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Brief History of the Basilica "...She is purified by a shower of blood and fire, and sees in the host the child Jesus..." Saint Catherine of Siena Ludovico Ferretti (Ed. Cantagalli - Siena) |
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St. Catherine passed a large part of her life inside
the walls of this stupendous Basilica, which was one of the first to be
dedicated to St. Dominic. It was begun by the Dominicans in 1226 on the hill of
Camporegio which they had |
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received
as a gift from the Malavolti family. Most of the actual rectangular nave and the
inside roof with its tranverse beams, all in Gothic Cistercian style, go back to
this epoch. The Church contains a magnificent Maestą by Guido da Siena (master
to Duccio of Boninsegna) dating back to 1221. The old Chapter Room, the old
Sacresty, the Refectory and the Dormitory were all built with the original
Church and the Cloister was frescoed by Lippo Memmi and Lippo Vanni. In the
first half of the fourteenth century the new Church (crypt and transept for the
old Church) was built on the steep side of Camporegio hill overlooking the
district of Fontebranda where St. Catherine had been born. When she began going
to St. Dominic the new edifice was already almost finished. Her own father and
other members of her family were buried in the Crypt. Following the canonisation
of St. Catherine in 1461, her most precious manuscripts and her sacred relics
were transferred to the Basilica (these twelve codices in 1700 were placed
behind a painting above the altar in the Scaresty and formed the so-called
"virginal library": today they are in the public library). 
The
most important relic, the Sacred Head, was brought from Rome to Siena by Blessed
Raymond of Capua in 1383 and it was at first placed in a copper container and
then in a silver one (now empty but still on display in the Basilica). In 1711
it was removed to a urn in the form of a lamp done by the sculptor Giovanni
Piamontini where it remained until 1947, when the Dominican Fathers decided to
place it in its actual urn of silver in a niche resembling a small gothic temple.
After nearly two centuries of construction, the 
Basilica
was finally dedicated entirely to St. Catherine and a statue of her was placed
even at the top of the bell tower. The Basilica has known hard times: in 1798 it
was almost totally destroyed by an earthquake, but after it was completely
restored. Then, unfortunately, it was very much neglected and allowed to decay
until 1940 when a new restoration was finally begun which was concluded in 1962.
During these years the Basilica underwent some radical changes. The foundations
were strengthened and especially tha Chapel of the Vaults, where the original
portrait of St. Catherine by Andrea Vanni is located and where the Saint had so
many mystical experiences, was restored. Today the Basilica is exactly as the
Dominican Fathers have always wanted it to be and it has become an important
centre of Christian spirituality where pilgrims are welcomed and where they can
pray next to the sacred relics of St. Catherine.