St Catherine of Siena - Santa Maria sopra Minerva - Roma, Italy
Posted by: denben
N 41° 53.882 E 012° 28.664
33T E 290771 N 4641531
Basilica di Santa Maria sopra Minerva (Saint Mary above Minerva) is one of the major churches of the Roman Catholic Order of Preachers (better known as the Dominicans) in Rome, Italy.
Waymark Code: WM10P38
Location: Lazio, Italy
Date Posted: 06/05/2019
Views: 1
Under the main altar of the Basilica is located the tomb in marble where the remains of St. Catherine of Siena are preserved, Dominican laywoman and Doctor of the Church. The tomb of the fifteenth century, restored between 1999 and 2000, represents in its upper part, the body of the Saint whose head rests on a cushion.
On the front, two little angels hold an inscription which informs the pilgrim or the visitor that the saint is buried here: "Sancta Caterina of Senis Ordinis Santi Dominici of Poenitentia" (Saint Catherine of Siena of the order of penance of Saint Dominic) .
Caterina Benincasa (that was her name) was born in 1347 in Siena to a wealthy family. At the age of six, while she was walking in the city of Siena, she had a vision and decided to make a vow of chastity.
Entering in the order of penance of S. Dominic, she devoted her whole life "to the honour of God and the salvation of souls" according to her own words. She wanted to work for peace in a period of wars and fratricidal struggles, and she succeeded in convincing pope Gregory XI, who was then in Avignon (France), to return to Rome as bishop of the city.
Throughout her life, she had an intense epistolary activity with the Popes, Kings and Queens, the religious and the common people, encouraging them all to live in a Christian way and to follow the will of God. There is a collection of all her letters and her « dialogue », a work that collects a long mystical dialogue between her and God.
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