Catherine of Siena

Catherine of Siena Synopsis

How does one construct a saint and promote a cult beyond the immediate community in which he or she lived? Italian mendicants had accumulated a good deal of experience in dealing with this politically explosive question. The posthumous description of the life of Francis of Assisi (d. 1226) written by the Master General of the order, Bonaventure (d. 1274), could be regarded as paradigmatic in this regard. The question of how to make a cult, which stands at the centre of this volume, thus presents itself in terms of the challenge of rewriting a legend for different audiences.