In the spring of 1375 Catherine was at Pisa, where she had been sent to help heal the schism between the city and the Papacy. Praying alone before a great crucifix in the small Pisan church of St. Christina, she had a vision in which five rays of light came forth from the wounds of Christ on the crucifix and pierced her own hands, feet, and side.
By her own account, recorded by her confessor Blessed Raymond of Capua, she begged the Lord that the wounds remain invisible to others — for the burden she already carried in public life was great. Christ granted her request. She bore the wounds, painful but invisible, for the remaining five years of her life. After her death in 1380 the wounds reportedly became visible on her hands and feet, witnessed by those who prepared her body for burial. The crucifix from before which she received the stigmata is preserved at the Basilica of San Domenico in Siena.