 The important mystic and author, Catherine of Siena, accepted him as a spiritual director because of his burning passion for the Church and for the revival of religious life.He was beatified by the Catholic Church in 1899.He was born "Raymond della Vigna" about 1330 in Capua (then part of the Kingdom of Naples), a member of a prominent family of that city, and was a descendant of Pietro della Vigna (a figure mentioned in Dante's "Divine Comedy").