Catherine of Siena

Don Brophy

In this new biography Don Brophy gives us a captivating and compelling portrait of this irreverent, intense, and fiery young woman and her times, including details from her powerful letters and her spiritual masterwork, The Dialogue. 

Catherine of Siena is one of the most beloved and celebrated spiritual figures of all times. Like Francis of Assisi and Teresa of Avila, Catherine is known around the world as a great mystic and saint, reformer and teacher.

Nurtured by the fervid spirituality of her era, the beginning transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, Catherine of Siena was both a mystic and a teacher who had a deep desire to lift up the people. Her great theme was the joining of heart and mind—both love and truth—in the pursuit of holiness. Exhausted by work and austerities, she died at the age of thirty-three—all-consumed by her inner fire.

Written for readers of any faith or none, this is the story of a life lived with the greatest passion.

Praise for Catherine of Siena: 

“Don Brophy has succeeded in a very difficult enterprise, presenting Catherine of Siena in all of her human and religious beauty and complexity to casual readers as well as to more serious ones. He portrays the saint’s personality and—importantly—her spirituality with sensitivity and balance.” —Suzanne Noffke, O.P., translator and interpreter of the works of Catherine of Siena