Blessed Catherine of Racconigi

Un an après ces derniers événements (1495), un jour que Catherine, occupée à son travail, songeait à la grande pauvreté de sa mère, et combien étaient grands les maux qu'elle lui faisait souffrir, l'émotion de cette pensée la mit tout en larmes, et se tournant vers son céleste Époux, elle lui recommanda sa famille avec une telle ferveur, qu'elle obtint bientôt d'abondants secours, et d'une façon tout à fait prodigieuse.

Vers le même temps il arriva que Catherine ayant cassé un plat, sa mère la réprimanda en termes durs, et alla même jusqu'à la menacer de la châtier si jamais pareille chose lui arrivait. Or, apprêtant un jour la table, l'enfant laissa tomber un verre qui se rompit en mille pièces. Se rappelant la menace de sa mère, Catherine se mit à pleurer et à prier Jésus et sa céleste Mère de vouloir bien lui venir en aide. Elle fut exaucée, car par un miracle extraordinaire elle put remettre le verre en son premier état et réparer le dommage sans que sa mère s'aperçût de rien.

Son père ayant un jour adressé à sa femme des menaces, même suivies d'effets, parce qu'elle n'avait pas bien préparé le souper du dernier jour de carnaval, Catherine, pénétrée de douleur, en pleura jusqu'au lendemain matin, qui était le premier jour de Carême. Seule à la maison, parce que sa mère s'était retirée près de l'un de ses frères, l'heure de dîner arrivant, elle voulut faire effort pour manger, mais les grosses larmes qui lui tombaient des yeux l'en empêchèrent. En même temps elle poussait vers son Jésus d'affectueux soupirs, espérant son aide et sa consolation de lui seul. Au même moment elle vit entrer et venir à elle un jeune enfant de quatorze ans environ, lequel, après l'avoir saluée, lui demanda ce qui la faisait tant pleurer. Catherine lui raconta l'événement arrivé dans sa maison. Alors il la consola par ces paroles : « Aie bon courage, parce que tu seras délivrée de tous périls, et je ne te manquerai pas dans tes nécessités. Pour ta mère, dont l'amour fait ton affliction à cette heure, sa douleur présente sera bientôt soulagée. »

Le démon, jaloux des dons si grands que la jeune enfant recevait du Seigneur, chercha par tous les moyens et par les tentations les plus fortes, à la détourner du droit chemin de la vertu. Un jour de dimanche qu'elle entendait la messe dans l'église des Pères Servites, au moment de la consécration, un démon sous figure d'homme se présente à elle et lui dit : « Pourquoi te prosternes-tu devant un peu de pain trempé dans un peu d'eau ? Si tu penses que Jésus soit là, tu te trompes grandement, et tu es bien sotte de croire de pareilles choses. »

A ces paroles, la pauvre enfant, tout effrayée, se tourne vers son Jésus, lui adressa une fervente prière, puis levant les yeux au ciel, elle vit sur l'autel Jésus sous la forme d'un enfant de trois ans, percé de cinq plaies, dont le sang dégouttait dans le calice. Une autre fois, sous les apparences d'un ange envoyé de Dieu, le démon se présenta à elle et lui dit de l'adorer. « Si tu étais vraiment celui que tu dis », lui répondit-elle, « tu ne réclamerais pas de moi un pareil honneur, mais tu le voudrais pour Dieu seul. Inutile de feindre à présent, je vois bien que tu es le déchu du ciel, puisque tu t'obstines dans ton antique orgueil : va au lieu auquel il a été condamné. »

Dès les premières années de Catherine, sa sainteté commença à être manifestée, même par des miracles. Un matin, de très-bonne heure, un saint prêtre était à prier. Pendant qu'il se trouvait absorbé en Dieu et contemplait sa beauté, son ange gardien lui dit de descendre des hauteurs de sa contemplation, et qu'il verrait une admirable créature. Le prêtre lui répondit : « Il m'est pénible de laisser Dieu pour voir une créature ; toutefois, si telle est la volonté du Seigneur, ainsi soit-il. » Retournant donc à ses sens, il vit une petite fille de dix ans, revêtue d'une robe toute resplendissante. Le serviteur de Dieu lui demanda aussitôt qui elle était. « Je suis », répondit-elle, « Catherine de Racconigi Catherine de Racconigi Dominican saint of the 15th-16th century, stigmatist and mystic. , pauvre des biens temporels, mais, par la

grâce de Dieu tout-puissant, riche des biens spirituels. Je vous prie de vous souvenir de moi dans vos prières, afin que j'obtienne du ciel tous les secours qui me sont nécessaires. C'est par ce motif que j'ai été amenée ici. » Et cela dit, elle disparut. Ce même prêtre raconta le fait à l'un de ses amis, qui étant venu trouver Catherine, lui demanda comment elle s'était introduite dans ce lieu. Après de longues instances, Catherine lui répondit : « Je n'en sais rien, sinon que c'est un ange qui m'y a conduite. »

Around the age of thirteen, Catherine went to a church, where she heard a preacher delivering a panegyric for Saint Cath erine of Siena, whose feas sainte Catherine de Sienne Dominican mystic saint to whom Agnes is compared. t was being celebrated that day. Upon returning home, she went to her room, and beginning to pray with great fervor and an abundance of tears, she accused herself of the negligence she felt she had shown until then in the service of God. Feeling herself stirred for Him by the sting of a vivid love, she called to her aid Jesus Christ, the blessed Virgin Mary, and Saint Catherine, praying them to assist her in the offering she desired to make. "Behold," she said, "I offer myself entirely to you, O heavenly Father, to Jesus your only Son and the beloved Spouse of my soul, to the Holy Spirit, and to Mary, Queen of virgins. To you, yes to you, I make the perpetual vow of virginity."

