View source for Catherine of Siena

{{Short description|Italian Dominican saint (1347–1380)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date= April 2021}}
{{Infobox saint
| honorific_prefix = [[Canonization|Saint]]
| name = Catherine of Siena
| honorific_suffix = [[Third Order of Saint Dominic|TOSD]]
| image           = File:Giovanni Battista Tiepolo 096.jpg
| caption        = ''St. Catherine of Siena'' <br> by [[Giovanni Battista Tiepolo]]
|titles=[[Virgin (title)|Virgin]], [[Doctor of the Church]]
| birth_date     = {{birth date|1347|3|25|df=yes}}
| birth_place    = [[Siena]], [[Republic of Siena]]
| birth_name     = Caterina di Jacopo di Benincasa
| death_date     = {{death date and age|1380|4|29|1347|3|25|df=yes}}
| death_place    = Rome, [[Papal States]]
| venerated_in   = {{ubl|[[Catholic Church]]|[[Anglican Communion]]<ref>{{cite web |url= http://diobeth.typepad.com/files/holy-women-holy-men.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120907015441/http://diobeth.typepad.com/files/holy-women-holy-men.pdf |archive-date=2012-09-07 |url-status=live |title=Holy Men and Holy Women |website= Churchofengland.org}}</ref>|[[Lutheranism]]<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.resurrectionpeople.org/saints.html |title=Notable Lutheran Saints |website= Resurrectionpeople.org |access-date=16 July 2019 |archive-date=16 May 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190516024927/http://www.resurrectionpeople.org/saints.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}
|beatified_date = 29 December 1460 |beatified_by   =            
|canonized_date = 29 June 1461
|canonized_by   = [[Pope Pius II]]
|major_shrine   = [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]], Rome and the Sanctuary of Saint Catherine, [[Siena]]
| feast_day      = 29 April; 30 April (Roman Calendar, 1628–1969); 4 October ([[Feast of Saint Catherine|in Italy]])
| attributes     = habit of a [[Third Order of Saint Dominic|Dominican tertiary]], ring, [[lily]], [[cherubim]], [[crown of thorns]], [[stigmata]], crucifix, book, heart, skull, dove, rose, miniature church, miniature ship bearing [[Ecclesiastical heraldry|papal coat of arms]]
| patronage      = against fire; bodily ills; people ridiculed for their piety; nurses; sick people; miscarriages; Europe; Italy; Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S.;  [[Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya]], Philippines; [[Samal, Bataan]], [[Philippines]]
}}

'''Caterina di Jacopo di Benincasa''' (25 March 1347 – 29 April 1380), known as '''Catherine of Siena''', was an Italian [[Christian mysticism|mystic]] and pious laywoman who engaged in papal and Italian politics through extensive letter-writing and advocacy. Canonized in 1461, she is revered as a saint and as a [[Doctor of the Church]] due to her extensive theological authorship. She is also considered to have influenced [[Italian literature]].

Born and raised in [[Siena]], Catherine wanted from an early age to devote herself to God, against the will of her parents. She joined the "[[Mantellate Sisters|mantellates]]", a group of pious women, primarily widows, informally devoted to Dominican spirituality; later these types of urban pious groups would be formalized as the Third Order of the Dominicans, but not until after Catherine's death.<ref name="cloisteringcatherine">{{cite journal |last1= Longo |first1= F. Thomas |title= Cloistering Catherine: Religious Identity in Raymond of Capua's Legenda Maior of Catherine of Siena |journal=Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History |date= 2006 |volume= 3 |pages=25–69}}</ref> Her influence with [[Pope Gregory XI]] played a role in his 1376 decision to leave [[Avignon]] for Rome. The Pope then sent Catherine to [[War of the Eight Saints|negotiate peace]] with the [[Florentine Republic]]. After Gregory XI's death (March 1378) and the conclusion of peace (July 1378), she returned to Siena. She dictated to secretaries her set of spiritual treatises, ''The Dialogue of Divine Providence''. The [[Western Schism|Great Schism of the West]] led Catherine of Siena to go to Rome with the pope. She sent numerous letters to princes and cardinals to promote obedience to [[Pope Urban VI]] and to defend what she calls the "vessel of the Church". She died on 29 April 1380, exhausted by her rigorous fasting. Urban VI celebrated her funeral and burial in the [[Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva]] in Rome.

Devotion around Catherine of Siena developed rapidly after her death.  [[Pope Pius II]] canonized her in 1461; she was declared a [[patron saint|patroness saint]] of Rome in 1866 by [[Pope Pius IX]], and of [[Italy]] (together with [[Francis of Assisi]]) in 1939 by [[Pope Pius XII]].<ref>{{cite book|last1= Haegen |first1= Anne Mueller von der|last2=Strasser|first2=Ruth F.|title=Art & Architecture: Tuscany|date= 2013|publisher= H.F.Ullmann Publishing|location= Potsdam|isbn= 978-3-8480-0321-1|page= 334|chapter= St. Catherine of Siena: Mystic, Politician, and Saint}}</ref><ref name="Vatican4">{{in lang|it}} [[Pope Pius XII]], [https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/briefs/documents/hf_p-xii_brief_19390618_patroni-italia_it.html ''Pontifical Brief'', 18 June 1939].</ref><ref name=Vatican1>{{in lang|it}} [https://w2.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/it/homilies/1970/documents/hf_p-vi_hom_19701003.html ''Proclamation to Doctor of the Church'', Homily, 4 October 1970].</ref><ref name=Vatican2>[https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/motu_proprio/documents/hf_jp-ii_motu-proprio_01101999_co-patronesses-europe_en.html ''Proclamation of the Co-Patronesses of Europe'', Apostolic Letter, 1 October 1999]. {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141120054044/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/motu_proprio/documents/hf_jp-ii_motu-proprio_01101999_co-patronesses-europe_en.html |date=20 November 2014}}</ref><ref name=Vatican3>[https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/homilies/1999/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_13111999_st-bridget.html ''Liturgical Feast of St. Bridget'', Homily, 13 November 1999].</ref> She was the second woman to be declared a [[Doctor of the Church]], on 4 October 1970 by [[Pope Paul VI]] – only days after [[Teresa of Ávila]]. In 1999 [[Pope John Paul II]] proclaimed her a [[Patron Saint of Europe]].

Catherine of Siena is one of the outstanding figures of medieval Catholicism due to the strong influence she had in the history of the papacy and her extensive authorship.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Catherine-of-Siena | title=Saint Catherine of Siena &#124; Biography, Facts, Miracles, & Patron Saint of &#124; Britannica | date=15 July 2023 }}</ref> She was behind the return of the Pope from Avignon to Rome, and then carried out many missions entrusted to her by the pope, something quite rare for a woman in the [[Middle Ages]]. Her ''Dialogue'', hundreds of letters, and dozens of prayers also give her a prominent place in the history of Italian literature.

