St. Catherine of Siena

The field trip to Siena was to focus on the 12-14^th century contributions of artists, builders and ‘unwitting’ politicians, namely Catherine of Siena.  My medieval history class is putting a lot of emphasis on examining and re-evaluating the notion of static and (to some people’s minds) clear cut categories of human experience.  Namely, that the Middle Ages, the “dark” ages, lasted for about 1100 years before someone just came along and flipped the light switch on which brought everyone out from under the mushroom they were living under. 

Siena was a very important city for many reasons.  It vied with other ‘city-states’ in terms of its prestige and wealth, but really came to fame with the presence of St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380).  Caterina di Giacomo di Benincasa was born in Siena in 1347 in the middle of the massive Bubonic plague epidemic.  She was one of twins, and her mother had them prematurely.  Her mother reportedly had already had 22 children (half of which had died) and so when these babies insisted on being born, most likely delivery induced by illness, she was helped by a wetnurse to care for the twin sister, Giovanna, to no avail.  Caterina flourished though and was given the nickname of Euphrosyne (Gk. for ‘joy’) as a young girl.

It was as a young girl that she began to have visions and visitations from Christ.  She was convinced that God had some special life in mind for her and so when at the age of 16 her parents began looking for suitable husbands for her, she cut off her glorious long hair and began fasting as a way of making herself unattractive.  Catherine’s desire was to dedicate her life to Christ and join the Dominican order.  And this her parents finally gave in to.

As a nun she became a brilliant scholar, logician and rhetorician.  She is known mostly for the prominent role she took in ending the Great Schism of the Church when the papacy was split between Rome and Avignon.

The Church of San Dominico in Siena has an interesting shrine dedicated to her.  In a side chapel, is her head.  This photo isn’t very good, unfortunately, but her head in encased in a gold casket.  The rest of her body is in Rome. 

The Duomo in Siena is enormous, even though its original plan was dashed because it was simply too ambitious for its time.  There simply wasn’t an architect around who could figure out the complexities of completing it according to its original scope.  But it’s so very beautiful with its distinctive black and white marble color scheme… and tribute to the Dominicans who were based there.

We also had a trip to the ‘crypt’ beneath the Cathedral.  Even though it’s not really a crypt it is referred to as such.  It’s actually a subterranean chapel of sorts that was only recently discovered.  What is marvelous is that the frescoes are in amazing shape because of being essentially sealed up all these centuries.  The colors, vibrancy and emotional intensity of these works is breathtaking.

Let's have a thorough look around: