St. Catherine's Head at the St. Dominic Basilica
A holy head stares out from her beautiful reliquary in this Siena church.
Category Relics and Reliquaries
Set in an ornate reliquary in the Basilica San Domenico in Siena is the dismembered, mummified head of the revered Saint Catherine of Siena. Her right thumb also resides in a smaller reliquary not far from her head.
At the ripe old age of 7, Catherine had her first vision of many; of Jesus on a throne, surrounded by saints. As a teenager she took a vow of perpetual virginity, and gave herself over to prayer and worship. To thwart her families attempts to marry her off, Catherine cut her hair off and scalded herself. Shortly after she joined the nunnery she had a vision of Jesus placing a ring on her finger in marriage. For the rest of her life, Catherine said she could see the ring on her finger.
At the age of 28, Catherine was said to have received the stigmata, when five red rays shot out of the crucifix she was praying to and pierced her hands, feet and heart. She refused to eat or drink, save for the Blessed Sacrament. The miracles were not limited to the stigmata and visions. Catherine was seen levitating during prayer and a priest once said that he saw the Holy Communion fly from his hand straight into Catherine’s mouth like a miracle frisbee.
The beloved Catherine died young at the age of 33, and was canonized over 100 years later. Catherine died while in Rome but the people from her hometown in Siena wanted to have her body and set out to take it. When they realized they would not be able to smuggle her whole body past the guards, they took only her head, placed in a paper bag. Unfortunately, they were stopped by the guards anyway. The thieves prayed to Catherine to protect them, and when the guards looked in the bag, they saw not the small withered head of a saint, but hundreds of rose petals. When they returned to Siena, the head had re-materialized, Saint Catherine's final miricale. Her head was placed in a splendid reliquary where it remains today, nearby to her disembodied thumb, in the Church of San Dominico of Sienna, Italy.
The rest of Catherine's body remains in Rome, and her foot is said to be in a reliquary in Venice.
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- Hours Hours of Operation: 8:00- 12:30, 3:30-6:30. There is no entrance during religious services, and opening times are subject to changes.
- Address Piazza S. Domenico 13, Sienna, 40124, Italy
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