== Early life ==
[[File:House Catherine Siena Apr 2008.jpg|thumb|left|The house of Saint Catherine in [[Siena]]]]

Caterina di Jacopo di Benincasa was born on 25 March 1347 (shortly before the [[Black Death]] ravaged Europe) in [[Siena]], [[Republic of Siena]] (today [[Italy]]), to Lapa Piagenti, the daughter of a local poet, and Jacopo di Benincasa, a cloth dyer who ran his enterprise with the help of his sons.<ref name="Gardner">{{cite CE1913|wstitle= St. Catherine of Siena |volume= 3 |last= Gardner |first= Edmund Garratt |short=1}}</ref> The house where Catherine grew up still exists.<ref>{{Cite web |title=House of St. Catherine of Siena - Siena, Italy |url=https://www.italyguides.it/en/tuscany/siena/house-of-st-catherine-of-siena |access-date=2025-06-23 |website=ItalyGuides.it |language=en-us}}</ref>

Lapa was about forty years old when she gave birth prematurely to her 23rd and 24th children, twin daughters, named Catherine and Giovanna. After birth, Giovanna was handed over to a [[wet nurse]] and died soon after. Catherine was nursed by her mother and developed into a healthy child. She was two years old when Lapa had her 25th child, another daughter named Giovanna.{{sfn|Skårderud|2008|p=411}} As a child, Catherine was so merry that the family gave her the pet name of "Euphrosyne", which is Greek for "joy", and the name of an [[Euphrosyne of Alexandria]].<ref name=crawley>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071006174930/https://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/CATSIENA.HTM ''Lives of Saints''], John J. Crawley & Co., Inc.</ref>

Catherine is said by her confessor and biographer [[Raymond of Capua]]'s ''Life'' to have had her first vision of Christ when she was five or six years old: she and a brother were on the way home from visiting a married sister when she is said to have experienced a vision of [[Christ in Majesty|Christ seated in glory]] with the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Apostles]] [[Saint Peter|Peter]], [[Paul of Tarsus|Paul]], and [[John the Apostle|John]]. Raymond continues that at age seven, Catherine vowed to give her whole life to God.<ref name=crawley/><ref>Raymond of Capua, ''Legenda Major'' I, iii.</ref>

When Catherine was 16, her older sister Bonaventura [[death in childbirth|died in childbirth]]; already anguished by this, Catherine soon learned that her parents wanted her to marry Bonaventura's widower. She was absolutely opposed and started a strict fast. She had learned this from Bonaventura, whose husband had been far from considerate but had changed his attitude after his wife refused to eat until he showed better manners. Besides fasting, Catherine further disappointed her mother by cutting off her long hair in protest of being encouraged to improve her appearance to attract a husband.<ref name=foley>[http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1368 Foley O.F.M., Leonard. ''Saint of the Day, Lives, Lessons, and Feast''], (revised by Pat McCloskey O.F.M.), Franciscan Media, {{ISBN|978-0-86716-887-7}}</ref>

[[File:Св Екатерина сиенская Ораторио Санта Катерина Neroccio.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|[[Statuette]] by [[Neroccio di Bartolomeo de' Landi]] (1475)]]

Catherine would later advise Raymond of Capua to do during times of trouble what she did now as a teenager: "Build a cell inside your mind, from which you can never flee." In this inner cell, she made her father into a representation of Christ, her mother into the [[Blessed Virgin Mary]], and her brothers into the Apostles in the New Testament. Serving them humbly became an opportunity for spiritual growth. Catherine resisted the accepted course of marriage and motherhood on the one hand, or a [[nun]]'s veil on the other. She chose to live an active and prayerful life outside a convent's walls, following the model of the Dominicans.<ref name="bellitto">{{Cite web|title=CR Meyer Manpower Planner|url=https://manpower.webfittersstaging.com/|access-date=1 December 2020|website=manpower.webfittersstaging.com|archive-date=13 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113121911/https://manpower.webfittersstaging.com/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Eventually, her parents gave up and permitted her to live as she pleased and stay unmarried.<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 21, 2016 |title=Saint of the week: St Catherine of Siena (April 29) |url=https://catholicherald.co.uk/saint-of-the-week-st-catherine-of-siena-april-29/ |access-date=May 2, 2023 |website=Catholic Herald |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=March 10, 2020 |title=Saint Catherine of Siena Archives |url=https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/1808/30067/6/CatherineofSiena.pdf |access-date=May 2, 2023 |website=[[University of Kentucky]] Scholar Works |publisher=[[University of Kentucky]]}}</ref>

<!--It was during this time of solitude that Catherine began to build herself a "spiritual body" and thus go beyond the gender roles that were assigned to women in the society and Church of her time.<ref name="Vauchez 2018">{{Cite book |last=Vauchez |first=Andre |title=Catherine of Siena: A life of passion and purpose |publisher=Paulist Press |year=2018}}</ref>-->
A vision of [[Saint Dominic|Dominic de Guzmán]] gave strength to Catherine, but her wish to join his order was no comfort to Lapa, who took her daughter with her to the baths in [[Bagno Vignoni]] to improve her health. Catherine fell seriously ill with a violent rash, fever and pain, which conveniently made her mother accept her wish to join the "Mantellate", the local association of devout women.<ref name="Siena. Available Means 2001">Catherine of Siena. Available Means. Ed. Joy Ritchie and Kate Ronald. Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001. Print.</ref> The Mantellate taught Catherine how to read, and she lived in almost total silence and solitude in the family home.<ref name="Siena. Available Means 2001"/>

It was customary for Catherine to give away clothing and food without asking anyone's permission, which cost her family significantly. However, she requested nothing for herself and by staying in their midst, she could live out her rejection of them more strongly. She did not want their food, referring to the table laid for her in Heaven with her real family.{{sfn|Skårderud|2008|pp=412–413}} Shortly after joining the Mantellate, Catherine started to fast for longer but found it challenging. While tending to a woman with cancerous breast sores, she was disgusted. Intending to overcome that disgust, she gathered the sore pus into a ladle and drank it all. That night, she was visited by Jesus who invited her to drink the blood gushing out of his pierced side. It was with this visitation that her stomach "no longer had need of food and no longer could digest."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bell |first=Rudolph |title=Holy Anorexia |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |year=1985 |isbn=0226042057 |pages=25 |language=en}}</ref>

== Later life ==
{{further|Mystical marriage of Saint Catherine}}
[[File:Giovanni di Paolo The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Siena.jpg|thumb|left|[[Giovanni di Paolo]], ''The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Siena'']]

