This evocative space is located in the heart of the thousand-year-old hospital of Santa Maria della Scala, one of the most ancient hospitals in Europe, called Saint Mary of the Stairs because it stood across from the steps to Siena Cathedral. Founded in the ninth century by the Cathedral Canons as an expression of God’s love for those in need, this charitable institution was first and foremost a hostel for the many pilgrims passing along the Via Francigena, as well as a place of welcome for the poor in search of alms and for abandoned children, the so-called ‘foundlings.’ Over time, to these aims was added the care and treatment of the sick, to the point that the fourteenth-century bylaws bear witness to the permanent presence of a physician, a surgeon, and an apothecary.
Such a place, where faith was expressed in the judgment of one’s neighbor, could not help attracting Catherine, who came here every day, bringing aid and comfort to those in need. This shows how she interpreted Christian charity in an active, concrete way: she embodied the role of volunteer nurse par excellence, full of love and unflagging energy. With her little jar of aromatic essences, her lantern and a walking stick, which can still be seen in the shrine of her house, she would go to the hospital, alleviating the physical and spiritual suffering that afflicted the sick.
In the course of the fourteenth century, several lay confraternities, the most important of which were San Michele Arcangelo and the Disciplinati, set up their headquarters in the underground rooms of the hospital. Founded for benevolent and charitable purposes, they transformed a part of this space into proper oratories, which were the places where the brothers would go to draw on the source of their love, God’s grace. Here they would stop to pray, and meet to maintain the reasons for their service.
The ancient Company of San Michele Arcangelo had its headquarters in this oratory. It was dedicated to the care of the sick and respect for the dead. It is no coincidence that this space is located near the ‘charnel house’, still visible today, a pit where the dead were buried. The titular saint of the confraternity, Saint Michael the Archangel, is the one who accompanies souls to the next world.
Catherine came here every day to pray with the brothers and to seek a moment of rest during the long nights spent at the bedsides of the sick in Santa Maria della Scala, retiring into the little cell on the left side of the oratory. Even though Catherine never became a member of the Company – membership was open only to men – in honor of her and as a sign of her bond with the brothers and with the place that was so dear to them, the name of the Company was changed to Santa Caterina della Notte (Saint Catherine of the Night), as attested by documents, starting in 1479.