Catherine of Siena: The Mystic Who Shook the Papacy

Before Savonarola, before the Borgias, a young laywoman from Siena intervened directly in the highest affairs of the Church. Catherine of Siena, illiterate until age twenty, dictated hundreds of letters to popes and kings, and in 1376 she traveled to Avignon to personally persuade Pope Gregory XI to return the papacy to Rome. This episode explores her role in the War of the Eight Saints, her bold rebukes of corrupt clergy, her mystical visions, and her influence on the Great Western Schism. We discuss how a woman with no formal authority became one of the most powerful voices in fourteenth-century Italy, and why her canonization and later declaration as a Doctor of the Church still resonate today. Along the way, we look at the political landscape of Siena, the violent conflict between Florence and the Papal States, and the extraordinary lengths Catherine went to in pursuit of peace and reform. #CatherineOfSiena #WarOfTheEightSaints #AvignonPapacy #GregoryXI #GreatWesternSchism #Siena #Florence #Mysticism #DoctorOfTheChurch #MedievalItaly #PapalStates #UrbanVI #ClementVII #BaldoDegliUbaldi #RaymondOfCapua #ChurchReform #History #FexingoHistory #RomanRepublic #Renaissance Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo