Catherine of Siena

Jane Tylus (New York University)

Ed. by Jo Ann Cavallo, Columbia University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.6.1: Italian Writing and Culture, 453-present.
Vol. editors: Carla Bregman (Independent Scholar - North America), Jo Ann Cavallo (Columbia University)

Dates

Born 25 Mar 1347
Died 29 Apr 1380
Activity 1372-1380

Places

Born in Italy
Active in Italy

Activities

Primary

Letter-writer/ Diarist
Mystic

Resources

Siena's Works

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Mystic and ascetic as well as tireless ambassador, epistolarist and advocate for a new Crusade, Caterina Benincasa, better known as Catherine of Siena, was a person of contradiction and notoriety in her lifetime. “One of the most marvelous figures in the history of the world”, as Ludwig Pastor, historian of the papacy, has called her, Catherine transgressed almost every boundary set for late medieval women. Her apparently unflagging energy could only be stopped by ecclesiastical problems even she could not resolve – as well as by her likely determination to die when Christ died, at the age of 33, a sacrifice to a deeply divided church and continent in the wake of the Great Schism for which some blamed Catherine herself.

Born in 1347 to a middle-class dyer as the youngest of 25

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2402 words

Citation: Tylus, Jane. "Catherine of Siena". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 February 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11964, accessed 26 November 2024.]