According to [[Raymond of Capua]], at the age of twenty-one ({{circa|1368}}), Catherine experienced what she described in her letters as a "[[Bridal theology|Mystical Marriage]]" with [[Jesus]],{{sfn|Raymond of Capua|2003|pp=99–101}} later a popular subject in art as the ''[[Mystic marriage of Saint Catherine]]''. [[Caroline Walker Bynum]] imagines one surprising and controversial aspect of this marriage: "Underlining the extent to which the marriage was a fusion with Christ's physicality{{nbsp}}[...] Catherine received, not the ring of gold and jewels that her biographer reports in his [[Thomas Bowdler|bowdlerized]] version, but the ring of [[Holy Prepuce|Christ's foreskin]]."<ref name="Bynum">{{cite book|title=Holy Feast and Holy Fast. The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zhjT8CIZLM4C | first=Caroline Walker|last=Bynum|author-link=Caroline Bynum|year=1987|publisher=[[University of California Press]] | page=[https://archive.org/details/holyfeastholyfas00bynu/page/246 <!-- quote="Underlining the extent to which the marriage was a fusion with Christ's physicality""Catherine received, not the ring of gold and jewels that her biographer reports in his bowdlerized version, but the ring of Christ's foreskin". --> 246] |isbn=978-0-520-06329-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=Rag and Bone. A Journey Among the World's Holy Dead | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T-FrEhVhIBgC&pg=PT58 | first=Peter | last=Manseau | year=2009 |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]] | location=London| isbn=978-142993-665-1 |quote=Some {{bracket|nuns}},  imagined wearing the foreskin as a wedding ring}}</ref> Catherine herself mentions the ring ‘of flesh’ motif in one of her letters (#221), equating the wedding ring of a virgin with the flesh of Jesus; she typically claimed that her own wedding ring to Christ was simply invisible.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jacobs|first1=Andrew|title=Christ Circumcised: A Study in Early Christian History and Difference|date=2012|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|page=192|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NU2D35QoNjEC&q=catherine+of+siena&pg=PA192|access-date=22 October 2015|isbn=978-0812206517}}</ref> She wrote in a letter (to encourage a nun who seems to have been undergoing a prolonged period of spiritual trial and torment): "Bathe in the blood of Christ crucified. See that you don't look for or want anything but the crucified, as a true bride ransomed by the blood of Christ crucified – for that is my wish. You see very well that you are a bride and that he has espoused you – you and everyone else – and not with a ring of silver but with a ring of his own flesh."<ref>The Letters of Saint Catherine of Siena, Volume II, Suzanne Noffke OP, Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Tempe Arizona 2001, p. 184</ref> Raymond of Capua also records that she was told by Christ to leave her withdrawn life and enter the public life of the world.{{sfn|Raymond of Capua|2003|pp=105–107}} Catherine rejoined her family and began helping the ill and the poor, where she took care of them in hospitals or homes. Her early pious activities in Siena attracted a group of followers, women and men, who gathered around her.<ref name="Gardner" />

Between the years 1367 and 1374, Catherine devoted herself to helping the sick and incarcerated of Siena.<ref name="Vauchez 2018">{{Cite book |last=Vauchez |first=Andre |title=Catherine of Siena: A life of passion and purpose |publisher=Paulist Press |year=2018}}</ref> With her help in the Hospital of Santa Maria della Scala and within the neighborhood that she was living, Catherine's acts of charity became well-known. This led to her being known as {{lang|it|santa donna}}, or a holy woman. This reputation of holiness eventually led to her involvement in politics and a hearing with the pope.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Scott |first=Karen |date=2009 |title=St. Catherine of Siena, "Apostola" |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/3168001 |journal=Cambridge University Press|volume=61 |issue=1 |pages=34–46 |doi=10.2307/3168001 |jstor=3168001 |s2cid=162503623 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

As social and political tensions mounted in Siena, Catherine found herself drawn to intervene in wider politics. She made her first journey to [[Florence]] in 1374, probably to be interviewed by the Dominican authorities at the General Chapter held in Florence in May 1374, though this is disputed (if she was interviewed, then the absence of later evidence suggests she was deemed sufficiently orthodox).<ref name=foley/> It seems that at this time she acquired Raymond of Capua as her confessor and spiritual director.{{sfn|Noffke|1980|p=5}}

After this visit, she began travelling with her followers throughout northern and central Italy advocating reform of the clergy and advising people that repentance and renewal could be done through "the total love for God."{{sfn|Hollister|Bennett|2002|p=342}} In Pisa, in 1375, she used what influence she had to sway that city and [[Lucca]] away from alliance with the anti-papal league whose force was gaining momentum and strength. She also lent her enthusiasm toward promoting the launch of a new crusade. It was during this time in Pisa, according to Raymond of Capua's biography, that she received the [[stigmata]] (visible, at Catherine's request, only to herself).{{sfn|Noffke|1980|p=5}}
{{Christian mysticism}}
Her physical travels were not the only way in which Catherine made her views known. From 1375{{sfn|Noffke|1980|p=5}} onward, she began dictating letters to scribes.<ref name="Siena. Available Means 2001"/> These letters were intended to reach men and women of her circle, increasingly widening her audience to include figures in authority as she begged for peace between the republics and principalities of Italy and for the return of the [[Papacy]] from [[Avignon Papacy|Avignon]] to Rome. She carried on a long correspondence with [[Pope Gregory XI]], asking him to reform the [[clergy]] and the administration of the [[Papal States]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Traub |first=Maria Gonnella |date=2018 |title=Review of The Avignon Papacy Contested: An Intellectual History from Dante to Catherine of Siena |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45173053 |journal=Italica |volume=95 |issue=4 |pages=664–666 |jstor=45173053 |issn=0021-3020}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Saint Catherine of Siena, 1347–1380 |url=https://www.loyolapress.com/catholic-resources/saints/saints-stories-for-all-ages/saint-catherine-of-siena-1347-1380/ |access-date=2023-05-02 |website=Loyola Press}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Catherine of Siena – The Dialogue |url=https://www.abigailadamsinstitute.org/catherine-of-siena-the-dialogue |access-date=2023-05-02 |website=The Abigail Adams Institute |language=en-US}}</ref>

In June 1376 Catherine went to [[Avignon]] as ambassador of the [[Republic of Florence]] to make peace with the Papal States (on 31 March 1376 Gregory XI had placed Florence under interdict). She was unsuccessful and was disowned by the Florentine leaders, who sent ambassadors to negotiate on their own terms as soon as Catherine's work had paved the way for them.{{sfn|Noffke|1980|p=5}} Catherine sent an appropriately scorching letter back to Florence in response.<ref>Letter 234 in Tommaseo's numbering.</ref> While in Avignon, Catherine also tried to convince Pope Gregory XI, the last [[Avignon Papacy|Avignon Pope]], to return to Rome.{{sfn|Hollister|Bennett|2002|p=343}} Gregory did indeed return his administration to Rome in January 1377; to what extent this was due to Catherine's influence is a topic of much modern debate.<ref>See Bernard McGinn, ''The Varieties of Vernacular Mysticism'', (Herder & Herder, 2012), p. 561.</ref>

Catherine returned to Siena and spent the early months of 1377 founding a women's monastery of strict observance outside the city in the old fortress of Belcaro.{{sfn|Noffke|1980|p=6}} She spent the rest of 1377 at Rocca d'Orcia, about {{convert|20|mi}} from Siena, on a local mission of peace-making and preaching. During this period, in autumn 1377, she had the experience which led to the writing of her ''Dialogue'' and learned to write, although she still seems to have chiefly relied upon her secretaries for her correspondence.<ref name="Gardner" /><ref>This experience is recorded in Letter 272, written to Raymond in October 1377.</ref>

Late in 1377 or early in 1378 Catherine again travelled to Florence, at the order of Gregory XI, to seek peace between Florence and Rome. Following Gregory's death in [[Western Schism|March 1378 riots]], the revolts of the [[Ciompi]] broke out in Florence on June 18, and in the ensuing violence Catherine was nearly assassinated. Eventually, in July 1378, peace was agreed between Florence and Rome and Catherine returned quietly to Florence.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />

In late November 1378, with the outbreak of the [[Western Schism]], the new Pope, [[Urban VI]], summoned her to Rome. She stayed at Pope Urban VI's court and tried to convince nobles and cardinals of his legitimacy, both meeting with individuals at court and writing letters to persuade others.{{sfn|Noffke|1980|p=6}}

For many years she had accustomed herself to a rigorous abstinence.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/CSIENA.HTM| title = Butler, Alban. ''The Lives or the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints'', Vol. IV, D. & J. Sadlier, & Company, (1864)}}</ref> She received the Holy [[Eucharist]] almost daily. This extreme fasting appeared unhealthy in the eyes of the clergy and her own sisterhood. Her confessor, Raymond, ordered her to eat properly. However, Catherine replied that she was unable to, describing her inability to eat as an {{lang|it|infermità}} (illness). From the beginning of 1380, Catherine could neither eat nor swallow water. On 26 February she lost the use of her legs.{{sfn|Noffke|1980|p=6}} 

Catherine died in Rome on 29 April 1380, at the age of thirty-three, having suffered a massive stroke eight days earlier, which paralyzed her from the waist down. Her last words were, "Father, into Your Hands I commend my soul and my spirit".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Caffarini|first1=Tommaso|title=Libellus de supplemento: legende prolixe virginis beate Catherine de Senis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2SIGHAAACAAJ|year=1974}}</ref>

==Works==
[[File:Caterina - Libro della divina dottrina, circa 1475 - 2367969.jpg|thumb|{{lang|it|Libro della divina dottrina}} (commonly known as ''The Dialogue of Divine Providence''), {{Circa|1475|lk=no}}]]
[[File:L'epistole della serafica vergine s. Caterina da Siena.tif|thumb|{{lang|it|L'epistole della serafica vergine s. Caterina da Siena}} (1721)]]

Three genres of work by Catherine survive:
* Her major treatise is ''The Dialogue of Divine Providence,'' which is thought to have been begun in October 1377 and finished by November 1378. Contemporaries of Catherine are united in asserting that much of the book was dictated while Catherine was in ecstasy, though it also seems possible that Catherine herself may then have re-edited many passages in the book.{{sfn|Noffke|1980|p=13}} This text is described as a dialogue between God and a soul.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" />
* Catherine's letters are considered one of the great works of early Tuscan literature. Many of these were dictated, although she herself learned to write in 1377; 382 have survived. In her letters to the Pope, she often addressed him affectionately simply as {{lang|it|Babbo}} ('Daddy'), instead of the formal form of address "Your Holiness".<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://movies2.nytimes.com/library/magazine/millennium/m2/egan.html |title=Power Suffering |last=Egan |first=Jennifer |date=1999 |work=[[The New York Times Magazine]] |access-date=15 April 2019 }}</ref> Other correspondents include her various confessors, among them [[Raymond of Capua]], the kings of France and Hungary, the infamous mercenary [[John Hawkwood]], the Queen of Naples, members of the [[Visconti of Milan|Visconti family]] of Milan, and numerous religious figures.<ref>{{cite journal |jstor=20176608 |title=The Radical Rhetoric of Caterina Da Siena |first=Cheryl |last=Forbes |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=121–140 |year=2004 |publisher=Taylor & Francis, Ltd. |journal=Rhetoric Review|doi = 10.1207/s15327981rr2302_2|s2cid=143039500 }}</ref> 
* 26 prayers of Catherine of Siena also survive, mostly composed in the last 18 months of her life.

The [[University of Alcalá]] conserves a unique handwritten Spanish manuscript, while other available texts are printed copies collected by the [[National Library of France]].<ref name="10.1093/fh/crt047">{{cite book | url = https://academic.oup.com/fh/article/27/4/496/584076?searchresult=1 |chapter= Celestial letters: morals and magic in nineteenth-century France |first=Martin|last = Lyons |title = French History | volume = 27 | issue = 4 |date= 1 December 2013 | pages = 496–514 | doi = 10.1093/fh/crt047 | issn =  0269-1191 | oclc =  5187349553}} At section VI.</ref>

