Author

Catherine of Siena

Italian mystic and reformer whose Dialogue records the soul’s conversation with God on truth, love and the bridge of Christ.

1347–1380

Also known as Caterina Benincasa, Saint Catherine of Siena

Christian Mysticism

Biography

Historical

Caterina Benincasa was born in Siena in 1347, the daughter of a wool dyer and one of the youngest of more than twenty children. From childhood she was drawn to prayer and austerity, and refused marriage. She joined the Mantellate, laywomen associated with the Dominican order who lived at home, and spent three years in near-total seclusion in her room, before turning to the service of the sick and the poor.

A circle of disciples gathered around her, and her letters, of which nearly four hundred survive, dictated to secretaries, reached popes, princes and ordinary people. She worked for peace between the Italian cities and the papacy, and in 1376 travelled to Avignon to urge Pope Gregory XI to return the papacy to Rome, which he did the following year.

In 1377–1378 she dictated The Dialogue, presented as a conversation between the soul and God. When the Great Schism divided the Church in 1378, she moved to Rome to support Pope Urban VI, and died there in 1380, at thirty-three. She was canonized in 1461 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1970.

Major works

The Dialogue of the Seraphic Virgin Catherine of SienaTranslation, tr. Algar Thorold, 1896Thorold’s translation of Catherine’s Dialogue, the soul’s conversation with God on self-knowledge, discretion, the bridge of Christ, tears, providence and obedience, dictated to her secretaries near the end of her short life.

Philosophical ideas

Scholarship

Self-knowledge and the knowledge of God grow together: the soul knows its own nothingness in the light of God’s goodness, and this is the cell in which it must always dwell.

Christ is a bridge between heaven and earth, by which the soul crosses through three stages of love, from fear to the love of a friend and a child.

Cite this entry

Chicago (bibliography): “Catherine of Siena.” Author. The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society. Last modified November 7, 2026. https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/authors/catherine-of-siena.
Chicago (note): “Catherine of Siena,” author, The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society, last modified November 7, 2026, https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/authors/catherine-of-siena.
MLA: “Catherine of Siena.” The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society, 7 Nov. 2026, www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/authors/catherine-of-siena.
BibTeX: @misc{authors-catherine-of-siena, title = {{Catherine of Siena}}, howpublished = {The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society}, note = {Author. Last modified November 7, 2026}, year = {2026}, url = {https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/authors/catherine-of-siena} }

Related authors

Often compared with: Hildegard of Bingen

Related concepts

Related traditions

Christian MysticismTraditionThe contemplative and mystical currents of Christianity, East and West, centred on union with God in love.