Then, turning in a particularly affectionate manner toward the blessed Virgin: "Mary, my dearest mother," she said to her, "I am a weak creature, incapable by myself of preserving such a great treasure. Therefore, I abandon myself entirely into your hands, and I pray to you with all my soul to be willing to help me keep myself always pure from all defilement. May all the angels and saints of heaven be witnesses to this promise, I desire it, and particularly Saint Peter, Saint Jerome, and Saint Catherine of Siena." This vow was followed by an impression of contentment with which she remained entirely filled. The following night, Saint Catherine of Siena appeared to her surrounded by a bright light, holding in her hand two very beautiful roses, one white, the other red. She assured her that her vow had been pleasing to Jesus and to Mary, and that they would always help her to keep her heart chaste and virgin. She told her why her divine Spouse was sending her these two roses. The red one, to remind her of the very ardent love that Jesus had shown not only to her, but to all the human race, when He shed His blood for the salvation of all. The white one, so that she would always have present in her thoughts in what purity and innocence she must keep her heart, so that it might remain worthy of Jesus. Then, having given her her holy blessing, she disappeared, leaving in the room a heavenly perfume.

In order to attend more conveniently to prayer, or to better preserve the purity of her heart, Catherine felt from then on more vivid desires for retreat and solitude. Conversation had become so unbearable to her that she fled the world as much as it was possible for her, except when the honor of God and the good of her neighbor placed her under the obligation to act otherwise.

Our young virgin, noticing that the snares and temptations against the holy virtue were only increasing more and more, took the custom of invoking various saints and in great number, mainly on the day of their feast, praying them with all her heart to intercede for her.

On the feast of Saint Stephen, the first martyr, Catherine, having risen before daybreak, began to pray to the Saint that he might deign to preserve her purity in the same way that he had preserved his own, when he was chosen by the Apostles to fulfill the ministry of deacon. She explained to him that, still very young, she found herself weakened and agitated by various tribulations, that a great number of impure men were setting traps for her, speaking evil words to her, and launching great assaults against her virtue. Finally, she told him that she was greatly tormented by demons, that she would rather die than live in the midst of so many perils to her soul and her body. While speaking thus to the holy martyr, the poor child dissolved into tears. Saint Stephen, surrounded by a heavenly splendor, appeared to her and consoled her by saying: "O my sister, dry your tears, be comforted, because God has heard your prayers. Yes, by His holy grace you will be delivered from temptations against modesty. Now, prepare yourself to receive the Holy Spirit."

At the same moment, the seraph who since her childhood had been given as a guardian to the Blessed one arrived; he consoled her with these words: "The preservation of your purity, which you have asked of the Lord with so many tears, you have obtained. Now therefore, prepare yourself to receive the Holy Spirit." These words were barely finished, when from heaven descended a marvelous light formed of rays that rested on Catherine's head. At the same time, she felt an inexpressible sweetness spread into her heart and a heat so vivid that she seemed to be on fire; she also heard these words: "I have come to dwell in you, in order to purify, to illuminate, to inflame your heart and to give you life."

Since this marvelous event, there remained on Catherine's face a tint of red and white mixed, and there came from her as it were a luminous radiance. Her neighbors, astonished and thinking that she used some artifice for this, asked her what she put on her face to make it so radiant. Catherine replied with a smile that her only secret was a little bread, meaning to speak of the holy Eucharist. Indeed, it was this divine sacrament that colored her soul with white and red. But greater still was the astonishment of those in the family, who knew well that she used no artifice, but that on the contrary she fasted frequently on bread and water, and often deferred her meal until the evening.

For a great number of years, she practiced this austerity during the whole time of Advent, except on Sundays; she did the same in Lent, and it was not rare that she remained an entire day without drinking or eating. She even pushed the rigor of her fast to the point of taking food only three times a week. The goal of all these austerities was to lose this natural beauty in the fear that it might become for someone an occasion of sin. And because such an austere treatment did not seem sufficient to her, she girded her waist with a thick rope which she changed shortly after for an iron belt that she tightened so strongly that she made it enter into her flesh. She wore in addition a hairshirt, which she never left off, except in the last years of her life, when age had sensibly diminished her strength. Her support for keeping herself pure from all defilement was above all the frequent exercise of prayer and meditation. Thus her spiritual father could assure that never, in the course of her life, had she committed a grave fault.

Around the age of fifteen, finding herself ill, her occupation was to consider the grave and numerous perils by which she was surrounded; she compared herself to a green and flowery herb that the reaper's scythe is soon to cut, or that the rays of a too ardent sun yellow and dry up, and she said to herself: "I, young, flourishing, and of vivid colors, when death has come I will be nothing more than rot and bad odor, and much worse even than that, if then I had the misfortune to be distant and separated from God, by mortal sin. Ah! unhappy one! what would then be my deformity and my stench before God and his Saints!" But full of faith and a holy fear, she added: "O my God, O my hope, O Mother of mercy, O my holy guardian angels, help me, assist me. Let all evils come upon me, and death itself, but may the misfortune of committing a mortal sin never happen to me."

