Comprehensive information and links about Saint Catherine of Siena

Saint Catherine of Siena (Siena, Italy, March 25, 1347 – April 29, 1380 in Rome) was a Dominican Tertiary or lay-affiliate of the Dominican Order. Catherine 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. At the age of seven she consecrated her virginity to Christ; in her sixteenth year she took the habit of the Dominican Tertiaries. As a tertiary, Catherine lived at home rather than in a convent, and she practiced austerities there which a prioress would probably not have permitted. She is especially famous for fasting, living for long periods of time on nothing but the Blessed Sacrament. Scholar Rudolph Bell uses her life as an example in his book (1985).

In about 1366 she experienced what she described in her letters as a 'Mystical Marriage' with Jesus, after which she began to tend the sick and serve the poor. In 1370 she received a series of visions of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven after which she heard a command to leave her withdrawn life and enter the public life of the world. She began to write letters to men and women 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. During the Western Schism of 1378 she was an adherent of Pope Urban VI, who summoned her to Rome where she lived until her death in 1380.

Her letters are considered one of the great works of early Tuscan literature. More than 300 letters have survived. Her major work is the .

Pope Pius II canonized Catherine in 1461. Her feast day is April 29. Pope Paul VI bestowed on her in 1970 the title of Doctor of the Church, the first woman ever to receive this honor. In 1999 Pope John Paul II made her one of Europe's patron saints.

Her is in Rome, her head in Siena and her foot in Venice.

Saint Catherine is also the patroness of the historically Catholic American sorority, Theta Phi Alpha.