—marriage was the only life for a girl. Caterina's response to family pressure was to cut off her hair; no man would want to marry an ugly girl, she reasoned. This act, however, prompted retaliation from her mother who relegated her to servile duties within her family. For three years, she endured cooking and cleaning for the entire family all while her brothers and sisters taunted and tormented her. But her father gave her a space of her own, room in a tiny shed which became her refuge and allowed her meditative time to find God's plan for her.
To recreate the obstacles on Caterina's early path, Sister Nancy switches roles to play Caterina's quiet, adoring father who does not know how to handle an impulsive daughter; her well-meaning, mousy sister who tries to convince Caterina that marrying a rich man is an essential sacrifice for the good of famiglia; her strong, passionate mother who, exacerbated by Catherina's singular path, rants until she finally recants and helps her daughter find a new home in a world that has no place for her; and Caterina herself, a spirited, curious girl led by her keen sense of good, who earnestly seeks and finds her mission: "to learn to walk with two feet, the love of God and the love of thy neighbor."
With virtually no props, Sister Nancy relies on her gifts as a physical actress and invokes the audience to rely on their imaginations. She flutters her hand through the air and a butterfly appears; she chops, minces, peels and slices any vegetable (or fruit) the audience suggests to create a bowl of minestrone soup; she mimes with exquisite attention the tender touch of brushing a little sister's hair.
"Teach us your truth," Caterina prays to Jesus, "clothe us in your truth. You are like a fire," says the poetry in her soul, "and we are the sparks of your love." Saint Catherine, certainly one of the most influential women of all time, touched lives in her own day and changed the course of history—but what this enactment shows us, ironically, is that greatness is actually as small as a little girl, a little girl who is faithful and true, and inspired by radiant and joyous love.
To find or request a performance, visit www.adriansisters.org and click the "what's happening" button.
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