To better preserve the beautiful virtue of purity, Catherine ardently desired to don the religious habit as soon as possible, just as the most holy Virgin had predicted to her in her early years. It was then that she foresaw by what means a wish she held so dear was to be accomplished, and she announced the foundation of a convent of Dominican Fathers, even though at that time there was no appearance of such an event. She had as her confessor Father Alexander, a religious of the Servites of Mary. These good Fathers, having heard that she wished to take the religious habit while remaining in her home, Father Alexander offered her that of the sisters of his Order. "No," she replied, "the habit I wish to wear is that of Saint Dominic." — "But you know well," the Father replied, "that there is no convent of this Order here." — "God," added Catherine, "will see to it that there is one." Seeing later the beginnings of the realization of this prophecy, Father Alexander recounted all that had happened to a nobleman named Claude, and the latter, from that time on, held the holiness of Catherine in great esteem.

She received several times in a sensible manner the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and among others, in a very special way, the gift of knowledge, which made her capable of resolving the highest questions of religion. However, her ardor to suffer for the love of Jesus Christ was always increasing. In the twenty-fourth year of her age, on the third day after Easter, meditating, towards dawn, on the mystery of the long prayer and the bloody sweat of the Savior in the garden, she prayed fervently to her divine spouse Jesus to grant her the grace to resemble him in his sufferings. At the same moment, Jesus appeared to her dressed in a robe of flaming red, and all resplendent with wonderful rays of light, which escaped from his sacred wounds, and said to her: "O my spouse! great is your desire to suffer, but you do not know your weakness well." — "O my hope," replied Catherine, "my strength is less than nothing, and of myself I am incapable of everything; I need your powerful help in all things."

This vivacity of her love and the depth of her humility earned her the right to hear this response from the mouth of Jesus: "Your great faith deserves to be exalted, that is why I take joy in making you a participant in the pains that I endured in my feet and hands." At these words, the Savior extended his divine hands toward those of Catherine, and there sprang from his sacred wounds like a dart of blood that pierced the hands of his beloved spouse. The same wonder took place in the feet, and it was accompanied by a suffering such that Catherine felt her strength leaving her from the violence of the pain. The feet and hands kept the trace of the wounds received. These signs of the passion of the Savior remained visible for some time, and after the death of Catherine, a large number of people testified under oath to having seen these sacred stigmata on her body.

But soon the humility of Catherine compelled her to ask God for the grace that these signs be hidden. She obtained it ; the hands rema sacrés stigmates Mystical marks of the Passion of Christ received by the saint. ined, however, so sore and weak that she could with great difficulty attend to the services of the house. She endured in her body all the torments of the Redeemer; for, besides the stigmata of the feet and hands, she also had the wound in her side and the crown of thorns. The latter caused her such great pain that she could not prevent those present from noticing it.

Sometimes also the blood that came out of her wounds was so abundant that not only her outer garments, but her undergarments remained soaked in it. Once, among other times, she had given one of her robes to be washed to people of her family who, already knowing the holiness of Catherine, thought to keep it out of devotion and to exchange it for a similar one. Catherine, having noticed this pious ruse, would never agree to it, but she said and did so much that her relatives were obliged to return her garment.

We should not be astonished that a soul whom God treated with such familiarity possessed the gift of prophecy. Catherine predicted the wars of Piedmont, which were not to happen until twenty-five years after her prediction. The Lord bestowed other liberalities upon his faithful servant. On the day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Catherine being ill, the Lord Jesus appeared to her with two angels who walked before him, carrying a large cross. Jesus took this Cross, placed it on Catherine's shoulder, and said these words to her: "Behold, O my spouse, the cross that you will have to carry all the time of your life. It will seem heavy to you, but it will only be the more glorious for you."

From that day on, Catherine did not remain an instant without pain or suffering. Nevertheless, she felt renewed in her the desire to go to the infidels to propagate the faith there, and she remained for several months with the intention of accomplishing it, until, finding no way to succeed, she renounced it, but not without keen regret.

Catherine had but one thought: the love of God and neighbor. The only desire that inflamed her was that of a pure and holy heart, worthy of being offered entirely to her dear Jesus. Her solicitude to maintain this purity was so great that it was easy to notice even in the care and vigilance she took to keep all things in great cleanliness, whether in her clothes or in her house. It is an adage of the Holy Spirit that outward neatness is an index of the purity of the soul.