==Theology==
Catherine's theology can be described as [[Christian mysticism|mystical]], and was employed toward practical ends for her own spiritual life or those of others.<ref>Noffke, Suzanne. "Catherine of Siena." In Medieval Holy Women in the Christian Tradition c. 1100–c. 1500. Alastair J. Minnis and Rosalynn Voaden, eds. Turnhout: Brepols, 2010. 613.</ref> She used the language of medieval [[scholastic philosophy]] to elaborate her experiential mysticism.<ref>Foster, Kenelm. "St Catherine's Teaching on Christ." Life of the Spirit (1946–1964) 16, no. 187 (1962): 313. {{JSTOR|43705923}}.</ref> Interested mainly with achieving an incorporeal union with God, Catherine practiced extreme fasting and [[Ascetical theology|asceticism]], eventually to the extent of living solely on the Eucharist every day.<ref>Finnegan, Mary Jeremy. "Catherine of Siena: The Two Hungers." Mystics Quarterly 17, no. 4 (1991): 173–80. {{JSTOR|20717082}}.</ref> For Catherine, this practice was the means to fully realize her [[Agape|love of Christ]] in her mystical experience, with a large proportion of her [[Religious ecstasy|ecstatic visions]] relating to the consumption or rejection of food during her life.<ref>Noffke, Suzanne. "Catherine of Siena." In Medieval Holy Women in the Christian Tradition c. 1100–c. 1500. Alastair J. Minnis and Rosalynn Voaden, eds. Turnhout: Brepols, 2010.</ref> She viewed Christ as a "bridge" between the soul and God and transmitted that idea, along with her other teachings, in her book ''The Dialogue''.<ref>Catherine of Siena. The Dialogue. Translated by Suzanne Noffke. The Classics of Western Spirituality. Paulist Press, 1980.</ref> ''The Dialogue'' is highly systematic and explanatory in its presentation of her mystical ideas; however, these ideas themselves are not so much based on reason or logic as they are based in her ecstatic mystical experience.<ref>Noffke, Suzanne. "Catherine of Siena." In Medieval Holy Women in the Christian Tradition c. 1100–c. 1500. Alastair J. Minnis and Rosalynn Voaden, eds. Turnhout: Brepols, 2010. 601–615.</ref> Her work was widely read across Europe, and survives in a Middle English translation called ''The Orchard of Syon''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rozenski |first1=Steven |title=Wisdom's Journey: Continental Mysticism and Popular Devotion in England, 1350–1650 |date=15 July 2022 |publisher=University of Notre Dame Pess |isbn=978-0-268-20275-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1nVVEAAAQBAJ |access-date=19 December 2023 |ref=RozWisdom |language=en}}</ref>

In one of her letters she sent to her confessor, [[Raymond of Capua]], she recorded this revelation from her conversation with Christ, in which he said: "Do you know what you are to Me, and what I am to you, my daughter? I am He who is, you are she who is not".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Benincasa |first1=Catherine |title=The Dialogues |date=1980 |publisher=Paulist Press |isbn=0809122332 |edition=Translated }}{{page needed|date=August 2021}}</ref> This mystical concept of God as the wellspring of being is seen in the works and ideas of [[Aquinas]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Aquinas |first1=Tomas |title=Summa Theologica |date=12 December 2012 |publisher=Emmaus Academic |isbn=978-1623400149 |page=I, q.3 |edition=Blackfrairs Translation}}</ref> and can be seen as a simplistic rendering of [[apotheosis]] and a more rudimentary form of the [[divine simplicity|doctrine of divine simplicity]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Barron |first1=Robert |last2=Murray |first2=Paul |title=Saint Catherine of Siena: Mystic of Fire, Preacher of Freedom |date=2002 |publisher=Catholic Publishers |isbn=9780567693181}}{{page needed|date=August 2021}}</ref> She describes God in her work, ''The Dialogue'' (which she referred to simply as "her book"), as a "sea, in which we are the fish", the point being that the relationship between God and man should not be seen as man contending against the Divine and vice versa, but as God being the endless being that supports all things.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Benincasa |first1=Catherine |last2=Dutton Scudder |first2=Vida |title=the Letters of St. Catherine |date=2019 |publisher=Good Press |isbn=9781406512175 |edition=Translation }}{{page needed|date=August 2021}}</ref>

According to the writings attributed to Catherine, in 1377 she had a vision in which the Virgin confirmed to her a thesis supported by the Dominican Order, to which Catherine belonged: the Virgin said that she had been conceived {{em|with}} the original sin. The Virgin thus contradicted the future dogma of the [[Immaculate Conception]]. Cardinal Lambertini (later [[Pope Benedict XIV]]) in his treatise {{lang|la|De servorum Dei beatificatione et de beatorum canonizatione}}, 1734–1738, cites theologians who believed that Catherine's directors or editors had falsified her words; he also cites Father Lancicius,<ref>Lancicius, opuscule ''De praxi divinæ præsentiæ'', chapter 13.</ref> who believed that Catherine had made a mistake as a result of preconceived ideas.<ref>R.P. Aug. Poulain, ''Des grâces d'oraison. Traité de théologie mystique'', 10th ed., Paris, Beauchesne, 1922, p. 355-356.</ref>

== Veneration ==
[[File:Saint Catherine of Siena tomb.jpg|thumb|[[Reliquary]] of Saint Catherine beneath the High Altar of [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]], Rome]]
{{Further|Feast of Saints Francis and Catherine}}

Catherine was initially buried in the (Roman) cemetery of [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]] which lies near the [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]]. After miracles were reported to take place at her grave, Raymond moved her inside Santa Maria sopra Minerva, where she lies to this day.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Santa Maria Sopra Minerva – Rome, Italy|url=http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-santa-maria-sopra-minerva|access-date=2021-10-04|website=www.sacred-destinations.com}}</ref>
[[File:Cappella di santa caterina, 01.jpg|thumb|left|The Chapel of Saint Catherine, Basilica of San Domenico in Siena]]
[[File:Head of Saint Catherine of Siena.jpg|thumb|left|The relic of Catherine's skull, exposed in the [[Basilica of San Domenico, Siena]]]]
Her head, however, was parted from her body and inserted in a gilt bust of [[bronze]]. This bust was later taken to Siena, and carried through that city in a procession to the Dominican church. Behind the bust walked Lapa, Catherine's mother, who lived until she was 89 years old. By then she had seen the end of the wealth and the happiness of her family, and followed most of her children and several of her grandchildren to the grave. She helped Raymond of Capua write his biography of her daughter, and said, "I think God has laid my soul athwart in my body, so that it can't get out."{{sfn|Skårderud|2008|loc="Jeg tror at Gud har gjort det slik at sjelen ligger på tvers i kroppen min og ikke kan komme ut."}} The incorrupt head and thumb were entombed in the [[Basilica of San Domenico (Siena)|Basilica of San Domenico]] at Siena, where they remain.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Jones|first=Johnathan|date=18 November 2013|title=From St Peter's bones to severed heads: Christian relics on display|work=[[The Guardian]]|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2013/nov/18/st-peters-bones-christian-relics|access-date=16 September 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Strochlic|first=Nina|date=11 July 2017|title=Siena's Disembodied Saint at the Basilica di San Domenico|work=[[The Daily Beast]]|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/sienas-disembodied-saint-at-the-basilica-di-san-domenico|access-date=16 September 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Standring|first=Suzette M.|date=11 October 2018|title=Holy relics: The strange practice of venerating human remains|work=[[The Courier-Tribune]]|url=https://www.courier-tribune.com/lifestyle/20181011/suzette-martinez-standring-holy-relics-strange-practice-of-venerating-human-remains?rssfeed=true|access-date=16 September 2021|archive-date=16 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916213809/https://www.courier-tribune.com/lifestyle/20181011/suzette-martinez-standring-holy-relics-strange-practice-of-venerating-human-remains?rssfeed=true|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Pope Pius II]] himself [[canonized]] Catherine on 29 June 1461.<ref name="beckwith">{{Cite web|date=22 April 2006|title=St. Catherine of Siena: A Feisty Role for Sister Nancy Murray – April 2006 Issue of St. Anthony Messenger Magazine Online|url=http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Apr2006/Feature1.asp|access-date=1 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060422131354/http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Apr2006/Feature1.asp|archive-date=22 April 2006}}</ref>

