Catherine of Siena: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Italian Dominican philosopher and saint (1347–1380)}}

{{More citations needed|date=March 2026}}

| image          = Giovanni Battista Tiepolo 096.jpg

| venerated_in  = {{ubl|[[Catholic Church]]|[[Anglican Communion]]<ref>{{cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/holy-women-holy-men |title= Holy Men and Holy Women Celebrating the Saints (E-book)|author= <!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|date= 2009

|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120907015441/http://diobeth.typepad.com/files/holy-women-holy-men.pdf |archive-date= September 7, 2012 }}</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>}}

| feast_day      = 29 April; 30 April (Roman Calendar, 1628–1969); 4 October ([[Feast of Saints Francis and Catherine|Italian civil calendar with Saint Francis]])

'''Caterina di Jacopo di Benincasa''' (25 March 1347 – 29 April 1380), known as '''Catherine of Siena''', was an Italian Catholic [[Christian mysticism|mystic]] and diplomat who engaged in papal and Italian politics through extensive letter-writing and advocacy. [[Canonization#Catholic Church|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 ''mantellates'', a group of pious women, primarily widows, informally devoted to [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] spirituality; later these types of urban pious groups would be formalized as the [[Third Order of Saint Dominic|Third Order 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 Papacy|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.

Catherine dictated to secretaries her set of spiritual treatises, ''[[The Dialogue of Saint Catherine of Siena|The Dialogue of Divine Providence]]'', between 1377 and 1378. Thereafter, 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 [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|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. Her funeral and burial took place in the [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva|Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva]] in Rome.

Devotion to Catherine developed rapidly after her death. [[Pope Pius II]] canonized her in 1461; she was declared a [[patron 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 [[Symbols of Europe#Patron saints|patron saint of Europe]].

 

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

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 [[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 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." Although her family often interrupted her external solitude, she cultivated an interior life of recollection and prayer that she believed no external circumstance could take away.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Life of Saint Catharine of Sienna/Part 1 - Wikisource, the free online library |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Life_of_Saint_Catharine_of_Sienna/Part_1 |access-date=2026-05-15 |website=en.wikisource.org |language=en}}</ref>

 

She also imagined her father as representing Christ, her mother the Blessed Virgin Mary, and her brothers the Apostles. 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>

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 name=":5">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" />

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}}

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> Her criticism of clerical corruption did not lessen her strong view of obedience to the papal office. Johannes Jørgensen summarized Catherine's position as teaching that even if the pope were "Satan incarnate", Christians should not rebel against him, because dishonor shown to the pope, as "Christ on earth", was dishonor shown to Christ.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jørgensen |first=Johannes |title=Saint Catherine of Siena |translator=Ingeborg Lund |publisher=Longmans, Green and Co. |location=London, New York, and Toronto |year=1938 |pages=201–202, 222}}</ref> Catherine made the same point directly in Letter 68, addressed to the leaders of Florence, where she argued that even if "the priests, the pastors, and Christ-on-earth were incarnate devils", Christians should remain "obedient and subject to them", not for their personal virtue, but "for the sake of God, and out of obedience to Him."<ref>{{cite book |last=Catherine of Siena |author-link=Catherine of Siena |chapter=Letter 68: To the Signori of Florence |title=The Letters of Catherine of Siena |volume=2 |translator=Suzanne Noffke |publisher=Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies |location=Tempe, Arizona |year=2001 |pages=138–141}}</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 returned his administration to Rome in January 1377; to what extent this was due to Catherine's influence is a topic of modern debate.<ref>See Bernard McGinn, ''The Varieties of Vernacular Mysticism'', (Herder & Herder, 2012), p. 561.</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 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" />

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>

[[File:Caterina - Libro della divina dottrina, circa 1475 - 2367969.jpg|thumb|{{lang|it|Libro della divina dottrina}} (commonly known as ''[[The Dialogue of Saint Catherine of Siena|The Dialogue of Divine Providence]]''), {{Circa|1475|lk=no}}]]

* Her major treatise is ''[[The Dialogue of Saint Catherine of Siena|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 name=":4">{{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>

According to the writings attributed to Catherine, in 1377 she had a vision in which the Virgin Mary 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, pp. 355–356.</ref>

 

 

