Sunday 28 April 2024 – 11:00
Caterina di Jacopo di Benincasanot yet a saint but already in the odor of sanctity, arrived in Pisa in 1375 at the invitation of Piero Gambacortithen Lord of the city.
She was hosted in the home of Messer Gerardo Buonconti in Via Toselli (unfortunately destroyed in 1943).
During her stay in Pisa, Caterina used to pray in the small church of Saint Christina which is located near the house where he lived.
There, on April 29, 1375, in a moment of ecstasy, he obtained the stigmata which pushed her forward once more along the path that led her to be sanctified.
One day, as he remembers Camillo Ranieri Borghi in his treatise on Bridge Gamewhile she was praying in Santa Cristina, as she usually did, she heard a loud clang coming from outside and, curious about it, she asked for information about it.
She was told that the noises she had heard were due to the preparations for the Bridge Game and when she asked what this event was, she was told that it was a game that simulated a battle to take the bridge. Old Bridge (what later became Ponte di Mezzo) and it was explained to her that, although it was a fake battle, sometimes some participants actually got hurt, which is why she prayed that it would never happen again.
From this episode in the life of Saint Catherine of Siena comes the fact that she was raised to Patron Saint of the Game and in particular to Patron Saint of the Noble Part of the Southsince she lived and prayed in the neighborhood of Kinzicasouth of the Arno.
On April 29th from 6pm, Saint Catherine of Siena will be celebrated in the church of Santa Cristinathe event is organized by Part of the South to celebrate one’s Patron Saint; at the same time, the flags of the six Judiciaries of the Southern Part will be blessed.
Curious detail: April 29th is also the day on which San Torpete, Patron Saint of the Tramontana area, is celebrated.
