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 The birth
of Catharine was foretold to her devout father by the Blessed Virgin, with the
announcement that the child would be a brilliant light throughout the world.
On the feast of the Annunciation of Our Lady in the year 1413, Catharine was
born at Bologna. Her father, John of Vigri, was a relative of the marquis of
Este, who resided in Ferrara. It was his wish that little Catharine, who
charmed everyone with her beauty and lovableness, be brought to his court, to
be educated there with his daughter. Here Catharine learned the foreign
languages and especially Latin, painting, and everything that belongs to the
culture of a young woman of high rank. People admired in her the singular
wisdom and insight with which she read the profound works of the Fathers of
the Church, along with her great modesty and such purity of soul that she was
looked upon more as an angelic than as a human being.
The court with all its splendor was not able to
fascinate Catharine. The most distinguished suitors were compelled to withdraw
without the least hope of obtaining her hand in marriage; she entertained no
other desire than to be plighted forever to Jesus Christ, the spouse of her
heart. When she was 17 years old, she obtained the consent of her mother--her
father having already died--to join a pious company of young women in Ferrara
who led a religious life but had not yet adopted a definite rule. Catharine
appeared among them as a mirror of all the virtues, but meanwhile she was also
being subjected to very severe temptations of the evil spirit.
Four years later, a royal princess founded a
convent for this society according to the rule of St. Clare, and several
zealous sisters from Mantua introduces the young women to the Poor Clare rule
of life. Catharine was charged with the duties of the bakery; she cheerfully
undertook this laborious service, and even when the heat began to affect her
eyes, she remained at her post as long as the abbess required it.
One day, just as she had placed the loaves in the
oven, the bell called her to the choir for some very special religious
service; she made the Sign of the Cross over the loaves and said, "I commend
you to our Lord." She was not in a position to return to the bakery until five
hours later, and certainly believed that everything had been burned by that
time. However, when she removed the loaves from the oven, there were nicer
than ever.
After a time she was entrusted with the duties of
mistress of novices. Catharine tried, indeed, to be excused, explaining that
she was entirely incapable of this task; but she was compelled by obedience to
accept it. Her diffidence in herself drew down God's blessing on her efforts
to give the novices a good training. She endeavored, above all, to impress on
their young hearts that they should desire nothing but the honor of God and
the fulfillment of His holy will, and so she recommended that they look upon
the holy rule and obedience to their superiors as their guides. Her own
experience taught her how to protect them from the snares of the devil.
"Sometimes," she said, "he inspires souls with an inordinate zeal for a
certain virtue or some special pious exercise, so that they will be motivated
in its practice by passion; or again, he permits them to become discouraged so
that they will neglect everything because they are wearied and disgusted. It
is necessary to overcome the one snare as well as the other." She also taught
them to use the golden mean that leads to solid virtue.
For a long time she herself was troubled with the
temptation to sleep during the spiritual exercises. Once when she was again
heroically struggling against it during the holy Mass, God Almighty permitted
her to hear the angelic choir singing after the elevation. From then on the
temptation was overcome, and she was even able to devote hours to prayer
during the night.
Catharine had spent 24 years in the convent at
Ferrara and had trained many sisters in the way of sanctity when, at the
request of the city of Bologna, she was sent with 15 sisters to establish a
similar convent in her native town. She was appointed abbess, and governed her
community with wisdom and motherly love. She was particularly solicitous for
the sick sisters. In dispensing to them spiritual consolation she said, "My
dear sisters, you are now the true brides of the Divine Savior, who chose pain
and sufferings as His portion."
Although she was sickly from the time that she was
22, she never complained. When at times it seemed to her that her afflicted
body would be justified in complaining, she would say to herself, "O bundle of
corruption, that will soon turn into dust, why should you complain? It appears
as if you had not yet learnt to be a true servant of Christ."
She was particularly tactful in preserving peace
within herself and peace among the members of her community. Hence she was
also loved by all of them. When she died on March 9, 1463, sounds of sobbing
and weeping were heard everywhere in the convent. But even after her death her
sisters were to be made joyful through her. Her body, which had been the
temple of so chaste and immaculately pure a soul, diffused a sweet odor. It
remained incorrupt and retained its quality of flexibility like that of a
living body. Thus it can still be seen in Bologna, robed in a costly garment
presented by St. Charles Borromeo and seated on a throne, under a crystal
shrine. Innumerable miracles reward the faithful for their devotion to her.
Pope Clement XI canonized her.
ON THE VIRTUE OF CHASTITY
1. On the throne on
which the chaste body of St. Catharine of Bologna is honored, one reads the
words in which the Holy Spirit pronounces the praise of chastity: "O how
beautiful is the chaste generation with glory; for the memory thereof is
immortal. It triumphs, crowned for ever, winning the reward of undefiled
conflicts" (Wisd 4:12). Undefiled purity requires a struggle in every state of
life, in every period of human life; but such a reward is well worth the
struggle. Have you fought faithfully for this precious treasure?
2.
Consider, on the other hand, what an abominable vice impurity is. While
chastity makes men similar to angels and sometimes preserves them from
corruption after death, impurity degrades them to the level of the beast and
sometimes produces corruption even before the soul has left the body. The
unchaste person become an abomination in the sight of God, in the sight of
men, and in his own eyes. Here on earth, impurity deprives a man of all peace
of heart and of all the joys of life; and if he is not sincerely converted, he
shall in eternity have "his portion in the pool burning with fire and
brimstone" (Apoc 21:8). Who would not be frightened at beginnings which lead
to so terrible an end?
3. Consider the dangers that lead to the defilement
of chastity. The softness and sensuality with which we pamper our bodies are
the principal ones among the dangers. In the sensual appetite we carry a
slumbering serpent in our bosom. If we nourish it with sensuality, it will not
be long ere we feel its poisonous sting. Reading dangerous books, looking at
shameful pictures, attending frivolous plays and dances, and associating with
dissolute companions aggravate to a still greater degree this evil propensity.
No poison is so infectious as that of impurity. Amid so many dangers,
Christians may well say with the Apostle: "Unhappy man that I am, who will
deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom 7:24). But we, too, can gain the
victory with the help of God and through the intercession of the Immaculate
Virgin Mary as did all the other chaste souls who are now triumphing in
heaven.
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH
Grant, O God, that we, Thy
servants, may receive help through the intercession of the holy virgin
Catharine, that by the sweet odor of her virtues, we may be joyfully attracted
to Thy sanctuary. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
from:
The Franciscan Book
of Saints, ed. by
Marion Habig, ofm., © 1959 Franciscan Herald
Press
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