Catherine of Siena

(1347 - 1380)

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Updated:
09:28 pm, 10 Jul 2008

Synopsis

CATHARINA OF SIENNA (Catharina Benincasa), b. 1347; d. April 29, 1380; assumed the habit of the Third Order of St. Dominic in 1365, and enjoyed, on account of the austerity of her asceticism and the ecstatic state of her mind, so great a fame that at several occasions she could play a conspicuous part in politics as mediator between Florence and Rome, between Urban VI. and Clement VII., between Rome and Naples, etc. She was canonized in 1461 by Pius II. Her festival is observed on April 30. She left three hundred and seventy-three letters addressed to popes, cardinals, princes, etc., six treatises under the common title Libro della Divina Dottrina, some prayers, prophecies, etc., which were published by Aldus Manutius, Venice, 1500, and again by Girolarno Gigli, Sienna, 1707-26. A separate edition of the letters, chronologically arranged, was

[422]

given by Nicolo Tornmaseo, Florence, 1860. Her life was written by Raimund of Capua, her confessor (Act. Sanct., April, T. III. pp. 852sqq.); by! Chavin de Malan, Paris, 1846; Alfonso Capacclatro, Florence, 1855; llase, Leipsic, 1864; Olga von Leonrad, Cologne, 1880. The Processus Contestationum super Sanctitate et Doctrina Beatæ Catitarinæ de Senis is given by Martene and Durand, in Vet. Script. collectio, VI. See in English, J. E. BUTLER: Catherine of Sienna, 3d ed., London, 1881; AUGUSTA THEODO5IA DRANE: Catharine of Sienna, London, 1880, 2 vols., 2d ed., 1887.

"Catherina of Sienna," Philip Schaff, ed., A Religious Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology, 3rd edn, Vol. 1. Toronto, New York & London: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1894. pp.421-422.

Primary Sources

	Augusta Theodosia Drane, The History of St. Catherine of Siena and her companions: with a Translation of Her Treatise on Consummate Perfection, 4th edn London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1915. pp.xxiii + 389.
	Catherine of Siena, Letters of Catherine of Siena, The: Letters 1-70. Suzanne Noffke, translator, Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies Series. Arizona Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, 2000. Hbk. ISBN: 0866982442. pp.672. {Amazon.com}

Secondary Sources

	Kate Austin-Lund & Sigrid Undset, Catherine of Siena. London, 1954. pp.293.
	Lavinia Byrne, The Life and Wisdom of Catherine of Siena. Saints Alive. London: Hodder & Stoughton Religious, 1998. Pbk. ISBN: 0340709731. pp.78. {Amazon.com}
	Rosemarie Carfagna, "Formative Themes from Catherine of Siena," Studies in Formative Spirituality 12.2 (1991): 245-252.
	Guiliana Cavallini, Catherine of Siena. Outstanding Christian Thinkers. Continuum International Publishing Group - Geoffrey Chapman, 1998. Pbk. ISBN: 0225667657. pp.154. {Amazon.com}
	Paul M. Conner, "Catherine of Siena and Raymond of Capua - Enduring Friends," Studia Mystica 12.1 (1989): 22-29.
	Mary Jeremiah "The Theological Anthropology of Catherine of Siena," Communio: International Catholic Review 20.2 (1993): 457-462.
	Paul Murray, "Catherine of Siena: The Saint of Our Humanity," Chicago Studies 38.1 (1999): 60-69.
	Bernard McGinn, "Catherine of Siena: Apostle of the Blood of Christ," Theology Digest 48.4 (2001): 329-342.
	Mary O'Driscoll, Catherine of Siena. New Rochelle, NY: New City Press, 1994. Pbk. ISBN: 1565480589. pp.141. {Amazon.com}
	Martha Grace Reese, "Saint Catherine of Siena: The Way of Mystic Madness," Religious Traditions 11 (1988): 39-53.
	Sandra M. Schneiders, "Spiritual Discernment in the Dialogue of Saint Catherine of Siena," Horizons 9.1 (1982): 47-59.
	Karen Scott, "St. Catherine of Siena, 'Apostola'," Church History 61.1 (1992): 34-46.
	Diana L. Villegas, "Discernment in Catherine of Siena," Theological Studies 58.1 (1997): 19-38.