Having risen one day very early, and standing in prayer, she saw Jesus appear, accompanied by a great multitude of saints, among whom were Saint Dominic, Saint Catherine of Siena, and Saint Peter, martyr. The latter opened her left side, between the two ribs, and removed he r heart, but with su saint Pierre, martyr Dominican martyr saint who appeared to Catherine to initiate her into the Passion. ch sharp pains that she thought she would die. Saint Peter, turning toward the Savior, begged him to be willing to return this heart which he presented to him pure of all stain. Jesus, with a serene face, consented. Catherine, having become all joyful, grew bold enough to address to him, with many tears, the prayer to return her heart now made pure. Jesus granted his beloved's request, and, giving her his blessing, he departed. Then Catherine was seized with such sharp pain that she appeared on the point of expiring. Her parents ran to her, and fearing she was about to die, sent for a priest, with a request to come immediately to hear her confession and perform the recommendation of the soul, as is the custom for those who are about to die. The priest arrived; but seeing that Catherine had the complexion and face as usual, and colors as vivid as if she had experienced no harm, he was seized with astonishment, and he suspected that the cause of this illness was not ordinary. He therefore ordered her to hide nothing from him. Compelled by obedience, but deeply humbled, Catherine told him her wonderful secret. This event happened on August 3, 1512, in the twenty-sixth year of her age. Nevertheless, the Lord willed that his servant experience this state of spiritual aridity which plunges the soul into such darkness and melancholy that it seems to be in disgrace with God. A painful trial which God uses toward good souls, no doubt, but which he still wishes to embellish and make more perfect.

By her great mortifications and penances, Catherine sought to lose the beauty she had received from nature, but without success. The beauty of her soul was so great that it spread over her face and illuminated it like a mirror. Thus, she had to struggle against a great number of seducers who laid traps for her honesty; they made her rich promises, hoping thereby to shake her in her holy resolutions. But, by the wisdom of her answers, Catherine soon destroyed all their hopes. However, noticing, to her great sorrow, that her beauty was an occasion for her neighbor to offend God, she prayed to him to be willing to take it from her. Her prayer was answered, and in a short time such a change took place on her face that her parents were for the most part strangely surprised.

Not only men, but the demons with them, made every effort to make her lose the virtue of purity. Dishonest thoughts, impure imaginations, unclean dreams, such were their weapons. But Catherine repelled them all by prayer and mortification. The object of her meditations was the incarnation and passion of the Son of God, the beauty of the soul adorned with the virtue of modesty, the baseness of those who abandon themselves to the contrary vice, and the eternal torments that await them in hell. She macerated her body by penance, she fled idleness, which is the mother of all vices, and made sure to be always occupied. Jesus, seeing the fidelity of his spouse, consoled her from time to time, appearing to her surrounded by a dazzling light and chasing all these unclean spirits from her room.

But the greatest trial she had to endure happened to her in the year 1512. It was April 11. From that day, and for seven consecutive days, she saw herself tired by continuous temptations against modesty. She found relief only in prayer, without even being able to take sleep or rest. What she tried to eat or drink was of no help to her; far from it, she rejected it immediately, and all day she melted into tears, but without relief from her pain. She implored the assistance of Jesus and Mary, but she felt no consolation. She called out with her cries to the Saints who had been given to her as guardians, and above all Saint Peter and Saint Catherine of Siena; she reminded them of their promises, and complained to them in the midst of lamentations and tears.

Receiving no relief and drawing no profit from the austere fasts by which she afflicted her body, she imagined another way to stifle this temptation. Full of anguish, she went to find her confessor, and told him everything. The man of God advised her to throw herself, in the posture of a suppliant, before God, and to wait for the help she needed from him. Catherine obeyed. She knelt in her room, and there she offered herself again to the divine Majesty, detesting with tears and sighs all the errors of her past life, accusing her negligence in the service of God, and her monstrous ingratitude for so many favors received from his love. Finally, she prayed to him to treat her soul, no longer as her unworthiness required, but solely according to the good pleasure of his great mercy and the merits of his superabundant redemption. During these prayers and sighs, Jesus Christ appeared to her, his face gentle and serene, and said to her: "Do not fear, since I am with you."

While Jesus was speaking to her, two angels appeared who, with a cord of celestial whiteness, girded Catherine's loins. "On behalf of God," they said to her, "we gird you with the belt of chastity, which will never be untied." From then on, and until the end of her life, she was no longer molested either by the goads of the flesh, or, on their occasion, by the troubles of the spirit; on the contrary, one would have said that she infused the gift of chastity to all those who had the happiness of conversing with her. Feeling thus out of danger, she feared less to help those who needed her assistance with her conversation.

Then the rumor of her holiness began to spread; a multitude of pious people came to visit her. She felt great displeasure at this. Her humility made her desire to flee the world, so that no one would occupy themselves with or speak of her. The thought came to her to disappear, to cross the Alps, and to seek some solitary place to lead an eremitic life, or at least to enter some monastery. It was then the month of November; the countryside was covered with frost, and Catherine, still not recovered from a long illness, rose at four o'clock in the morning, without her mother's knowledge, to carry out her plan. However, before proceeding, she knelt down to invoke the Holy Spirit. She asked him to keep her from all danger and to direct her on her way. Her thought was to go first to a women's monastery located in the neighborhood, and then to cross the Alps. But as she was about to leave the house, she heard a voice that said to her: "Stop; where do you want to go?" Catherine looked around her, and seeing no one from whom this voice could come, she did not doubt that it was an order from God who wanted to prevent her from leaving, and she remained. A few days later, Jesus Christ assured her, through the intercession of Saint Margaret, virgin and martyr, that the will of God was that she should not leave. He let her know that he had not lavished so many gifts upon her so that she would shut herself up in a monastery, but rather so that, through her holy conversations and the example of her life, she would procure the honor of God and the salvation of a great number of souls.

