"We must force ourselves to detach the heart and the will from all earthly love; to love no fleeting things, except for the love of God; and, above all, not to love God for our own sakes for self-interest, but with a love as pure as His own goodness."

St. Catherine di Ricci

St Catherine di Ricci - February 4th

Born: April 23, 1522 at Florence, Italy
Died: February 2, 1590 at Tuscany, Italy
Canonized: June 29, 1746
Claim to Fame: Mystic; Stigmatist; Visions of Jesus as an infant and adult; Ability to bilocate; Ecstaies;  Mystically married to Christ; Dominican prioress who was sought out for advice on administration and management by three future popes.
Patron: The sick

She was born Alessandra Lucrezia Romola de' Ricci in Florence to Pier Francesco de' Ricci, of a patrician family, and his wife, Caterina Bonza, who died soon after. At age 6 or 7, her father enrolled her in a school run by a monastery of Benedictine nuns in the Monticelli quarter of the city, near their home, where her aunt, Luisa de' Ricci, was the abbess. She was a very prayerful person from a very young age. There she developed a lifelong devotion to the Passion of Christ. After a short time outside the monastery she entered the Convent of St Vincent in Prato, Tuscany, a cloisteredcommunity of religious sisters of the Third Order of St. Dominic, disciples of the noted Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola, who followed the strict regimen of life she desired. In May 1535 she received the religious habit from her uncle, Friar Timoteo de' Ricci, O.P., who was confessor to the convent, and the religious name of Catherine, after the Dominican tertiary, Catherine of Siena.

De' Ricci's period of novitiate was a time of trial. She would experience ecstasies during her routine, which caused her to seem asleep during community prayer services, dropping plates and food, so much so that the community began to question her competence, if not her sanity. Eventually the other Sisters became aware of the spiritual basis for her behavior. By the age of 30 she had risen to the post of prioress.

It is claimed that De' Ricci's meditation on the Passion of Christ was so deep that she spontaneously bled, as if scourged. She also bore the Stigmata. During times of deep prayer, like Catherine of Siena, her patron saint, a coral ring representing her marriage to Christ, appeared on her finger.

One of the miracles that was documented for her canonization was her appearance many hundreds of miles away from where she was physically located. This involved appearing in a vision St Philip Neri, a resident of Rome, with whom she had maintained a long-term correspondence. Neri, who was otherwise very reluctant to discuss miraculous events, confirmed the event.

Source: Wikipedia, accessed 2020-12-14


 

"Look down, we beseech Thee, O Lord, on this Thy family for which Our Lord Jesus Christ did not hesitate to be delivered into the hands of the wicked, and suffer the torments of the Cross."
St. Catherine di Ricci