*Includes pictures. *Includes a bibliography and footnotes. *Includes a table of contents. “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” – St. Catherine of Siena A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history’s most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors’ Catholic Legends series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of the Church’s most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known. As one of the two patron saints of Italy and one of six patron saints of Europe, it’s immediately apparent that Catherine of Siena was one of Catholicism’s most important figures, and possibly its most influential woman. Famous today for adhering to the tenets of the Dominican order and living a material-free life, Catherine worked in her day to help reunite the Catholic Church after a schism had brought some of the base of power to Avignon, France. At the same time, she also sought to bring together the disparate Italian states that were constantly at war with each other.