Deus in adjutorium meum intende

For a time Catherine [of Siena] tried industriously to learn letters from a friend, presumable Tommaso della Fonte. But this method was too slow for her ardent temperament. And one day she decided to give up. "If my Lord wishes me to praise Him through the daily Office, then one day I shall be able to read. And if not I will content myself saying 'Our Father' and 'Aver Maria' as other unschooled women do."

And then suddenly she could read. Catherine and her friends were convinced that a miracle had occurred - she had learned to read, too, from her heavenly Master....

The reading of the breviary opened a new treasure-chest of spiritual jewels for her - the Psalms of David, the liturgical prayers of the Church, so full of wisdom and profound poetry, and short sketches of the history of the Church and the lives of the saints. However much she understood by intuition and however deeply she was permitted through her visions to penetrate the essence of faith and the words of Our Lord - an ability which the Church has always considered she was granted by especial and supernatural grace - Catherine did not by any means think that she was above learning the essentials of her religion in the ordinary way. She submitted unconditionally to the teaching of the Church, and, at any rate according to her own opinin, to the advice of her spiritual directors. Filled with joy she repeated again and again the opening words of the breviary: "Deus in adjutorium meum intende; Domine ad adjuvandu, me festina - O God come to my help, O Lord make haste to help me."

It happened sometimes that when Catherine was reading her breviary Our Lord appeared to her and read the responses "as when two monks read the Office together."

This is an excerpt from a very interesting and well-written biography of Saint Catherine of Siena, authored by Nobel Prize winner Sigrid Undset.

Just came across a video with those beautiful opening lines of the Liturgy of the Hours that Catherine used to love repeating. And it has a wonderful photo to accompany it too: