Saint Catherine de Ricci exhibited a great love of prayer and a deep devotion to Jesus from a very young age.
Catherine was born in Florence in 1522. Her baptismal name was Alexandrina, but she took the name of Catherine upon entering religion.
When Catherine was six years old, her father allowed her to join the convent of Monticelli in Florence, where her aunt was a nun. After living and praying with her aunt, Louisa de Ricci, a nun, for several years, she joined the convent of the Dominican nuns at Prat in Tuscany when she was 14.
She was given many responsibilities in the convent, and many people sought her prayers, including three future popes. She was chosen Mistress of Novices, then sub prioress, and at twenty-five years of age she became perpetual prioress.
She experienced many visions and ecstasies. When she reached the age of 20, she started receiving weekly ecstasies of the Passion of Christ from noon on Thursday until 4:00 p.m. on Friday. With these ecstasies, she also received the wounds of Jesus in the order that they appeared, from his scourging to the dent on his shoulder from carrying the cross. These ecstasies lasted for 12 years.
The reputation of her sanctity drew to her side many illustrious personages, among whom three later sat in the chair of Peter, namely Cerveni, Alexander de Medicis, and Aldo Brandini, and afterward Marcellus II, Clement VIII, and Leo XI respectively. She corresponded with St. Philip Neri and, while still living, she appeared to him in Rome in a miraculous manner.
She is famous for the "Ecstacy of the Passion" which she experienced every Thursday from noon until Friday at 4:00 p.m. for twelve years. After a long illness she passed away in 1589.
Saint Catherine de Ricci was canonized in 1746 and is the patron saint against illness and of sick people.
-Catholiconline
Other Saints of the Day
1. Saint Martinian the Hermit
2. Saint Paulus Liu Hanzuo
3. Saint Castor of Karden
4. Saint Fulcran of Lodève
5. Saint Ermenilda of Ely
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