Catherine of Siena

Caterina Benincasa, from Siena in Tuscany, Dominican tertiary, was a woman of deep conviction, a mystic who played an important role in returning the papacy from Avignon to Rome in 1377. Aged sixteen, she became a tertiary (an affiliated member of a monastic third order who lives outside the convent or monastery) of the Dominican nuns in Siena. She rapidly gained a wide reputation for holiness and for severe personal asceticism. When the nearby city of Florence was placed under interdict by Pope Gregory XI in 1376 for rebellion against papal influence, Catherine determined to take a public stand for peace within the church (and within Italy) and to encourage instead a new crusade against the Muslims. With her confessor (and later biographer) Fr. Raymond of Capua, she went as an unofficial mediator to Avignon to promote this cause. While her immediate mission failed, as she was virtually ignored by the Pope, it became clear to here while at Avignon that the return of the Pope (Gregory XI) to Roe would be the best way to bring peace to Italy and would also facilitate the renewal of the church. Her persuasive arguments must have aplayed a part in persuading the Pope to return from Avignon, in that same year of 1376.

Catherine left for Tuscany shortly after Pope Gregory set out for Rome. At his request she went to Florence on a peace-making mission (1378) and was there during the Ciompi Revolt that year. After a short final stay in Siena, during which she completed her Dialogo (begun the previous year), she moved to Rome at the invitation of Pope Urban VI, whom she helped in reorganizing the church, among other things, sending out letters and exhortations to gain support for the pope and try to heal the remaining rifts that perdured from the turbulent period of the anti-popes.

She died in Rome in 1380, aged only 33, was canonized in 1461, and was declared a doctor of the church in 1970.