Catherina Benincasa, born in Siena, was favored with visions from the age of seven. Becoming a tertiary of the Dominican Order in 1360, she acquired great influence by her life of prayer and extraordinary mortifications as well as by the spread of her spiritual writings. Her continual appeals for civil peace and reform of the Church make her one of the leading figures of the fourteenth century. Worn out by her mortification and negotiations she died in Rome on April 20, 1380. In a Letter Apostolic of June 18, 1939, Pius XII declared St. Francis of Assisi and St. Catherine of Siena principal patron and patroness of Italy.