St. Catherine of Siena experienced her first mystical experience when she was only six years old, finding herself able to view guardian angels as clearly as she could see the people they protected. She became a Dominican tertiary at sixteen, and had numerous visions of Christ, The Blessed Virgin Mary and many saints. Although she never had any formal education, St. Catherine was one of the most brilliant theological minds of the 14th - or any - Century. Her visionary THE DIALOGUE, was dictated during a state of ecstasy while in dialogue with God the Father, and is considered among the most brilliant writings in the history of the Catholic Church. She died at the tender age of thirty-three, and her body was found incorrupt in 1430. In 1940, Pope Pius XII named her a joint Patron Saint of Italy along with Saint Francis of Assisi. Pope Paul VI gave her the title of Doctor of the Church in 1970, along with Saint Teresa of Ávila, making them the first women to receive this honor.
