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Caterina Benincasa was born in Siena, Italy, on March 25, 1347, the youngest but one of a very large family of modest means belonging to the lower middle-class faction of tradesmen and petty notaries. Her father, Giacomo di Benincasa, was a dyer; her mother, Lapa, the daughter of a local poet. It is probable that she learned to read at an early age but writing was an art that she didn't manage to acquire until she was an adult. Even as a child she claimed to see visions and to practise extreme austerities. When she was seven years old she committed herself to Christ, and when she was sixteen she took the habit of the Third order of St. Dominica, but she continued to live at home, spending hours in prayer and contemplation in a little room of her father's house. After three years of celestial visitations and familiar conversations with Christ she underwent the mystical experience known as 'spiritual espousal'. After this she started to live more of a family life, and began to tend the sick, especially those afflicted with the more repulsive diseases, and to work for the conversion of sinners. She herself was often suffering terrible physical pain, no doubt bought on by her living for long intervals on little food save the Blessed Sacrament. In spite of this she always appeared radiantly happy and full of practical wisdom. All her contemporaries bore witness to her extraordinary personal charm which prevailed over the continual persecution to which she was subjected by the friars and sisters of her own order, and she began to gather disciples, both men and women, around her. In 1370, in response to a vision, she began to take part in public life, and began to dictate letters on spiritual matters to men and women in every condition of life, and corresponding with the princes and republics of Italy. In 1376 she travelled to Avignon and convinced the pope, Gregory XI, to end the exile in Avignon and return to the papacy's traditional home, Rome, which he did in January of the following year. She also advocated a crusade against the Muslims in the hope of uniting the powers of Christendom against the infidels, and worked towards restoring peace in Italy which was being destroyed by wandering bands of mercenary soldiers. She also managed to bring peace between the Holy See and Florence, which had revolted against papal authority because of mismanagement by the papal officials. It was in 1375 that she was reported to have received the five wounds of the stigmata, which, at her special request, were only visible to herself until her death. Caterina spent the greater part of 1377 effecting a spiritual revival in the country districts under the rule of Siena, and it is at this time that she learned to write, though she chiefly relied on secretaries for her correspondence. In 1378, Pope Gregory sent her to Florence to make a final effort to bring peace. But somehow she got involved in the internal politics of the city, and during a riot on 22nd. June an attempt was made on her life. She was bitterly disappointed at her escape, declaring that her sins had deprived her of 'the red rose of martyrdom'. Following the death of Pope Gregory in 1378, the cardinals somehow managed to elect two popes, and thus started the Great Schism. From the beginning, Caterina supported the Roman claimant, Urban VI, who, towards the end of the year, summoned her to Rome. There she spent what remained of her life working for the reformation of the Church, helping the destitute and nursing the afflicted, and all the time dispatching letters to all and sundry in all directions on behalf of Urban VI. But rapidly her strength failed. After a prolonged and mysterious agony which lasted for three months she died on 29th. April 1380, which happened to be the Sunday before Ascension. She was canonized by Pope Pious II in 1461, and her feast is commemorated on the anniversary of the day of her death. BILL HUTCHINGS |
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page last updated 20 JULY 2002 |
