Catherine's Letters

Sometime around 1370 Catherine began to use letter-writing as one of her favored means of reaching out, advising, and influencing others in favor of her causes — possibly in a conscious modeling of herself upon Paul the Apostle, who was particularly dear to her.

Approximately 385 of these letters (most of them spread from 1374 until her death in 1380) have been discovered and published to date, addressed to a remarkably wide variety of her contemporaries — popes, cardinals and bishops, royalty and public officials, family and friends and disciples, and an assortment of others, including allies and opponents, a mercenary captain, a prostitute, a homosexual, and political prisoners. Her purpose, however, was always deeper than the merely social or informational; she was interested primarily in the eternal dimension of personal lives and societal affairs. The letters bear a particular added interest because her activity extended so far beyond the normal feminine bounds of her time and her status in church and society.

Suzanne Noffke has published all of Catherine’s Letters in four volumes, all of which can be purchased directly from the publisher (Tempe: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 2000, 2001, 2007, 2008), either from its Web site at http://www.asu.edu/clas/acmrs/publications/mrts/italy.html or by mail through:
Cornell University Press Services
PO Box 6525
Ithaca, NY 14851
Phone: 1-800-666-2211; 1-607-277-2211
Fax: 1-800-688-2877 (U.S. Only)
Email: orderbook@cupserv.org

The Letters can also be obtained through other major book sources or purchased in the bookstore of the Racine Dominican Retreat Department.