Caterina di Jacopo di Benincasa, known as Catherine of Siena, was an Italian mystic and pious laywoman who engaged in papal and Italian politics through extensive letter-writing and advocacy. Canonized in 1461, she is revered as a saint and as a Doctor of the Church due to her extensive theological authorship. She is also considered to have influenced Italian literature.
St. Catherine of Siena, by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
The house of Saint Catherine in Siena
Statuette by Neroccio di Bartolomeo de' Landi (1475)
Giovanni di Paolo, The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Siena
Doctor of the Church, also referred to as Doctor of the Universal Church, is a title given by the Catholic Church to saints recognized as having made a significant contribution to theology or doctrine through their research, study, or writing.
Isidore of Seville, a seventh-century Doctor of the Church, depicted by Murillo (c. 1628) with a book, which is a common iconographical attribute for a doctor
Hildegard von Bingen was an eleventh-century Doctor of the Church, depicted here by Marshall with a book, the common iconographical attribute for a doctor.
The Four Great Doctors of the Western Church were often depicted in art, here by Pier Francesco Sacchi, c. 1516. From the left: Saint Augustine, Pope Gregory I, Saint Jerome, and Saint Ambrose, with their attributes.
Image: Gregorythegreat
