Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) left letters, a book and a great following. The story of her mother’s return from death comes from her confessor and biographer, Raymond of Capua, who finished his Legend in 1395. What makes it interesting is that he names the people who were in the room.
The account
Raymond introduces it with a warning: “I am about to tell a story that may seem beyond belief in our day, good reader, but nevertheless it was quite possible to Him to whom all things are possible.” Catherine’s mother, Lapa, fell ill, refused to think about death and died without the sacraments. Catherine prayed: “I shall not move from here until you have restored my mother to me alive.” According to Raymond, Lapa lived on to the age of 89.
The three women
Raymond writes that three women of Siena “saw Lapa breathe her last, touched her dead body”: Caterina di Ghetto, Angela di Vannino (by then Sisters of Penance of Saint Dominic) and Lisa, Catherine’s sister-in-law. He adds that all were “still living and resident in Siena” when he wrote, so a reader could, in principle, go and ask them.
Where the limits are
- The author is a partisan. Raymond was Catherine’s confessor and later head of the Dominicans.
- The distance. The Legend came fifteen years after Catherine’s death.
- Our reading. We read the account through an excerpt reproduced with the Giovanni di Paolo painting, not the full Legend, so quotations should be checked against the whole text.
A note on the ranking: it is ours, not the Church’s. We weigh who wrote a story down, when, and whether witnesses were named. We do not weigh holiness or what God can do. The Catechism (548) says miracles are signs that invite faith, not proof to satisfy curiosity.
Watch the video: Saints Who Raised the Dead: Ranked by Evidence, where all five cases are put side by side.
Sources
- Raymond of Capua, Life of St. Catherine of Siena, excerpt on Lapa, via Christian Iconography.
- Catholic Encyclopedia, “St. Catherine of Siena” (E. Gardner, 1908).
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 547-549.
Image credits
- Giovanni di Paolo, Saint Catherine of Siena Beseeching Christ to Resuscitate Her Mother. Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. A later painting, not a portrait.