St. Catherine of Siena
Mystic and activist (1347-80)
Caterina di Benincasawas a religious mystic who, as a lay member of theDominican order, worked with the poor, imprisoned, sick and dying in her nativeSiena. She also tirelessly advocated for the return of the papacy to Rome duringits 70-year “Babylonian Captivity” in Avignon, France. On the basis of her 382letters of exhortation to popes and other potentates, as well as her ecstatic“Dialogues,” Pope Paul VI named her a Doctor of the Church in 1970. (Providedby Fra Noi/Written by Peter D’Epiro) For more geniuses, go to https://www.jccia.com/genius