Religious tour around the city

So this morning my art history teacher had an optional field trip around Siena to look at all the churches and relics. The first place we went to was the Dominican basilica. Saint Catherine of Siena had her first vision at this basilica and the church currently houses some of her relics.

This is a close up of a painting of the birth of the virgin. Isn't this the cutest baby Virgin Mary ever? You just want to reach out and hold her!
OK so this is where the tour got a little... strange. This is the whip that Saint Catherine used on herself everyday to make up for her sins and the sins of others. Saint Catherine is also the woman who jumped out of the Duomo window onto the marble stairs to keep herself from having an impure thought.

She had visions of Christ many times and is said to have placed the Papacy back in Rome and help unify Europe after the Great Schism of the Catholic Church. I'll let you decide if it was a miracle or if it was because she refused to eat anything but the Eucharist wafer and wine.
This is her thumb. She died in Rome so Rome wanted her body as a relic but Siena said "No way, she lived here we should get her". So what did they do? Compromise! Rome gets her body. Siena gets some fingers, her head, her right arm and her left leg. And Venice for some reason got her left foot.
This is her head.
And here is the altar for her head. The pictures are less gruesome from now on. I have pictures of fully preserved Blessed Ones if your interested.

This painting is in the Goose contrada. It's the Virgin and Christ petting a Goose =)

St. Christopher and St. George.
St. Catherine of Alexandria, who I am going to write my paper on.



St. Francesco telling his father he is giving up becoming King to be a monk.

Home =)