Catherine of Siena
25.03.1347 - 29.04.1380
Part I
Her life and activities
and Catherine on some paintings
Catherine of Siena,
- Caterina Benincasa -, born March 25, 1347, became a tertiary of the Dominican order (1363), joining the Sisters of
Penitence of St. Dominic in Siena. She rapidly gained a wide reputation for her
holiness and her severe asceticism. When the rebellious city of Firenze was
placed under an interdict by Pope Gregory XI (1376), Catherine determined
to take public action for peace within the church and Italy and to encourage a
crusade against the Muslims.
She went as an unofficial mediator to Avignon with
her confessor and biographer Raymond of Capua. Her mission failed, and she was
virtually ignored by the Pope, but while at Avignon she promoted her plans for a
crusade. It became clear to her that the return of Pope Gregory XI
to Rome was
the only way to bring peace to Italy. Catherine
left for Tuscany the day after Gregory set out for Rome (1376). At his
request she went to Firenze (1378) and was there during the Ciompi Revolt in
June.
After a short final stay in Siena, during which she
completed her Dialogo (begun the previous year), she went to Rome in
November, probably at the invitation of Pope Urban VI, whom she helped in
reorganizing the church. From Rome she sent out letters and exhortations to gain
support for Urban; as one of her last efforts she tried to win back Queen Joan I
of Napoli to obedience to Urban, who had excommunicated the Queen for supporting
the antipope Clement VII.
She died in Rome, Sunday afternoon 29 April 1380, and is
buried in the church Santa Maria sopra Minerva of the Dominican priory in Rome.
The people of Siena want to have a relict of Catherine and so her head was taken
on 5 Mai 1284 to the church of San Domenico in Siena. Her mother Lappa, 94
years old, was presented!
She was canonized by Pope Pius II on 29 June1461.
Catherine's writings, all of which were dictated, include
about 380 letters, 26 prayers, and the four treatises of Il libro della
divina dottrina ("The Dialogue of Saint Catherine"), better known as the
Dialogo (c. 1475).
She was declared a doctor of the church
in 1970.
Philately
Catharine of Siena on paintings
Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico, EM 34: The coronation of the Virgin, ca. 1434/1435. Tempera on panel 112 x 114 cm.
Many Dominican Saints:
Dominic and one unknown
Dominican
on the left;
Peter Martyr,
Catherine
of
Siena on the right.
Galleria degli Uffici, Firenze.
Grenada 1997, Mi Bl 480 ; Sc 2732, sheet.
also: Dominica 1996, Mi Bl 318, Sc 1907, sheet.
Fra
Angelico, EM 77: Transfiguration of Christ, a. 1441,
fresco 181x152 cm.
Catherine on the left.
Museo di San Marco, cell 6, Firenze.
Equatorial Guinea 1974, Mi 347, Sc 7433.
Also Mali 1982, Mi 915, Sc C451.
Antonio Bazzi
il Sodoma, 1477-1549)
Catherine of Siena.
Fresco
by Antonio Bazzi (il Sodoma, 1477-1549) for the
side
chapel
in the church of San Domenico
in Siena, 1526.
Vatican City 1962, Mi 402-404, Sc 335-337.
This stamp Mi 402, Sc 335.
Ambrogio da Fossano (Bergognone
or Borgognone,
ca. 1445-1523
Catherine
of Siena with Madonna and Child and her secretary
Stefano de Corrado Maconi (c 1350-1424).He
noticed her Dialogo.
Painting by Ambrogio da Fossano (Bergognone
or Borgognone,
(ca. 1445-1523).
Malawi 1977, Mi 289, Sc 311.
Catherine of Siena with Catherine of Alexandria.
Painting by Ambrogio da Fossano (Bergognone
or Borgognone,
ca. 1445-1523). Oil on panel 157 x
129,5 cm.
National Gallery, London.
Saint Lucia 1975, Mi 371, Bl 7; Sc 371.
Niccoló Circignano
+ 1597
Catherine of Siena on the right
Painting by Niccoló Circignano (il Pomarancio il Vecchio+1597).
Madonna of the Rosary (Dominic receives the rosary).
Parish church of S.Jean Baptist in Pomarancio, Italy.
Italy 1997, Mi 2521, Sc 2164.
Painting by Niccoló Circignano (il Pomarancio il Vecchio)+1597.
Parish church of S.Jean the Baptist in Pomarancio,
Italy 1997. Postmark Pomarancio 18.07.1997.
Alonso Sánchez Coello
1531/31-1588 
Raymond
of Capua, O.P. (1330-1399) recorded in his
biography of
Catherine of Siena about her Mystic Marriage
with Christ
(1367).
Catharine too wrote in her Dialogo
della divina
Providenza
(1347-1380) about the same experience.
The Spanish artist Alonso Sánchez Coello
(1531/31-1588) painted
this event in ca.1578, preserved in the Prado Museum,
Madrid.