On 4 October 1970, [[Pope Paul VI]] named Catherine a [[Doctor of the Church]];<ref name="Vatican1" /> this title was almost simultaneously given to [[Teresa of Ávila]] (27 September 1970),<ref>{{in lang|it}} [https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/homilies/1970/documents/hf_p-vi_hom_19700927_it.html ''Proclamation of Saint Teresa of Ávila to Doctor of the Church'', Homily, 27 September 1970].</ref> making them the first women to receive this honour.<ref name="beckwith" />

However, Catherine's [[feast day]] was not initially included in the [[General Roman Calendar]]. When it was added in 1597, it was put on the day of her death, 29 April; however, because this conflicted with the feast of Saint [[Peter of Verona]], which also fell on 29 April, Catherine's feast day was moved in 1628 to the new date of 30 April.<ref>''Calendarium Romanum'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 91.</ref> In the [[Mysterii Paschalis|1969 revision]] of the calendar, it was decided to leave the celebration of the feast of St Peter of Verona to local calendars, because he was not as well known worldwide, and Catherine's feast was restored to 29 April.<ref>{{cite book |title=Calendarium Romanum |publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana |year=1969 |page= 121}}</ref>

Catherine is [[Calendar of saints (Church of England)|remembered]] in the [[Church of England]] and in the [[Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church)|Episcopal Church]] on 29 April.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Calendar|url=https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/calendar|access-date=27 March 2021|website=The Church of England|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W3e7DwAAQBAJ |title=Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018 |date=2019-12-01 |publisher=Church Publishing, Inc. |isbn=978-1-64065-234-7 |language=en}}</ref>  The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) also commemorates Catherine of Siena on 29 April.<ref>Augsburg Fortress. (2023, March 15th). Sundays and Seasons v.20230315.1410. Retrieved March 28th, 2023, from sundaysandseasons.com: https://members.sundaysandseasons.com/Planner/Day/2023-4-29</ref>

=== Legacy ===
Catherine ranks high among the mystics and spiritual writers of the Catholic Church.<ref name="foley" /> She remains a greatly respected figure for her spiritual writings, and political boldness to "speak truth to power", with it being out of the ordinary for a woman in her time period to have had such influence in politics and on world history.

===Patronage===
In his decree of 13 April 1866, [[Pope Pius IX]] declared Catherine of Siena to be a co-patroness of Rome. On 18 June 1939 [[Pope Pius XII]] named her a joint [[patron saint]] of [[Italy]] along with [[Francis of Assisi]].<ref name="Vatican4"/>

On 1 October 1999, [[Pope John Paul II]] made her one of Europe's [[patron saint]]s, along with [[Edith Stein|Teresa Benedicta of the Cross]] and [[Bridget of Sweden]].<ref name="Vatican2" /><ref name="Vatican3" /> She is also the patroness of the historically Catholic American woman's fraternity, [[Theta Phi Alpha]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Information For Parents {{!}} Theta Phi Alpha|url=https://thetaphialpha.org/collegians/parents-information|access-date=2021-10-05|website=thetaphialpha.org}}</ref>

===Severed head===
The people of Siena wished to have Catherine's body. A story is told of a miracle whereby they were partially successful: knowing that they could not smuggle her whole body out of Rome, they decided to take only her head which they placed in a bag. When stopped by the Roman guards, they prayed to Catherine to help them, confident that she would rather have her body (or at least part thereof) in Siena. When they opened the bag to show the guards, it appeared no longer to hold her head but to be full of rose petals.<ref name="AO">{{Cite web |url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/st-dominics-basilica |title=St. Catherine of Siena's Severed Head |website=Atlas Obscura  |access-date=15 April 2019}}</ref>

==Biographical sources==
[[File:Bruges Public Library MS767 v.jpg|left|thumb|Leaf from an anonymous French translation of the Legenda Major by [[Raymond of Capua]] showing the vision of the mystic wedding of Catherine and Christ. ([[Bruges Public Library]], MS 767)]]
There is some internal evidence of Catherine's personality, teaching and work in her nearly four hundred letters, her ''Dialogue'', and her prayers.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.b00135668 |title=Paolo di Matteo da Siena |date=2011-10-31 |publisher=Oxford University Press |series=Benezit Dictionary of Artists |doi=10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.b00135668}}</ref>

Details about her life have also been drawn from the various sources written shortly after her death to promote her cult and canonization. Though much of the material is heavily [[hagiography|hagiographic]], written to promote her sanctity, it is an important early source for historians seeking to reconstruct Catherine's life. Various sources are particularly important, especially the works of Raymond of Capua, who was Catherine's spiritual director and close friend from 1374 to her death and himself became [[Master of the Order of Preachers|Master General]] of the Order in 1380. Raymond wrote what is known as the {{lang|la|Legenda Major}}, his ''Life'' of Catherine which was completed in 1395, fifteen years after Catherine's death.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wheeler |first=Ethel Rolt |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/988815166 |title=Women of the cell and cloister |pages=177 |oclc=988815166}}</ref> It was soon translated into other European languages, including German and English.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rozenski |first1=Steven |last2=Zimbalist |first2=Barbara |last3=Barr |first3=Jessica |title=Writing Holiness: Genre and Reception across Medieval Hagiography |date=2023 |publisher=Brepols Publishers |isbn=978-2-503-60199-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XCNC0AEACAAJ |access-date=19 December 2023 |language=en}}</ref>

Another important work written after Catherine's death was {{lang|la|Libellus de Supplemento}} (''Little Supplement Book''), written between 1412 and 1418 by Tommaso d'Antonio Nacci da Siena (commonly called Thomas of Siena, or Tommaso Caffarini); the work is an expansion of Raymond's {{lang|la|Legenda Major}} making heavy use of the notes of Catherine's first confessor, Tommaso della Fonte, that do not survive anywhere else. Caffarini later published a more compact account of Catherine's life, the {{lang|la|Legenda Minor}}.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Visani |first=Oriana |date=1978 |title=Review of Libellus de Supplemento legende prolixe virginis Beate Catherine de Senis, Caffarini |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26258481 |journal=Lettere Italiane |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=253–257 |issn=0024-1334 |jstor=26258481}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Santa Caterina da Siena – Legenda Minor |url=https://www.edizionicantagalli.com/shop/santa-caterina-da-siena-legenda-minor/ |access-date=2022-06-19 |website=Edizioni Cantagalli |language=it-IT}}</ref>

