Visionaries Mystics and Stigmatists Part I

By Bob Lord and Penny Lord

Visionaries Mystics and Stigmatists Part I
Table of Contents:
Saint Catherine of Bologna
Visionary, Mystic, Role Model for Abesses, Incorrupt Body
Saint Catherine of Genoa
Wife, Humanitarian, Christian Model, Mystic
Saint Rose of Lima
Patroness of the Americas
Saint Martin de Porres
Apostle of Charity, Saint of the Slaves

• Language: English
• Publisher: Journeys of Faith
• Release date: Jul 4, 2011
• ISBN: 9781580026789

Bob Lord

Bob and Penny Lord renowned Catholic Authors and hosts on EWTN. They are best known for their media on Miracles of the Eucharist and Many Faces of Mary. They have been dubbed experts on the Catholic Saints. They produced over 200 television programs for EWTN global television network and wrote over 25 books and hundreds of ebooks.

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Saint Catherine of Bologna

Visionary, Mystic, Role Model for Abesses, Incorrupt Body

St. Catherine was born Catherine de Virgi in Bologna, Italy on Our Lady’s Birthday, September the 8th, 1413. Her father, Giovanni de Virgi, was a member of the nobility of Ferrara, as well as a highly-respected lawyer and lecturer at the famous University of Bologna.² He married Benvenuta Mammolini who was also of a noble family of Bologna.

Catherine was blessed to come from a very pious mother who devoted herself to her precious child from the moment she was born. Catherine was always obedient and very sweet-natured, unlike many of her class who had a tendency to be proud and haughty. She possessed wisdom beyond her years, and maybe because of her mother’s influence, applied it to the enrichment of her spiritual life, spending as much time as she possibly could praying and distributing alms to the poor. When they tried to thank her, she insisted, it was a gift from Jesus and they should praise Him, not her.

As her father Giovanni was in the service of Niccolo III of Este, Marquis of Ferrara, the little family soon joined him there, moving from Benvenuta’s beloved Bologna. A very famous jurist, his duties as a diplomat brought her father very often to Venice on important missions. Imagine when he returned home, the stories he told his little girl who had such a thirst for learning.

Catherine’s piety came to the attention of the Marquis who chose her to be a lady-in-waiting³ to his daughter Margaret. Writers of her day say that although she was not very pretty, being short and thin with a pale complexion, she held everyone who met her, spellbound; her gentleness, her charm, her gracious ways captivating all who knew her.

She was a bright girl. What with her eagerness to learn, coupled with her outstanding, keenly perceptive intellect, she mastered all her studies, excelling in grammar, literature, poetry and arithmetic, as well as in painting and music, so much so, had the Lord not chosen her for His own, she would have most probably been lauded as an accomplished musician or highly acclaimed painter.

As we have seen with Mother Angelica and her Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration, God wastes nothing, using the gifts, He has bestowed on His precious brides for His plan for the salvation of His Church and for His glory; as we will see later, as we continue our story of this great Saint.

An education which included Latin would enable her to write the most profound poetry, rivaling that of any of the great poets of her day. But God did not give her this talent for the world. Instead, her mastery in Latin would help her to print her breviary in her own hand; her talent as a painter would be used to beautifully illustrate it. Had she not been specially courted by the Lord, she might have pursued a career in classical writing.

But the Hounds of Heaven pursued her from an early age, leading her to Holy Scripture and the works of the Early Church Fathers. We are what we read; we believe that strongly. And in Catherine’s case, the path to sanctity was paved with the spirituality derived from the Holy Spirit Who spoke to her through the Word and the authentic glorious teachings of those great men of God who went before us.

Once her mind and heart belonged to the Lord, she was free to totally abandon herself to Him and His Plan for her. This was essential for Catherine, because she would soon be stripped from all earthly consolation and support, as her father went to the Father in Heaven, her mother remarried, and finally her dear and closest friend Margaret left for Rimini. Although she had pleaded with Catherine to join her and her future spouse, the Lord of Rimini, Catherine chose instead to remain in Ferrara. In the eyes of the world, Catherine had nothing left in Ferrara; but with the Eyes of God, there was nothing else she could do. He had plans for her!

With her father’s passing, Catherine became a wealthy heiress. She definitely became the target of friends and family who either wanted to marry her or knew some fine young man who did. What they did not know is, she had already been chosen to be espoused to the King of Heaven and Earth. She had said yes to placing her life in His loving Hands. She completely turned herself over to Jesus. She had chosen the Saint Catherine of Bologna best way and there was no turning back. There is no one who can equal Jesus as Suitor and Spouse.

At age fourteen, she made the commitment to love Him faithfully to the exclusion of all others, forever. Saying good by to the world, and excitedly looking forward to their new life together, she entered a Religious house which had been founded by an Augustinian tertiary, Bernardina Sedazzari, in Ferrara in 1419, six years after Catherine was born. It was a fairly new Community, made up of pious women who followed the Augustinian Rule. Years later, it would become a Franciscan Community under the double title of Corpus Domini⁴ and Visitation Monastery. It still stands today in Ferrara.

