Letters of Catherine Benincasa

Saint Catherine of Siena (25 March 1347 in Siena – 29 April 1380 in Rome), born Catherine Benincasa, was a tertiary of the Dominican Order, and a Scholastic philosopher and theologian. She was born in Siena, Italy, to Giacomo di Benincasa, a cloth dyer who ran his enterprise with the help of his sons, and Lapa Piagenti, possibly the daughter of a local poet.The house where Catherine grew up is still in existence. Born in 1347, she arrived when the black death struck the area; Siena was badly ravaged.
She also worked to bring the papacy of Gregory XI back to Rome from its displacement in France, and to establish peace among the Italian city-states. She was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1970. She is one of the two patron saints of Italy, together with Francis of Assisi.