From 1411 onward, Caffarini also coordinated the compiling of the {{lang|la|Processus}} of Venice, the set of documents submitted as part of the process of [[canonisation]] of Catherine, which provides testimony from nearly all of Catherine's disciples. There is also an anonymous piece, {{lang|it|Miracoli della Beata Caterina}} (''Miracle of Blessed Catherine''), written by an anonymous Florentine. A few other relevant pieces survive.{{sfn|Noffke|1980|p=2}}

==Main sanctuaries==
The main churches in honor of Catherine of Siena are:

* [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]] in Rome, where her body is preserved.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.santamariasopraminerva.it/en/5-tomb-of-st-catherine-of-siena.html |title=Tomb of St Catherine of Siena |website=Santa Maria sopra Minerva |access-date=15 April 2019 }}</ref>
* [[Basilica of San Domenico, Siena|Basilica of San Domenico]] in Siena, where her incorrupt head is preserved.<ref name="AO" />
* {{Interlanguage link|Shrine of Saint Catherine (Siena)|it|Santuario di Santa Caterina (Siena)|lt=Shrine of Saint Catherine}} in Siena, a complex of religious buildings built around her birthplace.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.viaesiena.it/en/caterina/itinerario/santuario-casa-di-santa-caterina |title=Santa Caterina |website=Viae Siena |access-date=15 April 2019 }}</ref>

{{ clear }}
== Gallery ==
{{main|Mystic marriage of Saint Catherine}}
<gallery>
File:St Catherine of Siena.jpg|A statue of St. Catherine of Siena at the Parish of [[St. Catherine of Siena Church (Trumbull, Connecticut)|St. Catherine of Siena Church]] in Trumbull, Connecticut
File:CatherineCommunionBeccafumi.jpg|[[Domenico Beccafumi]], ''The Miraculous Communion of St. Catherine of Siena'', c. 1513–1515, Getty Center, Los Angeles, California
File:CSienaStigmataBeccafumi.jpg|Domenico Beccafumi, ''St. Catherine of Siena Receiving the Stigmata'', c. 1513–1515, Getty Center, Los Angeles, California
File:RosaryStaAgata.jpg|''The Virgin Mary Giving the Rosary to St. Dominic and St. Catherine of Siena'', Church of Santa Agata in Trastevere, Rome (Bottom of painting: the souls in Purgatory await the prayers of the faithful)
File:Franceschini, Baldassare - St Catherine of Siena - Google Art Project.jpg|[[Baldassare Franceschini]], ''Saint Catherine of Siena'', 17th century, [[Dulwich Picture Gallery]]
File:Giovanni di paolo, St Catherine of Siena.jpg|[[Giovanni di Paolo]], ''St. Catherine of Siena'', c. 1475, tempera and gold on panel.  Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, England.
File:Lesser Poland St. Catherine of Siena.jpg|''St Catherine and the Demons'' by an unknown artist, c. 1500, tempera on panel. [[National Museum, Warsaw]].
File:Revelación del Santísimo Rosario a Santo Domingo de Guzmán.jpg|This painting depicts the Virgin giving the rosary to [[Saint Dominic|St. Dominic]]; in the scene also appear Fray Pedro de Santa María Ulloa, Saint Catherine of Siena and [[Servant of God]], [[Mary of Jesus de León y Delgado]]. The fresco is located in the Church of Santo Domingo in [[San Cristóbal de La Laguna]], [[Tenerife]], [[Spain]].
File:San Domenico74.jpg|''St Catherine's mystic communion'' by [[Francesco Brizzi]]
</gallery>

== Bibliography ==
===Modern editions and English translations===
* The Italian critical edition of the ''Dialogue'' is Catherine of Siena, {{lang|it|Il Dialogo della divina Provvidenza: ovvero Libro della divina dottrina}}, 2nd edition, edited by Giuliana Cavallini (Siena: Cantagalli, 1995; 1st edition, 1968). Cavallini demonstrated that the standard division of the ''Dialogue'' in into four treatises entitled the 'Treatise on Discretion', 'On Prayer', 'On Providence', and 'On Obedience', was in fact a result of a misreading of the text in the 1579 edition of the ''Dialogue''. Modern editors and translators, including {{harvp|Noffke|1980}}, have followed Cavallini in rejecting this fourfold division.
* The Italian critical edition of the 26 ''Prayers'' is Catherine of Siena, {{lang|it|Le Orazioni}}, edited bt Giuliana Cavallini (Rome: Cateriniane, 1978)
* The most recent Italian critical edition of the Letters is {{lang|it|Le lettere di Santa Caterina da Siena: l'edizione di Eugenio Duprè Theseider e i nuovi problemi}}, (2002), edited by Antonio Volpato

English translations of The ''Dialogue'' include:
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=bsGXhNZyUSgC ''The Dialogue''], trans. Suzanne Noffke, OP Paulist Press ([[Classics of Western Spirituality]]), 1980.
* ''The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena'', [[TAN Books]], 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-89555-149-8}}
* [[Phyllis Hodgson]] and Gabriel M. Liegey, eds., ''The Orcherd of Syon'', (London; New York: Oxford UP, 1966) [A Middle English translation of the ''Dialogo'' from the early fifteenth century, first printed in 1519].

The Letters are translated into English as:
* {{cite book | last = Catherine of Siena| title = The Letters of St. Catherine of Siena |editor=Suzanne Noffke | publisher = Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, State University of New York at Binghamton | location = Binghamton | year = 1988 | isbn = 978-0-86698-036-4 |volume= 4}} (Republished as ''The letters of Catherine of Siena'', 4 vols, trans Suzanne Noffke, (Tempe, AZ: [[Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies]], 2000–2008))

The Prayers are translated into English as:
* ''The Prayers of Catherine of Siena'', trans. Suzanne Noffke, 2nd edn 1983, (New York, 2001)

Raymond of Capua's ''Life'' was translated into English in 1493 and 1609, and in Modern English is translated as:
* {{cite book | last = Raymond of Capua |author-link=Raymond of Capua |editor= Conleth Kearns | title = The Life of Catherine of Siena | publisher = Glazier | location = Wilmington | year = 1980 | isbn = 978-0-89453-151-4 }}

Letter Excerpts translated into English:
* [https://catherineofsiena-spirituality.org/letters-illustrative-passages/ ''Letter Excerpts''], translations by Diana L. Villegas, Ph.D. from the [https://centrostudicateriniani.it/it/santa-caterina-da-siena/scritti ''Volpato critical edition''].

