Saint Catherine of Genoa and the Fire of God's love

Synthèse :

Catherine was born in 1447 in Genoa, which at the time was an independent republic. Her family belonged to the social elite of the Italian peninsula: her father, Jacopo Fieschi, was viceroy of Naples and the family included two popes, cardinals and two archbishops of Genoa, magistrates and high-ranking military officers.

The girl received a solid education in all areas. She was known as a holy child, attached to prayer, with a great love of Christ's Passion and of penitential practices; but, also as being an obedient and quiet girl. She excelled in the subject of religion, both in studying the Bible and in practising it. She loved to pray, attending mass and the various services, and from a very early age showed great devotion to the Virgin Mary. Her parents, themselves pious, passed on the values of the Gospel to her in a beautiful way.

From the age of eight, Catherine could be found praying, kneeling before a pious image (she had a representation of a pietà in her bedroom) or a statue. She practised unusual austerities for a girl of her age: she slept on a straw mattress and used a piece of wood as a pillow.

However, these practices never prevented her from leading the normal life of a child of her social standing: attending receptions and meals organised by her family, studying, etc. In fact, she hardly spoke about it to anyone and never put herself forward: this humility stayed with her until her last day.

From 1460 onwards, Catherine, who had become an adolescent, increasingly affirmed her faith. Her spirituality took on a distinctly Christological accent: she began to meditate on the Passion of Christ and felt a growing desire to abandon herself to the will of the Saviour, in whom she placed all her trust. She voiced her wish to become a nun around the age of 13.

She chose the Genoese convent of Our Lady of Graces, under the rule of Saint Augustine. Her confessor, seeing her resolve, spoke to the convent's superior. But Catherine was denied because of her young age. She had to be patient. Which she did, handing everything over to God.

Her father died in 1460, leaving her under the guardianship of her elder brother Jacopo . At the time, Genoa was in the throes of civil war and was suddenly occupied by the Duke of Milan, an enemy of the Fieschi family, who took advantage of the unrest to conquer the city. Finally, a compromise was reached between the two cities and, to celebrate the truce, Jacopo Fieschi gave his sister Catherine in marriage to Giuliano Adorno, Duke of Milan, on 13 January 1463.

Catherine saw this union as a divine trial. Her plans for life seemed to be postponed indefinitely.

Giuliano was a violent man who loved gambling and war, and was unfaithful.

Catherine retreated to her apartments and continued her life of prayer, saying all the offices throughout the day and night. This situation lasted five years. The mystical experiences multiplied and the saint ate less and less, without her health being affected. Her faith never wavered.

On 11 July 1474, the feast of Saint Benedict, she entered the church dedicated to this saint, prostrated herself on the ground before the altar and begged the patriarch of the monks for help.

The next day, she confided her distress to her sister Limbania, a nun at Our Lady of Graces, and, on her advice, spoke to the convent confessor.

Their conversation was decisive. When she went home, Catherine locked herself in her room and threw away her expensive finery and jewellery. Within her, the light had dawned.

No sooner had she finished getting rid of her possessions, which had become cumbersome and useless, than Christ appeared to her, bloodied and carrying his Cross. "See, my daughter, all that blood shed on Calvary for your sake, in atonement for your sins" he said to her. Kneeling, Catherine left this world in spirit.

Three days later, she made a general confession and obtained permission, exceptional in those days, to receive communion every day. This was the beginning of a long inedience lasting twenty-three years, during which time she ate only one consecrated host a day. Her only drink was a glass of water, to which was sometimes added a little vinegar and salt. Her health was never impaired; on the contrary, she was never in better health than during these years of total abstinence.

Her prayer took on an extraordinary dimension. Catherine prayed six to seven hours a day, immersed in raptures that could last for hours. She also slept less and less, but never seemed tired.

To put it briefly, the love of God governed her life in every way.

Charity was the fruit of prayer and, in Catherine, this charity was on a par with her prayer: total, without limits, offered to all. She was admitted to the Society of Mercy in Genoa, which was made up of four municipal officials and eight ladies of charity chosen from the ranks of the local nobility. This Society was dedicated to helping the poor, the sick and orphans. Catherine spared no effort and set an example by walking the streets of the town every day in search of the most destitute. She didn't say it, but it was a daily battle, because she had always loathed disease, and the sight of blood disgusted her.

God's grace and the saint's example brought about the conversion of Giuliano Adorno, who, repentant of his errors, became a member of a Franciscan third order. He died at the end of 1497.

Her spiritual director, aware of Catherine's holiness, asked her to write down what she experienced. Her Treatise on Purgatory and her Dialogues form two master books on Christian spirituality and mysticism, in which no one has detected the slightest error or theological inaccuracy.

Catherine's last ten years were full of physical suffering. It was a form of farewell to this world that in no way disturbed her faith. She had frequent visions of angels, and the Virgin Mary came to visit her on her bed of suffering.

On 25 August 1510, she fainted. When she came to, she had her windows opened to contemplate the azure sky, and found the strength to sing the Veni Creator Spiritus (Come, O Creator Spirit Blest). Then she fell into ecstasy, saying: "Let us depart now! No more earth!"

On 14 September, just after midnight, she was asked if she wanted to receive Holy Communion. Knowing her death was imminent, she pointed to heaven to explained that the Lord was waiting for her there. It was then that the features of her face took on an expression of profound peace.

Then she said: "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit", and died, radiant with joy.

Only eighteen months after her death, Pope Julius II decided to open a beatification process, which was completed in 1675. She was proclaimed a saint in 1737 by Clement XII.

Her body, miraculously preserved from natural corruption, has been kept in a glass shrine in the upper chapel of Genoa's main hospital since the year of her canonisation.

Au-delà des raisons d'y croire :

The Catholic Church is extremely prudent around mystical phenomena, yet it has fully endorsed Catherine of Genoa the mystic. The reason is simple: ecclesial discernment and the testimonies of so many of her contemporaries have provided indubitable proof of her charity and her love for the weakest - a charity which, for her, was not an extra activity by the core of her life of faith, since "God is love".

Aller plus loin :

The Spiritual Doctrine of St. Catherine of Genoa by Don Cattaneo Marabotto (Author), St. Catherine (Author), TAN; Translation edition (January 1, 1974)

En savoir plus :

• Catherine of Genoa: Purgation and Purgatory, The Spiritual Dialogue (Classics of Western Spirituality) by Catherine of Genoa (Author), Serge Hughes (Translator), Paulist Press; First Paperback Edition (January 1, 1979)