A 14th century mystic, doctor of the Church, child of a large family and holy woman drew The Record’s Bridget Spinks to her birthplace in Siena in September this year. This feature is the last in the trilogy of travel features sponsored by Harvest Pilgrimages.
St Catherine of Siena was born in 1347, the 24th of 25 children. She died at 33, having written 381 letters, 26 prayers and The Dialogue: a mystical conversation with God, which she dictated to scribes while she was in ecstasy.
Now, more than 630 years later, this Doctor of the Church inspires people the world over to visit her birthplace.
When St Catherine of Siena was born, the Papal throne had been moved from Rome to Avignon.
It was a troubling time because the successive pontificates of several Frenchmen in Avignon from 1309-78 were under the influence of the French Crown.
It was thanks to St Catherine’s encouragement that finally Pope Urban VI returned to his seat in Rome in 1378.
St Catherine was born in Siena, in the mid-north region of Tuscany, which is today only about three hours north by train from Rome. Although it is not a big town, it is sometimes steep to walk round (especially noticeable if you bring a heavy suitcase).
Fr Alfredo Scarciglia, a Dominican priest who has lived in Siena for 19 years, said St Catherine is the woman of his life.
He’s one of six Dominican friars living in the priory next to the Sienese Basilica of St Dominic that has since been dedicated to St Catherine.
He said he loves studying her and is always happy to speak about her thanks to her letters, prayers and the Dialogue; she “always has the right word for the situation”.
“We can find her presence and her heart and her spirit in all of this,” he said. Ironically, although prolific in her political letter writing, she learnt to write only when she was about 30, in the year she wrote The Dialogue.
Fr Scarciglia, who has written five books of poetry and several books about St Catherine including Catherine of Siena dialogues with God, the Merciful Father said St Catherine was an extraordinary woman because from a young age she had a continual rapport with God.
“She’s not like St Francis who, at a certain point, had a conversion; she always had that connection with God,” he said.
“At six, she had a vision above this Basilica: she saw Jesus dressed as the Pope. Jesus saw her, smiled and blessed her. She was a mystic from that point on, from six.”
At the age of 7 she made a vow of virginity and at 16, Catherine joined the tertiary order of Dominicans called the “Mantellate” and at 18, when she received the habit, she began to live in solitude and silence in her room.
She would only leave it to attend Mass at the Basilica of St Dominic, which was just up the road.
In her early 20s, after Catherine was “mystically married” to Christ she began to rejoin her family and serve the poor and the sick with her sisters in the Mantellate.
A few years before her death in 1377 she received the Stigmata when she was in Pisa.
At her request, it was invisible to the rest of the world.
Famously, St Catherine travelled to Avignon to visit the Pope on behalf of the city-state of Florence.
On her return, she stopped at a castle in Belcaro to set up a strict monastery.
Perhaps most marvellously in 1377-78, when Catherine was on a peace-making mission in Rocca D’Orcia, she went into ecstasy and dictated to scribes the words God spoke to her in response to four petitions.
We know this because in addition to her own written work, there are two main accounts of the saint written by others.
Her third confessor, Raymond of Capua, wrote the first ‘major’ biography about the saint.
An early disciple of the saint, Tommaso d’Antonio Nacci da Siena (commonly known as Caffarini) wrote A second ‘minor’ account of the saint’s life.
Together these works help to pull together the picture of the most marvellous event in St Catherine’s life – her dialogue with God.
To capture something of St Catherine while in Siena, reading a few passages from The Dialogue is highly recommended.
A recent translation (1980) of The Dialogue by Dominican Sr Suzanne Noffke has made the text accessible for a modern audience. In the introduction to her translation of The Dialogue she explains that we don’t posses the totally “original” manuscript of The Dialogue and that access to The Dialogue came through a comparison of the manuscripts from the hands of Catherine’s immediate disciples.
Despite the complex process of translation, according to Sr Noffke OP the Dialogue is theologically sound – “theologically there is nothing new or original”.
