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Catherine of Siena (1347-80) was one of the great saints of the later Middle Ages.1Immediately after her death many people recognized her as blessed ('beata'); and after her canonization in 1461, she was officially venerated as a saint ('sancta').2Today her cult has spread all over the world. One place where she is especially venerated is the basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome, where she was buried.3
After a brief outline of Catherine's life, and a short analysis of the history and layout of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, this article examines the historical narratives of Catherine's death and burial in order to shed new light on the liturgical layout of the Dominican church c. 1380. It then considers each of five successive translations of Catherine's remains, and the changing appearance of her sepulchre, as known from what survives today and from literary documentation. It highlights aspects of Catherine's life that were especially commemorated at each renewal of her tomb, in the decoration and inscriptions on or near her sepulchre, showing aspects of her veneration through the centuries.
Catherine Benincasa was born in Siena in 1347, and she died in Rome in 1380. She was not a nun in an enclosed convent, but a religious woman, consecrated to God in virginity as a Dominican tertiary, called a 'Mantellata' in Siena.4In the early part of her life she lived at home with her family, going out to serve the sick and the poor. In later years she travelled through Italy, as well as to Avignon in France, to fulfil a very public and political mission in the Church and in the world.5Although she had no formal education, with the help of several scribes and an ability to write that she attributed to divine intervention, she authored many letters, a book known as The Dialogue, and numerous prayers.6From her childhood onwards she had strong mystical experiences, culminating in the stigmata, which she received at Pisa in 1375. In 1378 Pope Urban VI summoned her to Rome, where she went to live and pray for the Church during the 'Great Schism', when there were two rival contenders for the...