This book is for you. I ordered this book for real information on St. Catherine, for research I am doing for a screenplay. What I got was a pretentious book done in the style of a gothic romance novel that was short on the facts and long on poetics. I found the writing style so irritating I put it down after one chapter. Incredible dissapointment.

St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) ranks as one of the greatest, most interesting, most influential and most popular saints in all of Church history. She was a twin, the 23rd of 25 children, a mystic, a stigmatic and a miracle-worker. Her penances were so great that she eventually ate no food - except Holy Communion - and did not require sleep. Through her personal influence, thousands of people returned to the Faith. Her crowning achievement consisted of persuading Pope Gregory XI to return to the Papacy in Rome, thus ending the "Babylonian Captivity." During much of Catherine's brief life she labored valiantly to end the "Great Western Schism" (two Popes), to reconcile the warring states of Italy, and to have the Church preach a crusade against the Turks. St. Catherine died at age 33, the victim of her own strenuous efforts and penances on behalf of the Church. Her 400 letters - to Popes and to religious and political leaders of high and low estate - testify to these efforts. Toward the end of her life, while in ecstasy, she dictated her famous Dialogue with God the Father, which has become one of the great spiritual treasures of the Church. For this writing and for her letters, Pope Paul VI declared her a Doctor of the Church. St. Catherine of Siena is so appealing because she literally consumed herself for the sake of souls and for the welfare of Christ's Church. 268 pages, Imprimatur.