Reviews for The Road to Siena: The Essential Biography of St. Catherine

The average rating for The Road to Siena: The Essential Biography of St. Catherine based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-05-16 00:00:00 Barbara Dixon This is a great little biography. It's a new edition of a biography written in the early 20th-century. I mention that because this is not your typical modern history or biography. It is very casual, less scholarly, more conversational. He also accepts the worldview of the subject. He speaks of Catherine's ecstasies, miracles, visions, spiritual "eating disorder", and other aspects of her life in a very matter-of-fact way. He does not offer critiques of these incidents nor does he clearly say he believes they were genuine spiritual manifestations. Catherine (and others) said this happened, and so he writes that they reported it happened. No judgment. No analysis. Just telling the story as neither hagiography nor as suspicious modernist treatise. The annotations from the editor of this new edition are genuinely insightful, offering some of those little nuggets that we as modern readers would likely appreciate. Whenever an unfamiliar name pops up, we see a call-out box from the editor telling us who it is. There are asides about Catherine's unhealthy eating habits, views on the Crusades, gender issues, and theological insights. Regardless of all these issues, Catherine's is a fascinating life that was cut too short (likely due to her own behaviors). I can't say that I would have bought wholeheartedly into her theology and actions at the time, but in hindsight, if one can look past just how odd her mysticism was, and take from it what they can, they can learn so much about this remarkable woman--one of only two women that the Catholic Church has named a "Doctor of the Church". She deserves it.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-05-13 00:00:00 Kelly Lam The strength of this biography is that it makes Catherine's historical context very clear. It explains the politics of Italy and the papacy at the time and Catherine's involvement in both. However, in focusing on this context, Gardner loses sight of Catherine, the individual. I felt that I never got to know who she was or how she became the extraordinary woman who inspired such faith and devotion in others. Although the book is very useful in explaining her role in contemporary politics, I need another biography that will tell me more about her as an individual, as a woman, as a writer, and as a saint.