Italy was then agitated by terrible wars, which caused the loss of many souls: thus Catherine often shed tears of sorrow. Her sadness, however, was sometimes softened by the conversion of some souls whom she won to God. All those who had the happiness of dealing with her felt animated to the practice of good. Through her visions, Catherine clearly knew the necessity in which she found herself to live among sinners, and that thus she could not move away from the noise of the world. She therefore prayed to the Lord to teach her how to build the edifice of her holiness there. The Lord answered her by sending her the following vision: it seemed to her that an immense temple was going to be built, of which she was told that she would have to dig the foundations. When the trench had reached the height of a man, and they were at the moment of placing the foundation, she learned from Jesus Christ that by this foundation she should understand humility. "With the help of humility," he told her, "man considers himself vile and abject in the eyes of God, and the more he puts himself in the last place, the more he rises, following the example of my most holy Mother, who, for having been the most humble of creatures, was raised by God above all." Jesus added that she should raise the wall by using a plumb line, which signified the tribulations, sorrows, and pains by which God straightens the path where he makes those he loves walk. The wall raised, Jesus recommended that she make a square window, separated by a cross in the middle, whose sides should allow her to pass her head and look outside. Catherine asked what this window meant, and it was explained to her that the window, arranged internally in the form of a cross, signified the memory of the passion and death of the Savior. Jesus ended by telling her that, just as by going to the window of one's house, one has the clarity of light, so her light in the path of holiness would be the meditation of the passion and the consideration of the death he had endured.

The blessed Virgin Mary had promised Catherine that she would wear the habit of Saint Dominic. Now, twenty-three years had already passed since this promise, and seeing no sign that the prophecy was to be fulfilled, uncertainty took hold of her as well as the fear of having been deceived by the demon. But soon a new revelation gave her the assurance that the promise came from God, that everything would happen according to what had been announced to her, and that shortly a convent of the religious of Saint Dominic would be founded in Racconigi. Indeed, they soon laid the foundations on which a convent was raised that one still sees today.

Some time before Catherine wore the habit of Penance, certain wicked spirits, looking with an evil eye at the wonderful things she was doing, cited her to the tribunal of the Inquisition, accusing her of heresy and magic. By this they hoped to make her lose the great reputation she enjoyed among a great number, and which the br illiance Racconigi City of birth and primary activity of the saint. of the most beautiful virtues made more shining day by day. Catherine went to Turin to justify herself. God, who protects his faithful servants, caused not only that she was recognized as innocent, but that her reputation and her renown for virtue only increased among persons of high condition.

The rumor of her holiness began from then on to reach the ears of the Duke of Savoy and the Archbishop of Turin, who both honored her publicly. From that time on, not only was she called and received with great honors by the sister of the Duke of Savoy and by the other princesses of this illustrious h ouse, Turin Capital of Piedmont where she resided. but she was even invited to go to distant countries. Thus, she had to go several times to Casale at the insistence of Anne, Marchioness of Montferrat, a relative of the King of France. This pious lady went so far as to beg Catherine to be willing to fix her dwelling in that city forever; but the humble virgin never wanted to consent to it. The Marchioness of Montferrat has assured several times that in her afflictions she never experienced greater assistance than from the conversations of Catherine; she even added that just by looking at her, she felt all renewed.

Having reached the twenty-eighth year of her age, Catherine finally donne d the habit of Saint Dom habit de Saint-Dominique Religious order to which Magdeleine belonged. inic, which she had so desired. Nothing could shake Catherine's resolution, neither the slanders raised against her and the Dominican religious, nor the contradictions of the world, which did everything in its power to prevent her from carrying it out.

At the same time as Catherine, another young girl had donned the habit of Penance; but she was so poor that, for lack of money, she had not been able to procure the necessary garment. Catherine, having learned this, said and did so much with her mother that she obtained permission to give her companion the money that was in the house. This beautiful action obtained for her from God a great increase in charity. From that moment on, she sought every opportunity to perform charitable works. She never let a poor person leave her house without having given them some relief. She worked longer and with more diligence than in the past at her trade as a braider, in order to be able to collect a little more money and thus relieve a greater number of the needy. Often, after having spent a large part of the night in prayer, she would set to work before daybreak, in order to be able to satisfy her ardent charity toward her neighbor. During her meals, it frequently happened that she would deprive herself of a portion of her food to take it to the sick who were in need. As for the esteem she held for this virtue, one can judge by the answer she once gave to some members of her family who wanted to persuade her to leave the care of the household affairs to her mother, under the pretext that, not measuring her means, she was giving to the poor, for the love of God, more than she could. "I will not do it," she replied, "I will not do it, because I would deprive myself of the opportunity to give alms to the poor; and, if I had nothing else to give, I would give them my own robe."

The demon, having been unable to turn the servant of God from her resolution to don the religious habit, neglected nothing to trouble her soul with the specious abundance of deceptive reasonings. For example, he gave her to understand that she would have done better to marry and serve God in freedom, or at least under a habit more in favor, and a thousand other reasons of the same kind, which he put into her mind. Tired of these obsessions, Catherine obtained from Our Lord to be delivered from them.

