Roman Catholic Saint. Born Catherine Benicasa, she was the youngest of a very large family. Her father, Giacomo, was a prosperous wool-dyer. During adolescence she became attracted to prayer and solitude. At the age of sixteen she gained admittance to the Third Order of St. Dominic. The rules of this group allowed her to dress in the black and white habit of a Dominican nun while remaining in her own home. For three years she never left her room, except to go to mass and confession, and spoke to no one except her confessor. During this period Catherine trained herself to live on a spoonful of herbs a day and to make do with a couple of hours' sleep every night. Having been told by God to resume family life, she then began to do her share of the work of the house, to nurse the sick and to help the poor. Catherine was involved in the peace talks to return the papacy to Rome from Avignon. While Catherine was in Pisa, working in the cause of peace, she received the stigmata on the fourth Sunday of Lent, 1375. One evening in January 1380, while dictating a she had a stroke. Partially recovering, she lived in a mystical agony, convinced that she was wrestling physically with demons. She had a second stroke while at prayer in St. Peter's and died three weeks later on April 29th, 1380, aged thirty-three. Pope Pius II canonized her eighty-one years after her death. Amongst other things she is the Patron Saint of Fire-fighters, Italy, Europe, nurses and sexual temptation.
Roman Catholic Saint. Born Catherine Benicasa, she was the youngest of a very large family. Her father, Giacomo, was a prosperous wool-dyer. During adolescence she became attracted to prayer and solitude. At the age of sixteen she gained admittance to the Third Order of St. Dominic. The rules of this group allowed her to dress in the black and white habit of a Dominican nun while remaining in her own home. For three years she never left her room, except to go to mass and confession, and spoke to no one except her confessor. During this period Catherine trained herself to live on a spoonful of herbs a day and to make do with a couple of hours' sleep every night. Having been told by God to resume family life, she then began to do her share of the work of the house, to nurse the sick and to help the poor. Catherine was involved in the peace talks to return the papacy to Rome from Avignon. While Catherine was in Pisa, working in the cause of peace, she received the stigmata on the fourth Sunday of Lent, 1375. One evening in January 1380, while dictating a she had a stroke. Partially recovering, she lived in a mystical agony, convinced that she was wrestling physically with demons. She had a second stroke while at prayer in St. Peter's and died three weeks later on April 29th, 1380, aged thirty-three. Pope Pius II canonized her eighty-one years after her death. Amongst other things she is the Patron Saint of Fire-fighters, Italy, Europe, nurses and sexual temptation.
Bio by: Bunny Boiler
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