(A.D. 1590.)
[Roman Martyrology. Canonised by Pope Benedict XIV, in 1746.]
S. Catharine, born of the noble Ricci family at Florence, from her
infancy exhibited a precocious piety. Being placed in a convent when
young, she prayed every day before a crucifix, shedding many tears,
and meditating continually on the passion. She afterwards entered the
Dominican convent of S. Vincent, in the town of Prato. She was asked
to come home, but refused to revisit her parents till they had given
her a promise that they would not oppose her vocation. At the age of
thirteen she embraced the religious profession.
The grace of God descended upon her in abundant measure, and she is
said to have received from our Blessed Lord the ring of espousal, and
the stigmata. Being at Prato, she is said also to have seen and
conversed with S. Philip Neri, who was then in Rome. At length after a
life of great self-denial and continual ecstasy, exhausted by grave
sickness, and strengthened with the sacraments of the Church, she
departed to her rest, in the year 1590, in the sixty-ninth year of her
age, on Feb. 2nd.
[41] See Jan. 26th.
February 14.
SS. VITALIS, FECHULA, ZENO, _MM. at Rome_.
S. ELEUCODIUS, _B. of Ravenna_, A.D. 112.
S. VALENTINE, _P. M. at Rome_, A.D. 269.
S. VALENTINE, _B. M. at Teramo in Umbria; circ._ A.D. 273.
SS. MODESTINE, _B._, FLORENTINE, _P._, AND FLAVIAN, _D., at Avellino
in Italy_.
S. MARO, _H. in Syria; circ._ A.D. 370.
S. ABRAHAM, _B. at Carrhæ, in Mesopotamia; circ._ A.D. 390.
S. AUXENTIUS, _Ab. in Bithynia; circ._ A.D. 470.
S. ANTONINE, _Ab. at Sorrento; circ._ A.D. 830.
SS. BRUNO, _B._, AND EIGHTEEN COMPANIONS, _in Prussia, MM._
A.D. 1008.