The desire that Catherine felt from her most tender years to give her life for the love of her God was satisfied in part by her great and continual sufferings for the salvation of sinners, so that her life can be called a long and continual martyrdom. The love she bore for God and her neighbor was so strong that nothing afflicted her as much as the thought of the offense to God and the ruin of souls. Many times, at the news that someone had fallen into mortal sin, she would begin to shed tears of sorrow, and often her affliction made her sick and forced her to remain in bed. It was then that there was born in her this desire to bear the pains due to all sinners, in order to thus close the door of hell and prevent any soul from falling into it in the future.

At the prayer of several of her spiritual sons, Catherine went to stay for some time in Saluzzo, in the company of a priest of her family. During her stay in this city, being one day at prayer in a church, a woman of ill repute passed before her; Catherine cast such a tender look upon her that the poor unfortunate woman looked into herself and resolved to follow Catherine to Racconigi, where she could speak to her more freely. Once before her, she threw herself at her feet, and, amidst tears and sighs, she told her the story of her whole past life. After having listened to her with kindness, Catherine, with gentle words, instructed her on the kind of life she should lead in the future. Our poor sinner then went to confession, and, having returned home, she edified by her examples as much as she had scandalized in the past.

In 1519, one evening in the month of March, she was seized with terrible sufferings of spirit and body. This resurgence of pain always stemmed from her great desire to endure all kinds of torments for the salvation of sinners against whom she saw that God was most irritated. The very circumstances of the time in which they found themselves revived in her this desire to suffer. It was, in fact, the month of March and the time of Carnival, during which everyone gave themselves over to all kinds of vices. It was for her an occasion to meditate on the blindness of men and the miserable enticements of human life, by which so many Christians rush into hell. These reflections afflicted her greatly and led her to offer herself to God to suffer day and night for the benefit of sinners, and to invoke divine mercy upon them. As she persevered in her prayers for the good of the Church and for the salvation of souls, she had this answer from Jesus: "I accept your offer, but the pains you will have to endure will be so violent that you will barely escape death." And, in fact, a few days later she felt herself seized by such violent ailments that she was forced to keep to her bed for eleven weeks. During this time she often remained five days without taking anything; if the prayers of her own persuaded her to try some food, she would reject it almost immediately. The doctors themselves, seeing that she could no longer keep any food down and that one ailment followed another, did not delay in declaring her lost, and three times they were very surprised to find her alive. It was not only for all men in general, but also for all those whose particular needs were known to her, that she offered her prayers and her very person to Our Lord; for it never happened that someone recommended themselves to her prayers without having received some relief. God always granted her requests, both for the needs of the soul and for those of the body.

Here is the kind of life Catherine followed in private. Upon rising in the morning, she formed the resolution to employ the present day in disposing all her actions according to the greatest glory of God. Throughout the day, she frequently raised her mind and heart to God through fervent ejaculatory prayers. In the evening, before going to bed, she recalled to her memory the manner in which she had spent the day. If she recognized that she had done something good, she gave thanks to God; on the contrary, if she noticed any action worthy of blame, she humbly asked for pardon, detesting with all her heart the slightest failing. Her application was even greater when she went to church to confess. Then she searched her conscience for everything that seemed to her to have offended God, and after confession she asked Him for the grace to change her life and to do everything for His honor and glory. It was through this that she arrived at a high degree of perfection and holiness. For his part, the evil spirit applied himself to stirring up a thousand troubles for her to prevent the great good she was doing through her prayers. It was then that the rumor spread that a deadly plague had invaded Turin and its surroundings. Catherine immediately began to pray without interruption for the populations struck by this scourge. The violence of the scourge in the neighboring towns and countryside was such, and the number of victims so considerable, that the country and the houses remained empty of their inhabitants. Only the city of Racconigi remained beyond the reach of this evil.

The holiness of Catherine was manifested to a great number of people, whether inwardly through inspirations, or outwardly through visions and external signs. At that time, there lived in Savigliano, and wearing the same habit as our Saint, another Catherine, famous for the lights with which God enlightened her. Whenever she was questioned about our Catherine, she never failed to shower her with praise, calling her a great saint. Another virgin, who knew Catherine only by reputation, saw her in heaven placed so high that she could barely reach her with her gaze. A widow, her companion, one day saw on her head a light resembling a star, and by this splendor, as by the sudden radiance of her face, those who lived with her were alerted to the presence of some heavenly spirit. A priest recounted that, entering her room one day while she was ill, he saw her raised in the air above her bed, and heard her speaking like a person enraptured in spirit. This holiness was not profitable to Catherine alone. A great number of sinners found in it an aid to conversion.

Although Catherine was generally loved and venerated, there was no lack of wicked people to whom her holy life was a reproach that covered them with confusion. They therefore sought by all sorts of means to make her lose the reputation she enjoyed. To succeed in this, several of them reported to the superior of her Order so many slanders they had invented about her that this religious, giving credence to these evil rumors, was led to become the instrument of their malice. During the time of this ill disposition of the superior toward Catherine, she asked him to please allow her to keep her usual confessor, in order to have a trusted person to answer the letters that princes and men of the highest merit addressed to her. But this religious never consented to grant it to her. However, God put an end to this unprovoked persecution.

