St. Catherine of Siena, “Apostola”

Abstract

In the spring of 1376, Catherine, the uneducated daughter of a Sienese dyer, a simple lay Tertiary, traveled to Avignon in southern France. She wanted to speak directly with Pope Gregory XI about organizing a crusade, reforming the Catholic church, ending his war with Florence, and moving his court back to Rome. Her reputation for holiness and her orthodoxy gave her a hearing with the pope, and so her words had a measure of influence on him. Gregory did move to Rome in the fall of 1376, and he paid for her trip back to Italy. In 1377 he allowed her to lead a mission in the Sienese countryside: he wanted her presence there to help save souls and perhaps stimulate interest in a crusade. In 1378 he sent her to Florence as a peacemaker for the war between the Tuscan cities and the papacy. In late 1378 Gregory's successor Urban VI asked her to come to Rome to support his claim to the papacy against the schismatic Pope Clement VII. Finally in 1380, Catherine died in Rome, exhausted by all these endeavors.

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