Speaking with Authority: Reading Catherine of Siena in the Times of Vittoria Colonna (original) (raw)
Related papers
Medieval Sermon Studies, 2007
The article introduces, edits, and translates a vernacular reportatio of the sermon given for the feast day of Saint Catherine of Alexandria on Wednesday, 25 November 1304, at the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, as recorded by the audience of the Dominican preacher Giordano da Pisa (c.1260-1311). The transcription is taken from Oxford, Bodleian Manuscript Canon. Ital. 132, folios 35 ra -36 ra . The article begins with a short presentation of the preacher, followed by an introductory interpretation of the context and significance of this sermon. The transcription of the sermon is preceded by codicological and editorial information, and is followed by a translation into English from the original Florentine vernacular.
Specula: Revista de Humanidades y Espiritualidad 3, 2022
This essay begins with the paradox that Catherine of Siena, perhaps the most famous uncloistered religious woman in the Middle Ages, became after her death an authority and model for cloistered monasticism for women during the Dominican reform movement. But the dissonance in the idea of Catherine as a model for cloistered religious women is heightened by false assumptions or oversimplifications of Catherine’s religious status, and of what it meant for Catherine to be a model for this or that form of religious life. This essay surveys Catherine’s letters to religious women, including letters to penitents or mantellate and letters to abbesses and nuns in monasteries. While Catherine’s letters to penitents and other women living in the world focus on the challenges of living without a formal religious rule, her letters to nuns focus on the importance of their maintaining claustration, following their rule, and on the dangers of wealth—a recognition of the generally higher social and economic standing of monastic women. Catherine seems also to identify certain kinds of prayer with monastic life. It is important to remember that Catherine herself founded a monastery, and while it remains unclear what precisely her intentions were for this community, it is another sign of Catherine’s interest in and commitment to cloistered religiosity. The essay concludes by arguing for a more nuanced understanding of what it might have meant for Catherine to be a model for specific forms of religious life.
Examining Catherine of Siena’s controversial discernments about papal politics
HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 2021
Catherine of Siena (1347–1380) contributed important wisdom to Christian spirituality on discernment, yet her own discernment regarding her engagement in papal politics has not been studied. From the perspective of Christian spirituality studies, this article examines the critical text of her letters in relationship with historical events to offer a description of the instances where Catherine’s discernment differed from that of others committed to a spiritual journey and to seeking the good of the church. Catherine’s view of God’s will regarding the papal interdict of Florence controverted that of several ecclesial leaders more likely to be right. Catherine’s advocacy for the crusade differed from the advice Birgitta of Sweden gave Gregory XI, advice corroborated by history. Two of Catherine’s spiritual mentors made decisions they discerned to be right regarding missions on which they were sent by the pope, whereas Catherine reproached them for these choices. Furthermore, Catherine was certain that the election of Urban VI had been blessed by God, whereas another saint considered Clement VII to be the true pope. The above analysis is followed by an examination of influences on Catherine’s experience of seeking and implementing God’s will, seeking to account for the divergence between her discernment and that of others. In conclusion, while Catherine was confident in her union with God and, therefore, God’s guidance, she was also influenced by her unbending beliefs about truth and by the manner these beliefs were conditioned by her personality and socio-cultural context.
Accepted Version: 'Catherine of Siena: a Dominican political thinker in fourteenth‐century Italy'
Renaissance Studies, 2020
Catherine of Siena (1347‐1380) is well known as a saint and mystic with a colourful biography. Recent scholarship has begun to recognise Catherine's substantial political contributions. She wrote letters to notable political figures including Bernabò Visconti and Pope Gregory XI, and also brought her influence to bear in person, visiting numerous Tuscan cities as well as Avignon and Rome. There has been little investigation, however, into the relationship between Catherine's writings and major political discourses of the period. This article offers evidence that Catherine should be viewed within the bonum commune tradition of high medieval political thought. Like other Dominican political thinkers of the period, Catherine was particularly interested in the concept of caritas, which she used to justify her involvement in political disputes such as the War of the Eight Saints (1375–8) between the papacy and Florence, and the disputed papal elections of 1378. Recognising that the content of Catherine's writings was political as well as spiritual provides an important counterpoint to accounts of late fourteenth‐century Italian political thought which give excessive prominence to 'secularising' humanists. This study also challenges lingering assumptions that the political thought of the early Renaissance must be studied through a narrow (and male) canon. This is the self-archived accepted version of the paper. Published version of the paper now available open access here: https://doi.org/10.1111/rest.12633
Catherine of Siena: a Dominican political thinker in fourteenth‐century Italy
Renaissance Studies, 2019
Catherine of Siena (1347‐1380) is well known as a saint and mystic with a colourful biography. Recent scholarship has begun to recognise Catherine's substantial political contributions. She wrote letters to notable political figures including Bernabò Visconti and Pope Gregory XI, and also brought her influence to bear in person, visiting numerous Tuscan cities as well as Avignon and Rome. There has been little investigation, however, into the relationship between Catherine's writings and major political discourses of the period. This article offers evidence that Catherine should be viewed within the bonum commune tradition of high medieval political thought. Like other Dominican political thinkers of the period, Catherine was particularly interested in the concept of caritas, which she used to justify her involvement in political disputes such as the War of the Eight Saints (1375–8) between the papacy and Florence, and the disputed papal elections of 1378. Recognising that the content of Catherine's writings was political as well as spiritual provides an important counterpoint to accounts of late fourteenth‐century Italian political thought which give excessive prominence to 'secularising' humanists. This study also challenges lingering assumptions that the political thought of the early Renaissance must be studied through a narrow (and male) canon.