“Catherine is completely immersed in the main current of Catholic teaching, and she is impeccably orthodox even in subtle distinctions where one might expect her, untrained as she was in formal theology, to have slipped up at least occasionally,” she said.
Fr Scarciglia said that St Catherine is a Doctor of the Church because her writings are always current and she is a teacher for us of prayer because everything can be prayer.
“You can be out serving people, but in your heart, always be in communion with God,” he said. St Catherine’s body and her head have been split up since her death.
Her head and one of her fingers are on display in Siena, in the Dominican Basilica of St Catherine (Basilica di San Domenico), while her decapitated body is in Rome: in the Dominican church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.
In 1940 St Catherine was made Patron of Italy along with St Francis and in 1970, Pope Paul VI gave her the title Doctor of the Church, along with St Teresa of Avila.
Holy travel tips
The House and Sanctuary of St Catherine is halfway up a hill and is very important for the pilgrim visitor because although it has been converted into chapels and oratories, these are filled with reminders of the saint’s presence since, in 1466, the Council of Siena bought the house in which she was born.
In the Upper Oratory, several great paintings depicting scenes from the life of the mystic line the walls, and you can also see what was once her family’s kitchen. Across from the Upper Oratory (and a big statue of St Catherine), you’ll see a very ornate chapel. This is called the Church of the Crucifix because when Catherine was in Pisa, it was at prayer before this Crucifix she received the Stigmata. The Crucifix has since been moved here to be preserved and venerated.
The Lower Oratory is where Catherine’s father had a workshop. Make sure you go downstairs to see Catherine’s bedroom (a bare cell), as it was here that she spent most of her time, especially from the ages of 18-20 until her mystical espousal. Look out for a beautifully embroidered bag, which contained medicines, or herbs that St Catherine would take with her when visiting the sick. You could also see the bag, which carried her head back to Siena and also the top of a walking stick, which belonged to her. There is also a beautiful white statue of Saint Catherine kneeling and praying with arms outstretched within the cell. If you get the chance, ask to visit the Cellar, which is beneath the lower Oratory. Still in its original state, it was the scene of many miracles.
The Basilica of St Dominic (San Domenico) is a must. Catherine’s family only lived around the corner from this Basilica, as it was above this Basilica that St Catherine, as a child, had a vision of Jesus. Her head and one of her fingers is on display here.
How did they move her head to Siena?
This most important relic was brought from Rome to Siena by Blessed Raymond of Capua in 1383 and originally it was placed in a copper container and later transferred to a silver one (now empty but still on display in the Basilica). In 1711 it was removed to an urn in the form of a lamp made by the sculptor Giovanni Piamontini. It remained there until 1947, when the Dominican Fathers decided to place it in its actual silver urn in a niche resembling a small gothic temple. After nearly two centuries of construction, the Basilica was finally dedicated entirely to St Catherine and a statue of her was placed even at the top of the bell tower.
Where are the original manuscripts?
After her canonisation in 1461, the most precious manuscripts and the relics of St Catherine were transferred to the Basilica of St Dominic. These twelve codices in 1700 were placed behind a painting above the altar in the Sacristy and formed the so-called “virginal library”. Today they are in the public library.
Siena: Home of the Palio
This medieval horse race called Il Palio continues to take place today. It coincides with two religious feast days: 2 July, when there is a local festival in honour of Our Lady of Provenzano; and 16 August, in honour of the feast day of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. The tradition began in the Middle Ages when Siena was once divided into 59 districts, which would give troops to defend Siena from Florence and other neighbouring city-states. Over the years, these districts have been consolidated down to 17, but for safety reasons, only ten districts may participate in the Palio. Ten riders from ten of the 17 city districts ride two laps bareback around the Piazza del Campo and anticipation builds before the race as a two-hour pageant called the Corte Storico takes place. Go and see where this takes place on the Piazza del Campo (above) and if you go around the time it is on, you will see flags lining the streets in the competing region’s colours.
Source: www.basilicacateriniana.com/storia_en.htm
The Dialogue, with introduction and translation by Sr Suzanne Noffke OP (1980) and published by Paulist Press is available for sale at The Record Bookshop for $40.95.
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