Head of Santa Caterina da Siena

Ceramic, faux flower petals, adhesive, acrylic paint, ponytail

2020

Santa Caterina da Siena, one of two national patron saints of Italy and the most prominent woman of the Dominican Order. In 1380 at age 33, she died while on a trip to Rome. Her hometown of Siena wanted her body returned for burial, but the city of Rome refused; she would have to be smuggled out. Realizing that her body was too large to be carried away undetected, the Sienese took only her head. At the gates of Rome, guards checked the bag that held St. Catherine’s head — except there was no head, in its place were hundreds of rose petals. When they returned to Siena, her head miraculously rematerialized inside the bag, and was later placed in an ornate reliquary. It is visible for all to revere at the Basilica di San Domenico in Siena. Her body remains in Rome, under the high altar of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, right beside the Pantheon.