Grenada
Grenadines, Carriacou, Petit Martinique
2000, Mi --, Sc 22.
Grazio Cossoli
(1597)
This stamp,
dedicated to the fifth centenary of the birth of St. Pius V,
is
inspired by the altarpiece by Grazio Cossoli (1597), which is
placed
in the Chapel of the Rosary, located in
Santa Croce di Bosco
Marengo, in
the Province of Alessandria, Italy. The altarpiece,
painted to commemorate
the victory in the Battle
of
Lepanto (07.10.1571), shows
Our Lady of the
Rosary between St. Dominic
and St. Catherine of Siena, venerated
by
Cardinal Bonelli
and St. Pius V,
as well as by Philip II and Doge Mocenigo.
Vatican City 2004, Mi 1483, Sc
Fra
Filippo Lippi
1406-09.10.1469
Painting by Fra Filippo Lippi (1406-09.10.1469):
Madonna dell' Umilità con angeli e santi carmelitani; too the Madonna of
Humility.
In early time it belongs to the collection of Trivulzio, now preserved in
the Museo Castello Sforzesco. Milano, and too named the Trivulzio
Madonna, 
after the name of the previous owner.
Probably painted
(oil on panel,
85x168 cm.), when Fra Lippi was
living in the monastery Santa Maria del Carmine,
ca 1431, and destined for
the altar of the Carmelite Saints Angelo and Alberto around the Virgin.
But probably there are two figures from the Dominican history
at the right. One had a cleaver in his head and that is the symbol of the Dominican Peter
Martyr
of Verona.
Near him a Saint with lily on his shoulder, like Saint Dominic, but
both
with a white (Carmelite)
cloak!
Is that for the colour
on the painting or a sign
of the celestial situation?
Tempera on panel in form of a timpano, 85x168cm.
Preserved in the Museo del Castello Sforzesco,
Milano, since 1934.
Sierra Leone 2001 (Christmas) , Mi-- , Sc
Pietro Lorenzetti
16th century
Catherine of Siena in adoration of the Virgin with Child and John the Baptist.
Fresco by Pietro Lorenzetti, 16th century, in the basilica
of Saint Dominic
in Siena.
Sovereign Military Order of Malta (S.M.O.M.) 1984,
Sassone 230, block 18.
Giovanni M. Morandi
(1622-1717)
Catherine of Siena accepts the
Child Jesus. Dominic
receives
the lily.
Painting
by
Giovanni, M. Morandi (1622-1717). The reproduction
gives only the hands of St. Dominic, and is the mirror image.
Preserved in the Dominican priory of
Santa Sabina, Rome,
the see
of the Master of the
Dominican Order.
Grenada 1975, Mi 720, Sc 687.
Filippo
Naldini
(+ 1782)
The Virgin of the Rosary with St. Dominic and St. Catherine, painting by Filippo Naldini (+ 1782) in the church of the Sts. Peter and Callistus in Civitella d’ Agliano (Viterbo).
Entire painting framed on three sides by
the
mysteries
of the rosary,
i.e. illustrations of the
events of the life of
Christ narrated in the
Gospels:
annunciation, birth and childhood (left);
passion
und death (right); resurrection, ascension and
Pentecost ; and two
vignettes
of the dormition and glorification
of the Virgin (top).
Sovereign
Military Order of Malta, (S.M.O.M.),2001,
Sassone 653, block 66.
Giovanni
Battista Tiepolo
(05.03.1696-27.03.1770).
Madonna with six Saints. Oil on canvas 72,8 x 56 cm. 1755/1756.
Painting by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (05.03.1696-27.03.1770).
To the left St. Catherine and St. Dominic. Szépmüvészeti Muzeum Budapest.
Hungary 1984, Mi 3660, Bl 170; Sc 2839 f.
Andrea Vanni
(circa 1322-c 1413)
Catherine of Siena.
Fresco by the Italian Andrea Vanni (c 1322-c 1413), 1396-1400.
The figure on the stamp likes to be inspired by the oldest iconographical
portrait, fresco, (ca 1390) on the mural by Andrea Vanni (c 1322-c 1413)
in the church of Saint Dominic in Siena.
Italy 1962, Mi 1122, Sc 853.
Poland issued
2002
a set of six stamps in the form of a souvenir sheet
presenting six
Saints of Poland and
Europe. Among them Catherine of Siena,
Dominican tertiary and instrumental
in causing the Popes to return to Rome.
She is the patroness of Italy, and of scientists and students, inspired by
the fresco of Vanni.
Poland 2002, Mi 1412 in sheet 155, Sc 3662c.
Giorgio Vasari
(30.07.1511-27.06.1574)
Catherine
of Siena escorted Pope Gregory XI
at Rome
on 17th January 1377.Fresco by Giorgio Vasari (30.07.1511-27.06.1574)
at the Sala Regia in the
Apostolic Palace (1571-1574), Rome.
Vatican City 1977, Mi 701,702, Sc 613,614.
To Part II
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