The Road to Siena: The Essential Biography of St. Catherine

by Gardner, Edmund Garratt

• ISBN13: 9781557256218
• ISBN10: 1557256217
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-08-01
• Publisher: Paraclete Pr

Summary

The dynamic 14th century woman who fed the poor, challenged bishops and kings, and perhaps saved the papacy. Her influence was felt throughout the kingdoms of Europe, as she enjoyed the confidence of popes, royalty, and most of all, the common people of Italy. Catherine was able to warn a queen, saying: "Instead of a woman, you have become the servant and slave of nothingness, making yourself the subject of lies and of the demon who is their father," while she encourages the wife of a simple tailor: "Clothe yourself in the royal virtues." Her story is told in this landmark biography, first published a century ago and praised by Evelyn Underhill as the best modern biography of a saint ever written. Long out of print, this new edition of Gardnerrs"s landmark book has been abridged slightly and supplemented with the reflections of recent biographers, historians, artists, and others-who shed fresh light on what we know about St. Catherine of Siena. "Our greatest mystics [such as Catherine of Siena] were our most real people, our hardest workers, our most feeling exemplars of what it was to live life fully." -Sister Joan Chittister

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. vii
List of Illustrations	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 3
Catherine's Hidden Life	p. 11
From Dante to Saint Catherine	p. 33
Catherine Enters into Her Vocation	p. 39
Pope UrbanV	p. 49
The Beginnings of Her Public Life	p. 55
From the Cell to the World	p. 63
Her Influence Grows	p. 83
Mediating Between Florence and Avignon	p. 91
From the Babylon of the West	p. 99
The Angel of Peace	p. 109
The Beginning of Schism in the Church	p. 127
From Siena to Rome	p. 143
The Field of Battle	p. 153
Catherine's Death	p. 161
Her Literary Legacy	p. 183
Dissolution of the Fellowship	p. 187
Acknowledgments	p. 199
Bibliography	p. 201
Index	p. 203
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.