Catherine described so beautifully her feelings in this holy place, living her new life:

During my tender years, enlightened by Divine Grace, I entered God’s service in this Monastery with good intentions and much fervor. My life was filled with prayer, day and night. Any virtue I admired or heard of in others, I tried to imitate in my own life. I did so not out of envy, but to please God in Whom I had put all my love.

Catherine battles with the devil

Whenever we are under attack from the slimy one, it is difficult to remember that God is in charge, and He is allowing this to strengthen us for even greater battles. The honeymoon over, God stood by and permitted Satan to tempt our little Catherine. But Sister Catherine was not so little that she could not tell the devil off when he tried to tempt her. When he really got under her skin and wouldn’t let up, she rebuked him, saying: Be sure, evil spirit, you will not tempt me so openly nor so stealthily without my knowing it. Or to quote one of our young members of the Junior Legion of Mary, I recognize you sucker, scram! The enemy was determined, she would fall; but God was more determined. She learned a very essential lesson from this which was: human nature is fragile; never underestimate the devil and his cunning. He is the one who makes jokes that he doesn’t exist, that concern over the devil is all nonsense. The Lord wanted to make sure that she would never pridefully believe she was a match for the devil and his cohorts.

For what seemed an endless five years, from ages fifteen to twenty, the prince of darkness relentlessly attacked the one whom he knew was his mortal enemy. In her book, The Seven Spiritual Arms, our future Saint would not only write to warn future novices, but all Christians for generations to come. Catherine recounted battles waged and won. She dug into the horror of those years and wrote with pain remembered, so that the novices under her care would be forewarned and not fall prey to the father of lies.

She shared her tears. Sometimes they were tears of blood like her Savior before her. Do you ever wonder what Jesus suffered in the Garden that He shed tears of Blood, and now, what Catherine experienced that she did as well? In the end, she vanquished the enemy. God was the victor! The Cross triumphed! She had glorious wounds, sustained in battle to remind her always and to pass on that truth that Satan is alive and he never sleeps. But she also learned, God is always nearby; we are not alone.

As we read and write, we discover and rediscover that attacks by the enemy are always on obedience! God has always acted on obedience, as far back as Genesis, counteracting disobedience with obedience. Satan attacked Adam and Eve by tempting them to disobey! God raised up a faithful son who would obey; Abraham obeyed the Father, but that was not Saint Catherine of Bologna enough. Then, God asked a little virgin and Mary obeyed the Father. Finally, God asked His only begotten Son and Jesus obeyed the Father; and because of His obedience, the Father on Calvary forgave the sins of the world. But that is not the end of the story. God has been asking for obedience of His Saints and acting through that obedience down through the centuries. Catherine was one of those Saints

Because of the power of obedience and the destruction caused by one act of disobedience, Satan attacked Catherine mercilessly. First, he tempted her to disobey her Superior. Then, Satan appeared as Jesus Crucified, and using the holy form of Our Savior, attempted to devastate her by berating her for feigning remorse over her rebellious disobedience of her Superior. Although Catherine was confused and trying to recall when she had done so, she knew that Jesus would not lie, and so she was mortified. She cried, judging herself the worst sinner. Satan hates contrition for our sins. He knew he had failed and so he attacked her with vile thoughts, uttering blasphemies against the Lord that ripped away at her very soul! Another attack did not go as he expected. Satan came disguised as the Blessed Virgin, accusing Catherine of desiring sinful love, telling her, the Lord would withhold His precious Love from her.

She came through those attacks weary but not beaten. Knowing her devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, how she spent hours, day and night, consoling Our Lord in the Tabernacle, Satan pulled out all stops, and went after her belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. He put doubts into her mind, torturing her because suddenly she did not feel anything towards the Eucharist. She agonized over the dryness she felt during the elevation of the Host at Mass. Satan so tormented her, she collapsed on the ground before the other nuns, almost out of her mind with grief.

At last! One morning during Mass Our Lord revealed to Catherine that He was truly Present in the Eucharist. When she received Holy Communion, she felt and tasted the sweetest, purest Flesh of the Immaculate Lamb, Christ Jesus.5 Then her beloved Seraphic father St. Francis appeared to her and encouraged her to be faithful and to stand firm, assuring her that God was always with her, even when she did not understand. In thanksgiving for the Lord manifesting this Miracle of the Eucharist to confound the enemy, Catherine became an advocate of frequent Communion at a time when this was not an accepted practice of the Church.

....Whom the Lord loves He reproves, and He chastises the son He favors.6 Our Lord never left Catherine alone. Lest she forget, God gave her a glimpse of the Final Judgment, during one of her ecstasies. It was so horrible, so terrifying, so revolting, she never forgot it. This burned such an image on her mind, she developed an intense repulsion for even her smallest transgressions, seeing each and every imperfection, as an ugly scar on her soul. [We received a book on Purgatory at EWTN. After reading it, we began to look at each action with how much time in Purgatory it would cost. And so, the luxuries, we sometimes take, committing what we judge, minor infractions (as they are called today) or more aptly venial sins, takes on different dimensions. Suddenly venial sins do not look so venial.]

The Monastery faces great trials

After the death of their foundress, the nuns faced hard times. Mother Bernardina had heavily financed the Community and now with her gone,