Catherine of Siena, Saint (1347–1380)

A mystic and visionary, and a noted literary figure of the early Italian Renaissance, Catherine Benincasa was born in the Tuscan town of Siena to a wool dyer. She experienced religious visions as a child and withdrew to a tiny room in her father's house, taking little food, practicing selfmortification, sleeping on a hard wooden plank, and living the life of a religious hermit. After joining the Dominican order at the age of eighteen she gradually ended her solitude, tending to the poor and the sick, even as the city was struck by a deadly outbreak of plague. She attracted a small crowd of devoted followers and became famous throughout the city and its surroundings for her virtue and saintliness. She was often called on to mediate disputes and involved herself in the wars between the church and several cities of northern Italy that had banded together to rebel against papal authority. When Pope Gregory XI raised an army to threaten Florence, one of the rebel cities, she traveled to the papal court in Avignon, France, to mediate the conflict. After arriving in Avignon, she urged the pope to return his court to Rome, against the opposition of French cardinals who were then dominating the church administration.

After the death of Gregory, his successor Urban followed her advice and returned to Rome, but the church was soon split between two candidates; Catherine supported Urban, elected by the cardinals of Rome, against Clement, supported by the French. Catherine diligently wrote to the men involved in this Great Schism, attempting through sheer force of personality and eloquence to heal the breach. Impressed by her insight and the force of her personality, Urban invited her to live in Rome, where she died in 1380. Her literary works include several hundred letters written to the popes and princes of Europe and the Dialogue of Divine Providence. Catherine was revered throughout Europe for her asceticism and her devotion to the church, as well as her startling and energetic involvement in worldly affairs. She was canonized by Pope Pius II in 1461.