Caterina Benincasa was born in Siena in 1347, one of the youngest of the many children of a wool dyer. As a girl she gave herself to Christ, and at about sixteen she received the habit of the Mantellate, Dominican women of penance who lived in their own homes. After years of silence and prayer in her room she went out to serve the sick, the poor and the condemned of her city, and a circle of disciples gathered round her.
Her letters, dictated to secretaries, reached popes, kings, captains and ordinary people. In 1376 she travelled to Avignon to make peace between Florence and the pope, and urged Gregory XI to return to Rome, which he did in January 1377. In 1377 and 1378 she dictated The Dialogue, a conversation between her soul and God on truth, discretion, prayer and Christ the Bridge between heaven and earth.
Catherine of Siena in the library (3 works)
- Diálogos de santa Catalina de Sena — 1378; traducción de 1797 · en español
El Diálogo de la santa de Siena: la conversación de su alma con Dios sobre la verdad, la oración y Cristo, el Puente. - The Dialogue of St Catherine of Siena — 1378; translation 1896
Catherine's conversation with God on truth, discretion, prayer and obedience, and Christ the Bridge between heaven and earth. - Saint Catherine of Siena as Seen in Her Letters — 1370s; translation 1905
Catherine's letters to popes, princes, friends and disciples, with an introduction to her life.