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The Dialogue (Book of Divine Doctrine) — Catherine of Siena

Written work · Essential works

The Dialogue (Book of Divine Doctrine)

Libro della divina dottrina (Dialogo della divina provvidenza)

Santa Catalina, por Andrea Vanni (San Domenico, Siena)
byCatherine of Siena

A book dictated by Catherine to her secretaries between late 1377 and October 1378. It opens with a soul that, 'dwelling in the cell of self-knowledge', addresses four petitions to God (for herself, for the reform of the Church, for the world and for a particular case) and the Father answers in a long colloquy. Its great images are the bridge that is Christ, with its three steps (the feet, the side, the mouth), stretched over the river of the world; the doctrine of tears; providence; obedience; and the reform of the Church's ministers, the 'mystical body'. It closes with a prayer to the Trinity as a 'deep sea'. Since Girolamo Gigli (1707) it has usually been divided into treatises (on discretion, prayer, providence and obedience). It is one of the summits of fourteenth-century Italian prose.

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Authorship note

Dictated in the Sienese vernacular to several secretaries (Stefano Maconi, Neri di Landoccio, Barduccio Canigiani); Raymond of Capua and Maconi translated it into Latin. First printed edition: Bologna, 1472. Critical edition: Giuliana Cavallini (1968; 1995).

Editions and translations

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English

  • The Dialogue — Catherine of Siena

    The Dialogue

    Paulist Press, 1980

    Translation: Suzanne Noffke

    ISBN 9780809122332

    Classics of Western Spirituality; prefacio de Giuliana Cavallini.

    Buy the book · Amazon (amazon.com)View in store · Paulist Press (editorial)

  • The Dialogue of the Seraphic Virgin Catherine of Siena

    Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1896

    Translation: Algar Thorold

    Dominio público.

Italiano

  • Libro della divina dottrina

    Laterza, 1912

    Ed. Matilde Fiorilli, Scrittori d'Italia; dominio público.

  • Il Dialogo della divina provvidenza ovvero Libro della divina dottrina

    Edizioni Cateriniane, 1968

    Edición crítica de Giuliana Cavallini; 2.ª ed. Cantagalli, Siena, 1995. ISBN no localizado.

    View in store · Edizioni Cantagalli (editorial)

  • Dialogo della divina Provvidenza: versione in italiano corrente

    Edizioni Studio Domenicano, 1989

    ISBN 9788870940107

    A cura di Maria Adelaide Raschini.

    Buy the book · Amazon (amazon.it)View in store · Edizioni Studio Domenicano (editorial)

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Other works by Catherine of Siena

Sources

  • Caterina da Siena. Il Dialogo della divina provvidenza ovvero Libro della divina dottrina. Ed. Giuliana Cavallini. Roma: Edizioni Cateriniane, 1968 (2.ª ed., Siena: Cantagalli, 1995).

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