Saint Catherine of Siena As Seen in Her Letters
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SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA AS SEEN IN HER LETTERS TRANSLATED & EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION BY VIDA DUTTON SCUDDER London, New York: J.M. Dent and E.P. Dutton, 1905 www.onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=7403 accessed June 6, 2004 TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Persons Addressed St. Catherine of Siena as seen in her letters Chief Events in the life of St. Catherine Brief Outline of Contemporary Public Events (The following letters have been identified according to the numbering of Niccolò Tommasèo by Thomas McDermott, O.P.) To Monna Alessa dei Saracini T49 To Benincasa her brother, when he was in Florence T18, T10 To the Venerable Religious, Brother Antonio of Nizza T17 To Monna Agnese, who was the wife of Messer Orso Malavolti T38 To Sister Eugenia, her niece at the Convent of St. Agnes of Montepulciano T26 To Nanna, daughter of Benincasa, a little maid, her niece T23 Letters on the Consecrated Life To Brother William of England T64 To Daniella of Orvieto, clothed with the Habit of St. Dominic T65 To Monna Agnese, wife of Francesco, a tailor of Florence T174 Letters in response to certain criticisms To Monna Orsa, wife of Bartolo Usimbardi, and to Monna Agnese T93 To a Religious man in Florence, who was shocked at her Ascetic T92 Practices To Brother Bartolomeo Dominici T146 To Brother Matteo di Francesco Tolomei T94 To a Mantellata of Saint Dominic, called Catarina di Scetto T50 To Neri di Landoccio dei Pagliaresi T178, T281,T192 To Monna Giovanna and her other daughters in Siena T132 To Messer John, the Soldier of Fortune T140 To Monna Colomba in Lucca T166 To Brother Raimondo of Capua, of the Order of the Preachers T278 To Gregory XI T185 To Gregory XI T196 To Gregory XI T206 To Brother Raimondo of Capua, at Avignon T211 To Catarina of the Hospital, and Giovanna di Capo T214 To Sister Daniella of Orvieto T213 To Brother Raimondo of Capua, and to Master John III T219 To Sister Bartolomea della Seta T221 To Gregory XI T233 To the King of France T235 Letters to Florence To the Eight of War chosen by the Commune of Florence T230 To Buonaccorso di Lapo: written when the Saint was at Avignon T234 To Gregory XI T239 To Monna Lapa, her mother, before she returned from Avignon T240 To Monna Giovanna di Corrado Maconi T247 To Messer Ristoro Canigiani T258, T266 To the Anziani and Consuls and Gonfalonieri of Bologna T268 To Nicholas of Osimo T282 To Misser Lorenzo del Pino of Bologna, Doctor in Decretals T193 Letters written from Rocca D'Orcia To Monna Lapa, her mother, and to Monna Cecca T117 To Monna Catarina of the Hospital, and to Giovanna di Capo T118 To Monna Alessa, clothed with the Habit of Saint Dominic T119 To Gregory XI T255 To Raimondo of Capua T267 To Urban VI T291 To her spiritual children in Siena To Brother William and to Messer Matteo of the Misericordia T292 To Sano di Maco, and to all her other sons in Siena T294 To Brother Raimondo of Capua T295 To Urban VI T302 To Don Giovanni of the Cells of Vallombrosa T296 Letters announcing peace To Monna Alessa, when the Saint was at Florence T277 To Sano di Maco, and to the other sons in Christ T303 To three Italian Cardinals T310 To Giovanna, Queen of Naples T317 To Sister Daniella of Orvieto T316 To Stefano Maconi T319, T320, T329, T368 To certain holy hermits who had been invited to Rome by the Pope To Brother William of England, and to Brother Antonio of Nizza T326 To Brother Andrea of Lucca, Brother Baldo, and Brother Lando T327 To Brother Antonio of Nizza T328 To Queen Giovanna of Naples T348 To Brother Raimondo of the Preaching Order, when he was in Genoa T344 To Urban VI T370 Letters describing the experience preceding death To Master Raimondo of Capua T371 To Master Raimondo of Capua, of the Order of the Preachers T373 2 TABLE OF PERSONS ADDRESSED Agnese, Monna, di Francesco Andrea, Brother, of Lucca Antonio, Brother, of Nizza Baldo, Brother Bartolomea, Sister, della Seta Bartolomeo, Brother, Dominici Benincasa, Benincasa Benincasa, Eugenia Benincasa, Monna Lapa Benincasa, Nanna Bologna, Anziani of Capo, Giovanna di Canigiani, Ristoro Cardinals, Three Italian Catarina, of the Hospital Cecca, Monna Colomba, Monna, of Lucca Daniella, Sister, of Orvieto France, the King of Florence, Letters to Giovanna, Queen of Naples Giovanni, Don, of the Cells of Vallombrosa Gregory XI. John, Messer, Soldier of Fortune John III., Master Lando, Brother Lapo, Buonaccorso di Maco, Sano di Maconi, Monna Giovanna di Corrado Maconi, Stefano Malavolti, Monna Agnese Matteo, Messer, of the Misericordia Osimo, Nicholas of Pagliaresi, Neri di Landoccio dei Pino, Lorenzo del 3 Raimondo, Brother, of Capua Religious, A, in Florence Saracini, Monna Alessa dei Scetto, Catarina di Tolomei, Brother Matteo di Urban VI., Pope Usimbardi, Monna Orsa War, the Eight of William, Brother, of England LETTERS OF CATHERINE BENINCASA ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA AS SEEN IN HER LETTERS I The letters of Catherine Benincasa, commonly known as St. Catherine of Siena, have become an Italian classic; yet perhaps the first thing in them to strike a reader is their unliterary character. He only will value them who cares to overhear the impetuous outpourings of the heart and mind of an unlettered daughter of the people, who was also, as it happened, a genius and a saint. Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, the other great writers of the Trecento, are all in one way or another intent on choice expression; Catherine is intent solely on driving home what she has to say. Her letters were talked rather than written. She learned to write only three years before her death, and even after this time was in the habit of dictating her correspondence, sometimes two or three letters at a time, to the noble youths who served her as secretaries. The modern listener to this eager talk may perhaps at first feel wearied. Suffocated by words, repelled by frequent crudity and confusion of metaphor, he may even be inclined to call the thought childish and the tone overwrought. But let him persevere. Let him read these letters as chapters in an autobiography, noting purpose and circumstance, and reading between the lines, as he may easily do, the experience of the writer. Before long the very accents of a living woman will reach his ears. He will hear her voice, now eagerly pleading with friend or wrong-doer, now brooding tender as a mother-bird over some fledgling soul, now broken with sobs as she mourns over the sins of Church and world, and again chanting high prophecy of restoration and renewal, or telling in awestruck undertone sacred mysteries of the interior life. Dante's Angel of Purity welcomes wayfarers upon the Pilgrim Mount "in voce assai piu che la nostra, viva." The saintly voice, like the angelic, is more living than our own. These letters are charged with a vitality so intense that across the centuries it draws us into the author's presence. Imagination is inclined to see the canonized saints as a row of solemn figures, standing in dull monotony of worshipful gesture, like Virgins and Confessors in an early mosaic. Yet, as a matter of fact, people who have been canonized were to their contemporaries the most striking personalities among men and women striving for righteousness. They were all, to be sure, very good; but goodness, despite a curious prejudice to the contrary, admits more variety in type than wickedness, and produces more interesting characters. Catherine Benincasa was probably the most remarkable woman of the fourteenth century, and her letters 4 are the precious personal record of her inner as of her outer life. With all their transparent simplicity and mediaeval quaintness, with all the occasional plebeian crudity of their phrasing, they reveal a nature at once so many- sided and so exalted that the sensitive reader can but echo the judgment of her countrymen, who see in the dyer's daughter of Siena one of the most significant authors of a great age. II As is the case with many great letter-writers, though not with all, Catherine reveals herself largely through her relations with others. Some of her letters, indeed, are elaborate religious or political treatises, and seem at first sight to have little personal colouring; yet even these yield their full content of spiritual beauty and wisdom only when one knows the circumstances that called them forth and the persons to whom they were addressed. A mere glance at the index to her correspondence shows how widely she was in touch with her time. She was a woman of personal charm and of sympathies passionately wide, and she gathered around her friends and disciples from every social group in Italy, not to speak of many connections formed with people in other lands. She wrote to prisoners and outcasts; to great nobles and plain business men; to physicians, lawyers, soldiers of fortune; to kings and queens and cardinals and popes; to recluses pursuing the Beatific Vision, and to men and women of the world plunged in the lusts of the flesh and governed by the pride of life. The society of the fourteenth century passes in review as we turn the pages. Catherine wrote to all these people in the same simple spirit. With one and all she was at home, for all were to her, by no merely formal phrase, "dearest brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus." One knows not whether to be more struck by the outspoken fearlessness of the woman or by her great adaptability.