Catherine's enemies then became more furious than ever and sought to kill her by poisoning her. But God, who protects his servants, ensured that she felt no harm from it. Seeing then the futility of their attempts, they did so much through their machinations with one person and another that they obtained her banishment from Racconigi. The day fixed for her banishment having arrived, she was forced, amidst the mockery and insults of some libertines, to abandon her paternal home to go to a foreign land. She therefore headed toward Caramagna, a country two miles from Racconigi. Catherine's enemies, seeing that they had not been able to succeed in their plans by driving her from her country, and wanting to acco mplish Caraman Place of the saint's exile. even more unfortunate designs they harbored against her, joined forces with a superior of the Order to make her return to Racconigi.

Catherine, having learned that this superior was in Racconigi, and knowing furthermore that she was not forbidden to come to her homeland from time to time, but only to make long stays there, went to find this superior to show him her respect. Then the latter manifested his will to her, which was that she should return to her homeland. But Catherine replied: "My Father, I am a daughter of obedience, and I am ready to obey until death in everything that is in accordance with the rule to which I have committed myself; but for all the rest, I do not consider myself obliged. Now, on one hand, my rule does not impose upon me to dwell in Racconigi, and on the other, the will of God being contrary to it, please excuse me if I disobey you." The superior, dissatisfied with this answer, and furthermore poorly informed about the integrity of Catherine's life, forbade the neighboring convents to concern themselves with her spiritual direction, a prohibition that lasted two years, until the expiration of his term of government.

Amidst so many persecutions, Catherine never ceased to pray for her enemies. God finally wished to console her by changing the hearts of her persecutors, several of whom repented of their bad treatment of her. Catherine had received from Our Lord the gift of miracles, and especially that of knowing the secrets of hearts. This gift she never employed except for the good of souls and for the greater glory of God.

Her most abundant prayers and penances were especially for her friends and spiritual children, whom Our Lord had entrusted to her in a very special way. God enlightened her with a great number of revelations regarding them. Not only did she know the secrets of those who were still in this world, but also those of the deceased who had passed into the other. She once said she had the knowledge that all were in a place of safety; she named them by their name, and she knew furthermore those who were already enjoying the glory of paradise, and those who still remained detained in purgatory. On a Holy Thursday, she was enraptured in spirit, and it was given to her to contemplate the glory of God. She saw on a high throne the divine Savior who had at his feet a great book sealed with seven seals. The book was opened, and it was granted to her to see inscribed there her name and that of her spiritual children. These heavenly visions came to her especially during the time of prayer, an exercise so frequent for her that ordinarily not a half-hour, or at most an hour, ever passed without her setting herself to pray. In the vigor and strength of her age, she even employed a large part of the night in it.

However, the hour of her death was approaching. Father Morelli, who had understood that she knew the moment, asked her if the year 1546, in which they were, would be the last of her life. Catherine replied: "It is not this year, but the other that comes after." In the year 1547, which was the last of her life, God performed great miracles in favor of those who invoked Him through the merits of His faithful servant. We shall report only a few of them. Countess Françoise de Caconato was tormented by severe pains in her side. Four months of assiduous remedies, instead of calming her, had only cruelly increased her sufferings. Seeing then the uselessness of human aid, she remembered Catherine, and prayed to God saying: "If what is said of the miracles of Sister Catherine is true, I pray You, O my God, to be willing to deliver me through her merits." At that very moment, she felt delivered from all pain.

For many long years, a man had been troubled by the falling sickness. The remedies he had taken with care had done nothing for him. He went to find Catherine, and in a feeling of great confidence, he begged her to be willing to obtain health for him from God. The Saint promised it to him, and never since did he feel the slightest attack of this dreadful malady.

Having reached the final times of her life, Catherine, who until then had been afflicted mainly in her body, saw herself overwhelmed in her spirit and her heart; thus she said that the pains with which her youth had been scourged were much easier to endure than the spiritual anguishes of her old age. Father Morelli attests that it had often happened to him to see her so afflicted that she inspired compassion.

Finally, the time had arrived when God was going to withdraw Catherine from so many pains, and call her to the joys of His glorious eternity. The moment having come, she fell into a long and grave illness which for her was the last. Speaking one day with the doctor about the remedies she should take to be cured, she said to him: "Every remedy is useless, seeing that I have only four months left to live." It was then in the first days of May. One must renounce giving an idea of the patience, of the resignation with which she bore the pains of this illness, as well as the frequent acts of love that she sent to her God. She no longer appeared to be a creature of this world, but an angel of heaven. All those who approached her bed carried away from her instructions entirely heavenly which filled them with love for paradise.

However, her state was becoming more serious every day, and the one who was to put an end to her exile was advancing with great strides. They administered the sacraments to her. Upon receiving her amiable Jesus for the last time, this Jesus who all the time of her life had been her spouse and her sweet hope, her heart was flooded with such love that she was compelled to cry out: "My heart is boiling so strongly that I seem to have within me a burning furnace. Ah! Why does the moment when I will fly into the arms of my heavenly Spouse delay so long?" Despite the ardent desire that burned in Catherine to leave this world soon, nevertheless, thinking of the perils in which she was leaving her spiritual children, she addressed to God the prayer of Saint Martin: "Lord," she said, "if it can be useful to souls that I remain still in this world, may Your will be done."

