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In 2004, the Milwaukee Archbishop decided to merge the two Ripon parishes together because of a shortage of priests. On July 1, 2005, St Patrick and St. Wenceslaus Parishes formally merged to form a new parish, St. Catherine of Siena. St Catherine of Siena was chosen as the patron saint of the parish after parishioners vote submitted three names to the Archbishop for his final selection.
 Saint Catherine was born in 1347 as Catherine Benincasa from Siena, Tuscany, located in northern Italy. She was the 24th of 25 children born to a middle-class wool dryer. By the age of 6 years, she started having mystical experiences which included seeing Jesus, Mary and guardian angels. These experiences continued throughout her entire life.
At the age of 16, she entered the Third Order of St. Dominic and dressed in the black and white Dominican habit. For 3 years she remained at home, rarely leaving her room except to go the mass and confession. Then at the age of 19, in response to a vision, she left her isolation and re-entered the world; her public life had begun. Her visions continued and her work with the poor and sick quickly attracted many followers.
There was a proliferating of letter writing in her last three years of life. She dictated a book commonly called the “The Dialogue of St. Catherine”. This and her four hundred known letters comprise a great treasury of spiritual reading from one of the most brilliant theological minds in the history of the Catholic Church.
In 1380, at age 33, she had a stroke and eventually died. She was canonized 81 years after her death. Her feast is celebrated on April 29.
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