Saint Catherine of Genoa

Italian noblewoman, mystic, and saint

• Born: 1447
• Birthplace: Genoa (now in Italy)
• Died: September 15, 1510
• Place of death: Genoa (now in Italy)

Catherine of Genoa was admired for her humanitarian work caring for the sick and the destitute. Her teachings and writings, as recorded by disciples, continue to inspire and influence religious leaders.

Early Life

Catherine of Genoa was born into the distinguished, aristocratic Fieschi family in the northern Italian city of Genoa. She was the youngest of five children born to Giacopo Fieschi and Francesca di Negro, both of noble birth. Her father was viceroy of Naples and a descendant of Roberto Fieschi, the brother of Pope Innocent IV. An older sister, Limbania, was an Augustinian nun, and there were at least two cardinals from the family during that time.

At the age of eight, Catherine already was inspired to do penance, and she disdained social status and wealth. At thirteen, she was pious and gifted in the way of prayer, but her request to enter the Augustinian convent, Santa Maria delle Grazie, was denied because she was too young. After her father died in 1461, her oldest brother decided, for financial and political reasons, to marry her into the powerful, aristocratic Adorno family. On January 14, 1463, at age sixteen, she married Giuliano Adorno.

For the next five years, Catherine was isolated, lonely, and depressed. She did not participate in the active social life expected of a noblewoman. Her marriage to Giuliano was unhappy and childless. Her husband was frequently unfaithful, and he fathered illegitimate children. He also had a violent temper and squandered both his and Catherine’s fortunes. During the next five years, she attempted to join in the social life of Genoa but again became depressed.

Life’s Work

After years of misery, there was a turning point in Catherine’s life. On March 22, 1473, as she was about to make her Lenten confession, she had a life-changing and mystical experience. She suddenly felt deeply the overwhelming love of God for her, in spite of her sinfulness. As a result of this revelation and conversion, she determined to live a life of devotion, contemplation, and service to the sick and the poor. A few days later, she felt even greater remorse for her sins when she had a vision of the Passion, of Christ carrying the cross, dripping with blood.

Consequently, she entered into years of intense personal penance, prayer, and mortification. She cared for the impoverished in the slums of Genoa. She also helped her ill husband, who had gone into bankruptcy. With her support, he became a sincere, religious convert and dedicated his life to helping the sick and the indigent. He became a Franciscan tertiary and agreed to live in a celibate marriage with Catherine.

From 1473 to 1496, Catherine and Giuliano Adorno worked together at Genoa’s Pammatone Hospital, which was a place of last resort for the chronically ill, the aged, and incurables. Catherine also cleaned the homes of poor people and washed their vermin-filled clothing. In 1479, Catherine and Giuliano had moved into two small rooms at the Pammatone and worked without pay. From 1490 to 1496, Catherine served as director of the hospital. During this time, she had mystical visions and frequently fasted and prayed for long periods of time. In 1493, a plague struck Genoa and killed four-fifths of the population. Catherine established an outdoor infirmary in the space behind the Pammatone to care for the dying. She herself caught the plague from kissing a dying woman, but recovered.

In 1496, when Giuliano became seriously ill, Catherine resigned from her hospital position in order to care for him. In 1497, her husband died. In 1499, Catherine became the spiritual student of Don Cattaneo Marabotto, a secular priest and her successor as director of the Pammatone. She accepted him as her confessor and spiritual guide. Ending her spiritual isolation, she shared the experiences of her inner life with him and other disciples. Marabotto, along with a disciple and wealthy notary named Ettore Vernazza, would record her sayings, teachings, and experiences.

Catherine began suffering poor health in December of 1509, and on September 15, 1510, she died, surrounded by friends and disciples.

In 1551, Marabotto and Vernazza’s collection of Catherine’s sayings and teachings was published as Libro de la vita mirabile e dottrina santa de la beta Caterinetta da Genoa (The Spiritual Doctrine of Saint Catherine of Genoa , 1874). In 1683, Pope Innocent XI approved this collection, on which all later biographies and translations are based.