==See also==
*{{annotated link|Biblioteca Comunale degli Intronati}}
* [[Portal:Catholic Church/Patron Archive/April 29|Saint Catherine of Siena, patron saint archive]]
* [[St. Catherine of Siena's Church (disambiguation)|Churches dedicated to Catherine of Siena]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book|author=Raymond of Capua|author-link=Raymond of Capua|title=[[s:Life of Saint Catharine of Sienna|Life of Saint Catharine of Sienna]]|year=1862|publisher=P. J. Kenedy & Sons }}
*{{cite book|author=Blessed Raymond of Capua|title=The Life of St. Catherine of Siena|translator-last=Lamb|translator-first=George|location=Rockford, Illinois|publisher=TAN Books|year=2003|ref={{SfnRef|Raymond of Capua|2003}}}}
* {{Cite book|author=Catherine of Siena|title=The Dialogue|translator-last=Noffke|translator-first=Suzanne|publisher=Paulist Press|location=New York|year=1980|isbn=978-0-8091-2233-2|ref={{SfnRef|Noffke|1980}}|url=https://archive.org/details/dialogue00cath}}
* {{cite book | last1 = Hollister| first1 = Warren |last2=Bennett|first2=Judith |title = Medieval Europe: A Short History | url = https://archive.org/details/medievaleuropesh00holl_1| url-access = registration| publisher = McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. | location = Boston|edition=9| year = 2002| isbn = 9780072346572 }}
*{{cite journal |first=Finn |last=Skårderud |title=Hellig anoreksi Sult og selvskade som religiøse praksiser. Caterina av Siena (1347–80)|url=http://www.psykologtidsskriftet.no/?seks_id=42861&a=2 |journal=Tidsskrift for Norsk Psykologforening |volume=45|issue=4|pages=408–420|year=2008|access-date=12 May 2013|language=no}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|editor-last = Cross|editor-first = F. L.|title = The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church|publisher = Oxford U. P.|location = London|year = 2016|page = 251|isbn = 978-0-192-11655-0|url = https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary00late}}
* {{cite book | last = Emling| first = Shelley |title = Setting the World on Fire: The Brief, Astonishing Life of St. Catherine of Siena | publisher = St. Martin's Press| location = New York |year = 2016| isbn = 978-1-137-27980-4}}
* Girolamo Gigli, ed., ''L'opere di Santa Caterina da Siena'', 4 vols, (Siena e Lucca, 1707–1721)
* {{cite book| last = Hollister| first = Warren| author2 = Judith Bennett| title = Medieval Europe: A Short History| publisher = McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.| location = Boston| edition = 9| year = 2001| isbn = 978-0-07-234657-2| page = [https://archive.org/details/medievaleuropesh00holl_1/page/343 343]| url = https://archive.org/details/medievaleuropesh00holl_1/page/343}}
* {{cite book|last1=Faure|first1=Gabriel|title=Au pays de sainte Catherine de Sienne|date=1918|publisher=J. Rey|location=Grenoble|oclc=9435948}}
* {{cite book |last=McDermott|first=Thomas, OP|title=Catherine of Siena: spiritual development in her life and teaching|publisher=Paulist Press|location=New York|year=2008|isbn=978-0-8091-4547-8}}
* Carolyn Muessig, George Ferzoco, and Beverly Mayne Kienzle, eds., [https://books.google.com/books?id=6TQAtAtPDiAC ''A Companion to Catherine of Siena''], (Leiden: Brill, 2012), {{ISBN|978-90-04-20555-0}} / {{ISBN|978-90-04-22542-8}}.

==External links==
{{sister project links|wikt=no}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=2456}}
** [http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/8ltcb10.txt Letters of Catherine from Gutenberg]
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Catherine of Siena}}
* [http://www.intratext.com/Catalogo/Autori/AUT59.HTM Saint Catherine of Siena: Text with concordances and frequency list]
* [http://www.drawnbylove.com ''Drawn by Love, The Mysticism of Catherine of Siena'']
* [http://www.christianiconography.info/catherineSiena.html St. Catherine of Siena] at the [http://www.christianiconography.info Christian Iconography] web site
* [http://purl.stanford.edu/rm504km6504 ''Divae Catharinae Senensis Vita'' 15th-century manuscript] at ''Stanford Digital Repository''
* [http://www.stpetersbasilica.info/Exterior/Colonnades/Saints/St%20Catherine%20of%20Siena-117/StCatherineofSiena.htm St Catherine statue – St Peter's Square Colonnade Saints]
* {{cite web | url = https://digilander.libero.it/raxdi/caterina/inglese/index.htm | title = Saint Catherine of Siena: the ''De Docta Ignorantia '' | website = Invisible Monastery of charity and fraternity – Christian family prayer | language = en | archive-url = https://archive.today/20181031231642/https://digilander.libero.it/raxdi/caterina/inglese/index.htm | archive-date = 31 October 2018 | url-status = live | access-date = 31 October 2018 | df = dmy-all }}
* [https://catherineofsiena-spirituality.org Catherine of Siena's Spirituality]

{{Medieval women writers}}
{{Catholic saints}}
{{History of Catholic theology}}
{{History of the Roman Catholic Church}}
{{Subject bar |portal1=Saints |portal2= Biography |portal3= Christianity |portal4= Italy}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1347 births]]
[[Category:1380 deaths]]
[[Category:14th-century Christian mystics]]
[[Category:14th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:14th-century Italian Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns]]
[[Category:14th-century Italian Roman Catholic theologians]]
[[Category:14th-century Italian women writers]]
[[Category:14th-century people from the Republic of Florence]]
[[Category:14th-century philosophers]]
[[Category:Medieval letter writers]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the Republic of Florence]]
[[Category:Anglican saints]]
[[Category:Burials at Santa Maria sopra Minerva]]
[[Category:Catholic philosophers]]
[[Category:Christian ethicists]]
[[Category:Deaths from anorexia nervosa]]
[[Category:Doctors of the Church]]
[[Category:Dominican mystics]]
[[Category:Dominican saints]]
[[Category:Dominican theologians]]
[[Category:Female saints of medieval Italy]]
[[Category:Incorrupt saints]]
[[Category:Italian hermits]]
[[Category:Women hermits]]
[[Category:Italian letter writers]]
[[Category:Women letter writers]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholic saints]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholic writers]]
[[Category:Women ambassadors of Italy]]
[[Category:Italian women philosophers]]
[[Category:Lay Dominicans]]
[[Category:Neurological disease deaths in Lazio]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic mystics]]
[[Category:People from Siena]]
[[Category:Pre-Reformation saints of the Lutheran liturgical calendar]]
[[Category:Stigmatics]]
[[Category:Women Christian theologians]]
[[Category:Women mystics]]
[[Category:Women religious writers]]