> [[09-figures|↑ Back to TOC]] # Saint Catherine of Siena ## Biography Dominican Tertiary, born at Siena on 25 March, 1347; died at Rome, 29 April, 1380. She was the youngest of a large family; her father was a dyer of Siena. From her earliest childhood she began to see visions and to practise extreme austerities. At the age of seven she consecrated her virginity to Christ; in her sixteenth year she took the habit of the Dominican Tertiaries. After three years of mystical graces she rejoined her family, tended the sick, and laboured for the conversion of sinners. She gathered disciples around her, conducted a vast correspondence with princes and prelates, and persuaded Pope Gregory XI to leave Avignon and return to Rome. She was proclaimed Doctor of the Church in 1970. *Source: Catholic Encyclopedia, "St. Catherine of Siena"* ## Notes - The Dialogue of Divine Providence (Dialogo). - Letters advising popes and political leaders. - Promoted peace and unity in Italy; Dominican tertiary; stigmatist.