Francesco Bruni


Francesco Bruni was the papal secretary to Pope Greogry XI.1 Catherine interacted with Francesco on her travels to Avignon, France when she visited with the Pope. Thomas Luongo describes one of his tasks in the companion group as, “professional notaries, at some point evidently began keep a register of copies of her letters, from which other copies were made which circulated among her network of followers, to be copied again as desired by new readers.”2 Part of why Catherine was so successful was due to these followers, who took it upon themselves to spread her word and collect her letters for future readers.