Tomb of St. Catherine of Siena

Map

Tomb of St Catherine of Siena

---

April 29th is the feast day of Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-80), one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic Church. Caterina di Giacomo di Benincasa died in Rome on April 29th, 1380, and was interred in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.

Three and a half years later, on October 13th, 1383, Raymond of Capua, Catherine's confessor and biographer, knowing how much it would have pleased her fellow citizens if she had been buried in the city of her birth, decided that at least part of her should return home. And so he removed her head and dispatched it to the church of San Domenico in Siena. 

The much revered Sacra Testa (Holy Head) is housed in a tabernacle in the Cappella di Santa Caterina. The tabernacle was carved in 1466 by Giovanni di Stefano, while the walls of the chapel were frescoed by Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, better known as Il Sodoma. ​

The marble effigy of St Catherine, who was canonised by Pope Pius II on June 29th 1461, has been attributed to the sculptor Isaia da Pisa (active 1447-64).

St Catherine of Siena was proclaimed a patron saint of Italy in 1939, and of Europe in 1999.

---

Sacra Testa, San Domenico, Siena