Catherine demonstrated sophisticated and powerful rhetorical style, both as an orator and in her written work, particularly her correspondence. Her epistolary abilities were nurtured during the Middle Ages, a time when letter writing provided a platform for women to engage in communication.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Herrick|first=James A.|title=The History and Theory of Rhetoric: An Introduction|publisher=Routledge|year=2018|edition=6th}}</ref> According to [[James A. Herrick]], a scholar of rhetoric, women’s engagement in letter writing faced fewer obstacles than literature or homiletics,<ref name=":02" /> a medium which provided a gateway for Catherine's rhetorical development. Letter writing relied on the use of the vernacular rather than classical languages used by nobility and the clergy.<ref name=":02" /> Because men of the late Medieval period were embroiled in wars during this violent time, women were more involved in household business and also had more time to develop literary skills than their male contemporaries.<ref name=":02" /> Dictamen manuals, written by men, provided strict guidelines on the proper form for writing letters at this time,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Paul Hayward, Lancaster University |title=Seminar III: Letters and Letter Collections |url=https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/staff/haywardp/hist424/seminars/03.htm#:~:text=The%20appearance%20from%20the%20late,half%20of%20the%20thirteenth%20century. |access-date=2026-04-19 |website=www.lancaster.ac.uk}}</ref> with style and conventions that Catherine learned to master.<ref name=cf>{{Cite journal |last=Forbes |first=Cheryl |date=April 2004 |title=The Radical Rhetoric of Caterina da Siena |url=https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327981rr2302_2 |journal=Rhetoric Review |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=121–140 |doi=10.1207/s15327981rr2302_2 |issn=0735-0198|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

 

 

 

In 1717, [[Girolamo Gigli]] created the dictionary, ''Vocabolario Cateriniano,'' translated "Catrininian Vocabulary", which catalogued hundreds of words from Catherine's written work and also contains essays about her extensive vocabulary and her contributions to the Italian language.<ref>Fleckenstein, K. S. (2011). Out of “Wonderful Silence” Come “Sweet Words”: The Rhetorical Authority of St. Catherine of Siena. In C. (ed. and introd. . Glenn & K. (ed. and introd. . Ratcliffe (Eds.), ''Silence and Listening as Rhetorical Arts'' (pp. 37–55). Southern Illinois University Press.</ref>

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 her body 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>

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>

Catherine has been ranked highly among the mystics and spiritual writers of the Catholic Church.<ref name="foley" /> She remains a respected and notable figure of interest in all aspects of research to this day (2026) with 49,200 scholarly works<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Google Scholar search for "Catherine of Siena" conducted on April 25, 2026, yielded approximately 49,200 results |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0,50&q=Catherine+of+Siena&btnG= |access-date=2026-04-25 |website=scholar.google.com}}</ref> about her, her writings, acts, life, and influence.

In his decree of 13 April 1866, [[Pope Pius IX]] declared Catherine of Siena to be a co-patron 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 patron 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>

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 [[hagiography|hagiographic]], written to promote her sanctity, it is an important early source for historians seeking to reconstruct Catherine's life. Various sources are 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 |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>

File:St Catherine. San Domenico.jpg|alt=St. Catherine of Siena, wearing a white veil and black mantle, holds a stalk of lilies.|[[Andrea Vanni]], fresco of St. Catherine of Siena (c. 1400)

File:Catherine of Siena prey.jpg|alt=St. Catherine of Siena, wearing a white veil and black mantle, kneels in prayer before an altar with a crucifix.|[[Vecchietta]], Arliquiera (1445) detail

File:Giovanni di Paolo, Predella Panel from an Altarpiece, St. Catherine of Siena Invested with the Dominican Habit (1460s).png|alt=St. Catherine of Siena, wearing a white robe and veil, is offered religious garments by Saints Dominic, Augustine, and Francis in heaven. She chooses the black mantle of St. Dominic.|[[Giovanni di Paolo]], Predella Panel from an Altarpiece: St. Catherine of Siena Invested with the Dominican Habit (1460s)

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:Fungai Bernardino, Communion of Saint Catherine of Siena (1490s).png|alt=St. Catherine of Siena, wearing a white veil and black mantle, and with a golden halo, kneels to receive mystical communion from an angel.|[[Bernardino Fungai]], Communion of Saint Catherine of Siena (1490s)

