Subj : September 15th - St. Catharine of Genoa To : All From : rich Date : Fri Sep 14 2018 10:08:08 From: rich September 15th - St. Catharine of Genoa (1447 =E2=80=93 1510) The Fieschi family was one of the most noble and powerful families of medieval Genoa. They gave two popes to the Church. In 1447 a daughter, =E2=80=9CCatarinetta,=E2=80=9D was born into the clan. = As she grew up, Catharine showed a desire to become a nun, as her sister was. But when she was 16, her family ruled that she must marry a young man named Julian Adorno. It was one of those marriages of convenience so often contracted by noble families. Julian had an aristocratic name but an empty purse. Catharine had an aristocratic name and a full purse. An ideal match. Since the marriage was founded more in finances than on love, it took long to get off the ground. For the first five years Julian was away from home most of the time. By his own admission, he was unfaithful to his wife. Catharine moped for five years. The next five years she sought solace in parties and entertainments. However, she finally began to pray to God earnestly for light. In 1473, the prayer was answered. God changed her heart and she changed her way of life. She became intensive in her prayer life and even received Holy Communion daily--a rarity in those times. She also dedicated herself to works of piety and charity. Julian, too, turned over a new leaf. His wife's prayers and his own bankruptcy brought him to his knees. Since their funds were reduced, the couple moved into a small house. Pledged to live henceforth as brother and sister, they began to devote themselves to the needs of the sick in the hospital of Pammatone. Eventually Catharine became the director of the hospital, and a capable one, too. In 1497 Julian died. Catharine took the responsibility of raising his daughter born out of wedlock. From 1473 Catharine Adorno led an intensely spiritual life along with a life of constant activity on behalf of the poor and sick. She also wrote two profound mystical books, one on Purgatory and a Dialogue of the Soul and the Body. Thus, she provided another proof that a person can be both a profound mystic and an able administrator. (She kept her financial accounts at the hospital exactly down to the last penny.) St. Catharine, it must also be remembered, was not a woman religious but a lay woman. Her husband, on his conversion, joined the third Order of St. Francis. She did not even do that. So businesswomen today could well take Catharine of Genoa as a model to follow and a patron to invoke. There was one curious trait in the makeup of St. Catharine. She was an intense person, we are told, and was =E2=80=9Cwithout humor or wit.=E2=80= =9D There are people of that makeup. Probably we are more readily attracted to saints who had a lively sense of humor, like Thomas More, Robert Bellarmine, Teresa of Avila and Elizabeth Seton. But even a saint can't have everything. The lack of wit is a personal flaw comparable, perhaps, to tone-deafness, color-blindness or bowlegs. Flaws like these may be regrettable, but they certainly don't keep = one out of heaven. Anyhow, after the resurrection, we are assured our personal imperfections will all be rectified. Indeed, as soon as they get to heaven, souls who are good but humorless will quickly learn to smile. Did not the Book of Proverbs say of the valiant woman, =E2=80=9CShe shall laugh in the latter day?=E2=80=9D (31:25) And Our Lord promised, =E2=80=9CB= lessed are you who weep: you shall laugh.=E2=80=9D (Luke 6:21) As Sir Thomas Browne put it, we can look forward to =E2=80=9Cthat unextinguishable laugh in heaven.=E2=80=9D =E2=80=93Father Robert Saint Quotes: =E2=80=9CWe should not wish for anything but what comes to us from moment t= o moment, exercising ourselves none the less for good. For he who would not thus exercise himself, and await what God sends, would tempt God. When we have done what good we can, let us accept all that happens to us by Our Lord's ordinance, and let us unite ourselves to it by our will. Who tastes what it is to rest in union with God will seem to himself to have won to Paradise even in this life.=E2=80=9D --St Catherine of Genoa =E2=80=9CIt remains for us to pray the Lord, of His great goodness and by t= he intercession of this glorious Seraphim, to give us His love abundantly, that we may not cease to grow in virtue, and may at last win to eternal beatitude with God who lives and reigns for ever and ever.=E2=80=9D --St Catherine of Genoa =E2=80=9CSince I began to love, love has never forsaken me. It has ever gro= wn to its own fullness within my innermost heart.=E2=80=9D --St Catherine of Genoa Bible Quote: For as in one body we have many members, but all the members have not the same office: So we being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. (Rom. 12:4-5) DRB <><><><> The Absorbeat May the power of Your love, Lord Christ, fiery and sweet as honey, so absorb our hearts as to withdraw them from all that is under heaven. Grant that we may be ready to die for love of Your love, as You died for love of our love. Amen --St Francis of Assisi --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .