Basilica dei Santi Vincenzo e Caterina de' Ricci

The Basilica of Saints Vincent and Catherine de’ Ricci in Prato belongs to the Dominican monastery where Caterina de’ Ricci (1522–1590) lived and died. The basilica holds her tomb and is linked to devotional objects associated with her life, including a crucifix kept beside her former cell.

Why it matters

Caterina de’ Ricci was canonised in 1746 and proclaimed co-patroness of the city of Prato. Her life and veneration remain closely connected to the monastery of San Vincenzo Ferreri and Santa Caterina de’ Ricci, where her body is preserved in an urn.

What to notice

The monastery preserves the small crucifix associated with a reported vision on 24 August 1542, when Caterina was said to have embraced the figure of Christ. Another object of local devotion is the Madonna dei Papalini, an early-sixteenth-century polychrome terracotta statue. According to the monastery’s tradition, the statue’s presence was followed by the nuns being spared during the 1512 sack of Prato. It is kept in the chapel that served as Caterina’s first burial place until 1732.

Context and history

Caterina entered the Dominican monastery as a young woman and died there on 2 February 1590. The church’s full dedication, San Vincenzo Ferreri and Santa Caterina de’ Ricci, reflects the Dominican community’s history and the saint’s enduring place in Prato. The crucifix associated with her devotional life is kept near her former cell, and the Madonna dei Papalini remains part of the monastery’s August observances.