File:Fra Bartolomeo, Saint Catherine of Siena (1509).jpg|alt=St. Catherine of Siena, wearing a white veil and black mantle, and with a golden halo, holds a stalk of lilies.|[[Fra Bartolomeo]], Saint Catherine of Siena (1509)

File:Domenico Beccafumi - Saint Catherine of Siena Receiving the Stigmata - 97.PB.25 - J. Paul Getty Museum.jpg|alt=St. Catherine of Siena, wearing a white veil and black mantle, with a golden halo, kneels before an altar with a crucifix as she receives the stigmata, expressed as golden threads of light.|[[Domenico Beccafumi]], Saint Catherine of Siena Receiving the Stigmata (1513–15)

File:Beccafumi - A Vision of Saint Catherine of Siena, K1203, Philbrook Museum of Art.jpg|alt=St. Catherine of Siena, wearing a white veil and black mantle, kneels by a stalk of lilies to receive a crown of thorns from Christ in the clouds.|[[Domenico Beccafumi]], A Vision of Saint Catherine of Siena (1528)

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:Francesco Vanni, Saint Catherine of Siena (1566).png|alt=St. Catherine of Siena, wearing a white veil and black mantle, contemplates a crucifix intertwined with lilies and a skull.|[[Francesco Vanni]], Saint Catherine of Siena (1566)

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) (possibly 16th century)

File:San Domenico74.jpg|''St Catherine's mystic communion'' by [[Francesco Brizzi]] (1615)

File:St Catherine of Siena by Ercole Ferrata (Chigi Chapel, Siena).jpg|alt=St. Catherine of Siena, wearing a mantle and veil, a crown of thorns upon her head, holds a stalk of lilies.|[[Ercole Ferrata]], St. Catherine of Siena (1660s)

File:5850 - Milano - San Nazaro - Dipinto - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto - 7-Feb-2008.jpg|alt=St. Catherine of Siena, wearing a white veil and black mantle, places her hands on her heart as a cherub holds a stalk of lilies above her.|Painting of St. Catherine of Siena (17th c.)

File:Saint Catherine Of Siena, 17th-Century Flemish School.jpg|alt=St. Catherine of Siena, wearing a white veil and black mantle, and a crown of thorns, and with a golden halo, embraces a crucifix intertwined with lilies.|Saint Catherine Of Siena, 17th-Century Flemish School

File:Joseph Hasslwander - Die heilige Katharina mit Monstranz - 4506 - Österreichische Galerie Belvedere.jpg|alt=St. Catherine of Siena, wearing a white mantle and robe, with a black veil, holds a monstrance.|Joseph Hasslwander, St. Catherine with Monstrance (1838)

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: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:Francesco Messina, Statue of St. Catherine of Siena (1961) detail.jpg|alt=St. Catherine of Siena, wearing a veil and mantle, holds a stalk of lilies.|[[Francesco Messina]], St. Catherine of Siena (1961)

File:Dolci, Carlo - St. Catherine of Siena - Google Art Project.jpg|Saint Catherine of Siena by [[Carlo Dolci]]  

* [[Phyllis Hodgson]] and Gabriel M. Liegey, eds., ''The Orcherd of Syon'', (London; New York: Oxford University Press, 1966) [A Middle English translation of the ''Dialogo'' from the early fifteenth century, first printed in 1519].

* {{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, Arizona: [[Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies]], 2000–2008))

* {{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 Incorporated |location=Boston, Massachusetts |edition=9 |year=2002 |isbn=9780072346572}}

* {{cite book |editor-last=Cross |editor-first=F. L. |title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church |publisher=Oxford U. P. |location=London, England |year=2016 |page=251 |isbn=978-0-192-11655-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary00late}}

* {{cite book |last=Hollister |first=Warren |author2=Judith Bennett |title=Medieval Europe: A Short History |publisher=McGraw-Hill Companies Incorporated |location=Boston, Massachusetts |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}}

* [https://www.stpetersbasilica.info/Exterior/Colonnades/Saints/St%20Catherine%20of%20Siena-117/StCatherineofSiena.htm St Catherine statue – St Peter's Square Colonnade Saints]

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