St. Catherine of Siena

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Fra Bartolommeo: God the Father with SS. Catherine of Siena and Mary Magdalene

St. Catherine of Siena

Q: Who is St. Catherine of Siena?

St. Catherine of Siena was a Dominican tertiary and mystic who lived in Italy in the 1300s. She was known for her holiness, asceticism , and spiritual visions and was said to have received stigmata . She was also a reformer and political activist, and she was influential in religious and political affairs of the church.

Q: Why is St. Catherine of Siena famous?

St. Catherine of Siena is one of only four women who were named doctor of the church , meaning that her writings, including the mystical The Dialogue and her prayers and letters, have special authority in Roman Catholicism. She was an important defender of the papacy and is a patron saint of Europe and of Italy.

Q: Where is St. Catherine of Siena buried?

St. Catherine of Siena died at age 33 in Rome , and most of her body is buried there at Santa Maria sopra Minerva basilica. Her mummified head is in a reliquary near her thumb in the church of St. Dominic in Siena , while her foot and three of her fingers are holy relics in Venice .

Italian mystic

Also known as: Caterina Benincasa

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Dec 6, 2024 • Article History

Quick Facts

Original name:: Caterina Benincasa

Born:: March 25, 1347, Siena, Tuscany [Italy]

Died:: April 29, 1380, Rome (aged 33)

Who is St. Catherine of Siena?

Why is St. Catherine of Siena famous?

Where is St. Catherine of Siena buried?

St. Catherine of Siena (born March 25, 1347, Siena, Tuscany [Italy]—died April 29, 1380, Rome; canonized 1461; feast day April 29) was a Dominican tertiary and mystic who is one of the most revered holy women in the Roman Catholic Church. One of the patron saints of Italy, she was declared a doctor of the church in 1970 and a patron saint of Europe in 1999. (Read Britannica’s essay “Women of Faith: Meet the Four Female Doctors of the Church.”) Catherine was the youngest of 25 children born into a lower middle-class family; most of her siblings did not survive ...(100 of 529 words)

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