1347–1380

Mystic

Early Life.

Catherine was born in Siena in Western Italy. She was one of 25 children and was also a twin. When Catherine was an infant her mother was only able to nurse one of her children, and so Catherine's sister had a wet nurse. Although this custom was common in the Renaissance, it often proved disastrous to the child, as it was to Catherine's sister. It may be the death of her twin sister that sowed in Catherine the notion that she had been marked by God for a special destiny. As she grew older, events within the family continued to shape her outlook. Her beloved older sister Bonaventura died in childbirth, and without her company, Catherine turned to religion for solace. When she was still a child, she escaped to isolated caves around Siena to imagine herself as an ascetic saint from...