Catherine had powerful and painful visions
Italian saint had the stigmata and could bilocate
By Tony Staley
Compass Editor
One of life's most difficult tasks is to put the community's wants and needs ahead of our own. It can be particularly hard when what we are doing seems much more important than what the community wants - which might even appear to be petty.
That's the situation St. Catherine de Ricci found herself in when the members of her religious community asked her to stop having weekly visions of Jesus's Passion. The visions began at noon Thursdays and continued until 4 p.m. Fridays.
The visions began in 1542 when she was 20 and were quite dramatic. The other Dominican sisters could watch her progress through Jesus's sufferings as wounds appeared on her body from scourging, the crowning of thorns and the pressure of the cross on her shoulder.
Gradually, more and more people heard about what was happening and they began visiting the convent at St. Vincent in Prato, Italy, where she was a nun.
Eventually the crowds grew so large that they were disrupting the prayer and routine of the sisters, particularly after Catherine was elected prioress for life at age 30. Members of the community, at the suggestion of Catherine, prayed that the visions would end, and in 1554 they stopped.
Catherine was born in Florence into a family of bankers and merchants and was named Alexandria. After her mother died when Alexandria was a young child, her stepmother, Fiammetta da Diacceto, encouraged the girl's interest in solitary prayer.
She entered the convent - despite her father's objections - when she was 12 and took the religious name Catherine.
For two years, she suffered from a variety of illnesses, which she endured by offering up her sufferings while meditating on the Passion of Jesus. Later she became the director of novices before becoming prioress.
Once during her life, Catherine appeared in a vision to St. Philip Neri in Rome and the two conversed. St. Philip Neri confirmed that the incident took place, as did five witnesses.
Catherine also received the stigmata (the wounds of Christ) on her body and on Easter in 1542 reportedly received a ring from Jesus. Others saw it as a red circle on her finger, but she saw a gold band and diamond.
Catherine was known for praying many hours each day and for helping the poor and sick and those who sought her advice. She also was considered to be a good administrator.
Catherine died at Prato after a long illness.
(Sources: Butler's Lives of the Saints, Catholic Encyclopedia, catholic-forum.com, Dictionary of Saints, 365 Saints)
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