She was the twenty-fifth child of a wool dyer and his wife, who lived in northern Italy. She became a Third Order Dominican at the age of sixteen. Though never educated in any formal way, she was one of the most brilliant theological minds of her day. This was because of special graces and inspiration given her by God. She succeeded in persuading the Pope to go back to Rome from Avignon, in 1377, and when she died she was endeavoring to heal the Great Western Schism, which had begun in 1378. Her letters, four hundred or more of them, and a treatise which is innocently called “a dialogue,” are among the most brilliant writings of the saints in the history of the Catholic Church. Saint Catherine was thirty-three years old when she died, the same age as Jesus at His death. Saint Catherine of Siena is the patron saint of Italy. By way of letting her know how much He knew she loved Him, Jesus gave her the wounds of the nails and the spear in her hands, her feet and her side. She was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI in 1970.
Carlo Dolci (1616–1686), “St. Catherine of Siena,” c. 1665-70
