The Visual Hagiography of a Stigmatic Saint: Drawings of Catherine of Siena in the "Libellus de Supplemento"

Abstract

This article examines the construction of the saintly persona of Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) at an early stage in the development of her cult. In particular it investigates the importance of the miracle of the stigmata in asserting her sainthood by analyzing the "Libellus de supplemento" (Siena, Biblioteca comunale degli Intronati, MS Segn. T.I.2), which contains the earliest surviving cycle of visual images depicting the life of Catherine. Written by Tommaso di Antonio Caffarini (ca. 1350-1434) at the scriptorium of Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice between 1401 and 1418, the Supplement elucidates Catherine's life to argue for her canonization, the early process of which coincided with the manuscript's production. Nine of the forty-two pen and ink drawings located in the margins of the manuscript text depict Catherine, and the remaining images illustrate other, established saints in acts of prayer, penance, and vision, several of whom are juxtaposed with Catherine in analogous events from their lives. I argue first that this visual analogy constructs a coherent visual hagiography for Catherine, and second that the combination of images and text in the manuscript builds a typology of sainthood that presents Catherine of Siena as a stigmatic saint. These conclusions support my assertion that the manuscript of the Supplement is a significant example of the visual and textual construction of sanctity in the early fifteenth century.