The Dialogue of Catherine of Siena

Catherine Benincasa was a dyer's daughter from Siena who never learned to write with ease and who, in 1370, dictated this book to secretaries while in a state she and they described as ecstasy. She was in her twenties. Within a decade she was writing to popes and telling them what to do.

The Dialogue is built as a conversation. Catherine puts four petitions to God, and the answers run to 148 chapters grouped into four treatises: divine providence, discretion, prayer, and obedience. God speaks for most of it, and the voice is domestic rather than remote, reaching for bridges, trees, cellars, wine, and a mirror to explain itself. The famous image of Christ as a bridge thrown across a flooded river takes up a large part of the middle. Readers who know her only as a saint on a holy card tend to be surprised by how argumentative she is.

This Reclaimed Press edition uses Algar Thorold's 1896 translation, the first English version of the complete text, with his introduction on mysticism and working chapter navigation.

Format: EPUB, DRM-free.