FEBRUARY 13 , 2003
St.CATHERINE DE RICCI
Virgin (1522-1590)
LIFE:
Alexandra Romola was born on 23rd April 1522 at Florence ,Italy,the
daughter of an old patrician family..Her mother died when Catherine was an
infant; she was raised by her godmother, but considered Our Lady her true mother, and
developed a great devotion. As a child, she could speak to her guardian angel, and the
angel taught her prayers for the rosary. At age 6 she moved to the convent school of
Montecelli; her aunt was the abbess. Catherine developed a devotion to the Passion.
Her father, Peter, objected to her plans to join a convent, then relented, then
changed his mind again. Catherine continued her prayers at home, but when he changed
his mind she fell ill. It was only when he at last agreed on her vocation that she
recovered.
When she enetered into Dominician covent she took the name of
Catherine. After five years , during which she was much misunderstood
&calumniated , her holiness was recognised & she aws advanced to novice
mistress, then sub-prioress and finally to prioress.
She received visions and had ecstacies, but these caused some problems and doubts
among her sisters - outwardly she seemed asleep or dully stupid when the visions were
upon her. Catherine though everyone received these visions as part of their lives with
God. She was stricken with a series of painful ailments that permanently damaged her
health. Catherine met Philip Neri in a vision while he was alive in Rome; they
corresponded. Could bi-locate. Said to have received a ring from the Lord as a sign of
her espousal to him; to her it appeared as gold set with a diamond; everyone else saw
a red lozenge and a circlet around her finger.
Permanent stigmatist. At 20 she began a 12-year cycle of weekly ecstasies of the
Passion from noon Thursday til 4:00 p.m. Friday, often accompanied by serious wounds.
Her sisters could follow the course of the Passion, as the wounds appeared in order
from the scourging and crowning with thorns. At the end she was covered with wounds
and her shoulder was indented from the Cross. The first time, during Lent 1542, she
meditated so completely on the crucifixion of Jesus that she became ill, and was
healed by a vision of the Risen Lord talking with Mary Magdalene. Crowds came to see
her, skeptics and sinners being converted by the sight. The crowds became to numerous
and constant that the sisters prayed that the wounds become less visible; He made them
so 1554. Three future popes (Cardinals Cervini, Pope Marcellus II; Alexander de
Medici, Pope Leo XI; Aldobrandini, Pope Clement VIII) were among the thousands who
sought her prayers. . Correspondent with Saint Charles Borromeo and !
Pope Saint Pius V.
St.Catherine de Ricci died after a long illness on february
1590.Canonized in 1746 by Pope Benedict XIV
PATRONAGE:
Body illness, sickness, sick people.
COMMENT
:No one has ever claimed that imagination could produce wounds in a
normal subject; it is true that this faculty can act slightly on the body, as Benedict
XIV said, it may accelerate or retard the nerve-currents, but there is no instance of
its action on the tissues (De canoniz., III, xxxiii, n. 31). But with regard to
persons in an abnormal condition, such as ecstasy or hypnosis, the question is more
difficult; and, despite numerous attempts, hypnotism has not produced very clear
results. At most, and in exceedingly rare cases, it has induced exudations or a sweat
more or less coloured, but this is a very imperfect imitation. Moreover, no
explanation has been offered of three circumstances presented by the stigmata of the
saints:Physicians do not succeed in curing these wounds with remedies.On the other
hand, unlike natural wounds of a certain duration, those of stigmatics do not give
forth a fetid odour.Sometimes these wounds give forth perfumes.
REFLECTION:
** All of us can attain to christian virtue and holiness ,
no matter in what condition of life we live and no matter what our
life-work may be.** St.Francis de Sales.
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