Shrine of St. Catherine, Siena
The house and shrine of St. Catherine of Siena. Photo by Rob Innes.
View of the house of St. Catherine. Photo by ilaria.
Location map and aerial view of St. Catherine's shrine. For a larger view,
see our Siena Map or get our free Google Earth download.
Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-80) was a lay-affiliate of the Dominican Order famed for her intellect and mystical visions of Christ. Her house and shrine is in her hometown of Siena, Italy.
History
Catherine was born in Siena on March 25, 1347. She was the 23rd child out of 25 (her twin, the 24th, died at birth); her parents were Giacomo di Benincasa, a cloth-dyer, and his wife, Lapa.
As a tertiary or lay affiliate, Catherine lived at home rather than in a convent. Far from leading to laxity, this arrangement allowed her to practiced austerities that a prioress would probably not have permitted.
She is especially famous for fasting and practicing physical mortifications in ways that sound unhealthy to the modern mind; the recent scholar Rudolph Bell uses her life as an example in his book Holy Anorexia.
In about 1366 Catherine experienced what she described in her letters as a Mystical Marriage with Jesus, and in 1370 she received a series of visions of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. After these visions she heard a command to abandon her withdrawn life and enter the public life of the world.
Catherine began to write letters to those in authority, especially begging for peace between the republics and principalities of Italy and for the return of the papacy from Avignon to Rome.
She had a detailed correspondence with Pope Gregory XI, also asking him to reform the clergy and the administration of the Papal States.
In June of 1376 she went to Avignon herself as ambassador of Florence to make peace with the Papal States, but was unsuccessful. She impressed the Pope so much, however, that he returned his administration to Rome in January of 1377. In the Great Schism of 1378 she supported Pope Urban VI, who summoned her to Rome. She lived there until her death on April 29, 1380).
Pope Pius II canonized Catherine in 1461, and her letters are considered one of the great works of early Tuscan literature. Her feast day is April 29.
What to See
The Shrine of Saint Catherine occupies the site of Catherine's family home, where she was born in 1347 and where she lived her austere early life as a Dominican affiliate.
The house and has been much adapted; it is now a series of chapels dedicated to the beloved saint. The marble well dates to the 15th or 16th century.
The Basilica San Domenico, just up the hill nearby, contains the incorrupt head of St. Catherine.
- St. Catherine of Siena - Catholic Encyclopedia
- St. Catherine of Siena - Patron Saints Index
