St Catherine (1447-1510) was born into an illustrious Italian family at Genoa in Italy. She was the youngest of five children.
At a young age, St Catherine showed a desire to enter a Convent, perhaps hoping to follow in her sister’s footsteps, but her youth prevented it. Instead, after her father’s death, she married a nobleman, at her family’s request. She was 16yrs old.
Her early marriage was filled with tragedy. Her husband was, “faithless, violent-tempered and a spendthrift,” making her life a misery. In 1473, after a mystical experience which she described as an “Overpowering expression of God’s love for her,” she transformed her life. She started to receive the Holy Eucharist almost daily and, with her now repentant husband who had joined the Franciscans, she unselfishly served the sick in a Genoa hospital and performed multiple other works of charity.
St Catherine died at the age of 63, “Worn out with the labours of body and soul.” Her writings became an inspiration to many including, St Robert Bellarmine and St Francis de Sales.
St Catherine’s Feast Day is the 15th of September.
St Catherine of Genoa:
Pray for us that we will tend to the needs of our family and the poor, our body and soul, using all the graces and blessings that God has bestowed on us.
Glory be to the Father…