The rumor of her approaching death having spread, a large number of her spiritual daughters came to surround her bed. Catherine gave them a maternal look, and gathering what remained of her strength, she addressed to them an exhortation so moving that all burst into sobs. She encouraged them to hatred of the world, to love God with all their heart, and to place all their confidence in Jesus and Mary. Finally, she promised to protect them from the height of heaven, and to continue to love them with the tenderness of a mother. But the hour of death has struck; already heaven is preparing to open its doors to this blessed soul, and the earth weeps to see itself robbed of such a precious treasure. The dawn of September 4 has just broken, and with it the signal that Catherine is going to breathe her last. In the midst of those whom she honored with her intimacy, and who assist her with tears in their eyes, a Benedictine monk from a neighboring abbey performs for her the prayers for the recommendation of the soul. While the assistants surrounded her, keeping their eyes full of tears fixed upon her, Catherine raised hers to heaven, and in a sweet smile she gave up her soul, and surrendered it into the arms of her God.

One sees above the altar, in the chapel that was built for her in Racconigi, the divine Redeemer returning to His beloved spouse her heart, enriched with rays in the form of a cross, and on which one reads these words: "Jesus my hope." — In the convent of Saint Margaret, in Chieri, she is represented adorned with the halo of the Saints, crowned with thorns, having a large cross on her left shoulder, a small cross on her chest, the stigmata and a lily in her hands, three rings on her finger, and the Holy Spirit above her head.

[APPENDIX: CULT AND RELICS.]

Scarcely had Catherine breathed her last, when her body exhaled a most sweet perfume. The people of Caraman came in crowds to visit it, and all wept for the great loss they had suffered. Her body was buried, in the midst of a great concourse of people, in the public cemetery. Five months after her death, her body having been found as fresh and as flexible as if she had been asleep in a slumber of peace, and furthermore exhaling a heavenly odor, its translation was performed.

Having arrived at Garessio, her precious remains were placed in the Garessio Place where his relics were transferred. church of the Dominicans, under the altar of the chapter which is dedicated to her, where they began to be in great veneration, because of the numerous miracles performed through the intercession of Catherine.

In several provinces, not only of Piedmont, but of the kingdoms of Naples and Spain, her relics were venerated on the altars, and her images exposed to public cult. In Turin and Chambéry, she was implored in the prayers that were said in the church. The room inhabited by her in Racconigi was converted into a chapel. On the altar, one sees exposed in an elegant and precious reliquary, given by Mgr Fransoni, Archbishop of Turin, a bone of the Blessed; it is a femur entirely, and perfectly preserved. In the village of Saint-Victoire, near Alba, a chapel was erected in her honor, and each year, on the day of September 4, her feast is still celebrated there solemnly with a great concourse of people.

At the sight of this general cult, the Master General of the Order of Saint Dominic, Pic-Joseph Gadéi, requested and obtained from Pope Pius VII, on April 9, 1808, the approval of this pu Pie VII Pope who authorized the cult of Blessed Rainier. blic cult, that Catherine be honored with the title of Blessed, and that one could celebrate the Mass and a proper office in her honor.

A cult is also rendered to her in Caraman, a small village famous for its ancient abbey of Saint Mary, and even more so for the stay the Saint made there.

Of all the relics of the Blessed Catherine that Caraman possesses, the most distinguished is an arm, recognized and declared authentic on August 5, 1811. This sacred relic is exposed publicly to the veneration of the people during the whole course of the novena, and also on the day of the feast of the Blessed, which is celebrated with great pomp in the parish church, on the fourth Sunday of September, the day on which a solemn procession takes place. On September 4, the anniversary of her precious death, there is a plenary indulgence for all those who, having confessed and having communicated, visit the chapel where, on this same day, and during the novena that precedes it, and which attracts the devotees of our Blessed in crowds, a large number of masses are celebrated.

At the time of the suppression of the Regulars in Piedmont, at the beginning of this century, the convent and the church of Garessio were sold and destroyed. The relics of the Blessed were transported to the parish of the upper suburb of Garessio and exposed to public veneration in a chapel that was dedicated to her. They were clothed in a wax body and the garments of the Third Order, and each year the feast of the illustrious Dominican is celebrated there with solemnity.

Upon the publication of the decree of the Holy See which approved the cult of the Blessed, a great feast was celebrated in Turin in her honor, and a chapel was raised for her in the church of Saint Dominic. This chapel still subsists today. Catherine is still honored in other churches of Turin. The ribbon manufacturers and workers celebrate her feast on the first Sunday of September; for, following the custom of the young girls of Racconigi, Catherine, in her time, had learned and practiced their trade. Each year, they carry the portrait of the Blessed to the church they have chosen, and celebrate her feast with great solemnity.

In Chieri, the cult of the Blessed has long been in use. One of the largest chapels of the church of Saint Dominic is dedicated to her; she is the patroness of the Tertiaries, who celebrate her feast each year with great devotion. Today the church has become, following the new law against religious, the property of the government, and the monastery a college.

In Puirino, a village of seven thousand souls, five leagues from Racconigi, towards the east, our Blessed receives from the faithful honors and a veneration that nothing can interrupt.

Excerpt from the Life of the Blessed, by a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic, and from the Dominican Year.