Catherine never actually wrote any books or developed a body of doctrine, but her teachings and revelations, recorded by Marabotto and Vernazza, have been compiled into two works, Purgatorio and Dialogo (Purgation and Purgatory and The Spiritual Dialogue , 1979). Purgation and Purgatory argues that there is continuity between life on Earth and life after death and that human beings are given the chance to atone for their sins as early as during their life on Earth. In The Spiritual Dialogue, two characters, Body and Soul, travel around the world and are joined by Self-Love, Human Frailty, and the Spirit in a debate about the conflicts among them.

Catherine was beatified by Pope Clement X in 1675. The Catholic Church determined that her writings alone were sufficient justification for sanctification or sainthood, and she was canonized by Pope Clement XII in 1737.

Significance

Saint Catherine of Genoa was a great Christian mystic and visionary, whose life and teachings have inspired many theologians and religious leaders. Although she was a married layperson who never joined a religious order, her life of poverty and service to the poor and the sick became an example of the perfect Christian life.

Catherine’s life and work inspired spiritual leaders such as Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622), the bishop of Geneva; Saint Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621), the Jesuit theologian, writer, and cardinal; and Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591), the great mystic and theologian. Others who were inspired include Friedrich von Schlegel (1772-1829), philosopher, critic, writer, and the leader of the German Romantic school, who translated The Spiritual Dialogue; Cardinal Henry Edward Manning (1808-1892), who acknowledged learning from her teachings; and Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890), who based his great visionary poem The Dream of Gerontius (1866) on Catherine’s writings about the soul’s journey to God.

Catherine also was a popular example of the perfect Christian for nineteenth century Protestants in the United States, including Thomas C. Upham (1799-1872), the prolific author and professor, who published Life of Madame Catherine Adorna in 1845. He presented her as an example of Christian perfectionism, which was popular in the Congregationalist and Methodist tradition. The monumental classic on mysticism, The Mystical Element of Religion as Studied in Saint Catherine of Genoa and Her Friends (1908), by Baron Friedrich von Hügel (1852-1925), revolves around Catherine’s spirituality.

The Catholic Church named Saint Catherine of Genoa an Apostle of Purgatory. She was also named the patron saint (special protector or guardian) of brides, childless people, people ridiculed for their piety, victims of adultery, victims of unfaithfulness, and widows, and protector over temptations and difficult marriages.

Bibliography

Garvin, Paul, trans. and ed. The Life and Sayings of Saint Catherine of Genoa. New York: Alba House, 1964. Garvin has sorted through and selected content from the massive materials in Catherine’s vita (1551). He has organized the biographical information in chronological order (the first third of the book) and categorized the doctrines by subject matter.

Hughes, Serge, trans. Catherine of Genoa: Purgation and Purgatory, The Spiritual Dialogue. New York: Paulist Press, 1979. Translations of Purgatorio and Dialogo, with a lengthy examination of her life, mysticism, teachings, and influence. Bibliography, notes on translations, index.

Jones, Kathleen. Women Saints. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1999. The chapter about Catherine of Genoa is a detailed discussion of her life, spirituality, and writings. Illustrated with the earliest known portrait of Catherine, by her cousin Tommasina Fieschi, from 1510. Bibliography.

Marabotto, Don Cattaneo, and Catherine of Genoa. The Spiritual Doctrine of Saint Catherine of Genoa. Rockford, Ill.: Tan Books, 1989. Originally compiled by her confessor, translated from Italian, and first published in English in 1874, this book offers useful insight into Catherine’s religious experiences beginning in childhood. It is a comprehensive, illustrated collection of her sayings and teachings.

Oden, Amy. In Words: Women’s Writings in the History of Christian Thought. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1994. A modern English translation of excerpts from Catherine’s dialogues of the soul and the body, with an explanation of the theological and historical context. Bibliography.

Reichardt, Mary. Catholic Women Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Sourcebook. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001. The chapter on Catherine consists of biographical information, an analysis of recurring themes in her works, a survey of criticism, and an extensive bibliography.