The figure of our patron saint, Catherine (1347-1380), dominates this window. She is clothed in the habit of the mantellate, a name given to lay women who were Dominican nuns living in the world but not of it. Unlike most of the religious orders of women at that time, they were not cloistered. A painting of Catherine by a contemporary was used as a model for the face of the saint. The lilies at the upper left and lower right are the heraldic badge of the city of Siena. The lily branch she holds in her hand is symbolic of her virginity. The feathered plume at her side and the book which she holds suggest her writings, for which she has been declared a doctor of the Church. The intertwined gold rings and the two hearts refer to the mystical betrothal of Catherine to Christ as a pledge in answer to her request that she remain constantly faithful to his Truth for her whole lifetime.
Catherine is surrounded by red streaks, symbolic of the wounds of the stigmata (the wounds that Christ endured at his crucifixion). She received these wounds from the crucified Jesus after attending Mass in the chapel of Santa Cristina in Pisa shortly before she began her labors for the reformation of the Church. At the moment when she understood the gift which the crucified Lord was to give her, she prayed that the wounds
would not be visible. The red streaks turn golden at their ends, symbolic of her understanding that her request had been granted. The green cross with the red and gold wings in the upper right corner of the window are symbolic of the conferring of the stigmata.
To the saint’s right, a cracked papal tiara signifies the state of the papacy in Catherine’s time. For many years, the popes had been absent from Rome, living in Avignon in what Petrarch referred to as the “Babylonian Captivity”. After sending many letters entreating Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome, Catherine and a group of her disciples traveled to Avignon and may have been one of the influences that led to the pope end his seventy-year exile and return to begin a much-needed reform of the Church and the clergy.
The black and white crest at the bottom of the window is that of the Order of Preachers; this is the official title of the Dominicans.
Go now to the west transept.