St. Catherine of Ricci

February 13th (in the Old calendar), we celebrate the feast day of Saint Catherine de Ricci (1522 – 1590), Italian Dominican Tertiary nun, mystic, stigmatist, ecstatic, counselor to many in both secular and spiritual matters, a highly admired administrator and advisor, blessed with many mystical charism including visions of Christ, both as a baby and adult, bilocation and miracles.

She was born to a wealthy family in Florence in 1522, and her father was one of an old and respected family of bankers and merchants. She was called at her baptism Alexandrina, but she took the name of Catherine at her religious profession. Having lost her mother in her infancy, she was formed to virtue by a very pious godmother, and whenever she was missing she was always to be found on her knees in some secret part of the house.

When she was between six and seven years old, her father placed her in the Convent of Monticelli, near the gates of Florence, where her aunt, Louisa de Ricci, was a nun. There she developed a lifelong devotion to the Passion of Christ.

After a brief return home, at age 14, Catherine entered the Dominican convent of San Vincenzo in Tuscany. Her early years in the convent were marked by suffering and humiliation at the hands of the community. 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.

Her supernatural gifts of mysticism were not well understood, but eventually her sisters came to recognize her faith, humility, and service to others. Shortly thereafter she was chosen as Mistress of Novices, and at age 25, the community embracing her calling, Catherine was made Perpetual Prioress of the Order. As prioress of San Vincenzo, Saint Catherine was an effective and greatly admired administrator.

The reputation of her extraordinary sanctity and prudence drew her many visits from a great number of bishops, princes, and cardinals-among them, the Cardinals Cervini, Alexander of Medicis, and Aldobrandini, who all three were afterwards raised to St. Peter’s chair, under the names of Marcellus II, Clement VIII, and Leo XI.She corresponded supernaturally with Saint Philip Neri, and she is reported to have miraculously appeared to him in visions during his life (they never having physically met).

Throughout her life, Catherine endured countless physical ailments and sufferings, the remedies offered at the time seemingly only increasing the severity of her symptoms. Despite her suffering, she engaged in extreme fasting and penance. She was known for treating the poor, sick, and ill, traveling the countryside on her knees in service and humility to others. Catherine also had great compassion for the souls in purgatory and made sacrifices for them. God permitted her to know that a certain man was in purgatory and she offered forty days of suffering for him.

Saint Catherine’s experience of the Passion of Our Lord occurred for twelve years, until she and the community prayed for it to stop. The attention and the visitors the convent was gaining due to her ecstasy had become disruptive to the Rules of the Order. Her devotion to the suffering of Jesus, coupled with her own personal suffering, led her to experience a beautiful “Ecstasy of the Passion” every week, from Thursday at noon until Friday at 4 p.m., for several years. In her ecstasy, Catherine experienced the stages of Our Lord’s Passion, actually realizing, and showing forth to others with wonderful vividness, all that His Blessed Mother suffered in witnessing it.

Catherine was known to bear the stigmata—the wounds of Christ—in her hands, feet, side, and around her head. She is also known to have had a mystical ring appear around her finger: on Easter Sunday, 1542, she was visited by the Lord, and he gave her a gold ring with a diamond in it as a sign that she belonged to him. Catherine died of natural causes, after a long illness, when she was 68 years old. Her incorrupt body can be seen in her own monastery in Prato which is still flourishing.

She is the patron saint of those who are sick. She was beatified by Clement XII in 1732, and canonized by Benedict XIV in 1746.

Prayer

Almighty God, you brought our sister Catherine to holiness through her contemplation of your Son’s passion. As we remember the dying and rising of your Son, help us to become courageous preachers and teachers of these mysteries.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, you Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

St. Catherine of Ricci, pray for us!