A national saint in a Fascist state: Catherine of Siena, ca 1922-1943 (Annual festival of Saint Catherine of Siena)

The annual festival of Saint Catherine of Siena is now the focus of a self-conscious internationalism which celebrates Catherine as both Patron Saint of Italy and Co-Patron Saint of Europe. When Catherine of Siena was proclaimed Patron Saint of Italy in 1939, however, the annual festival in her honour was quite different in ethos, being a highly patriotic, nationalistic, and even militaristic celebration of Catherine's significance in and for Fascist Italy. The article examines the campaign for Catherine to be proclaimed a "national saint" and "patron of Italy" during the 1920s and 1930s, locating it within the context of the relationship between Catholicism and Fascism in Mussolini's Italy. It also examines the celebration of her annual festival between 1940 and 1943 in the context of Italian participation in the Second World War, until the fall of Mussolini and his regime.