Skip to main content

SAINT FEAST DAY 15 SEPTEMBER: ST CATHERINE OF GENOA

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 15th of September

WELCOME!

SAINT CATHERINE OF GENOA, WIDOW

On September 15, one of the saints remembered by the Church is Saint Catherine of Genoa. She was born in the year 1447 and suffered depression after experiencing difficulties in her marriage. Her husband proved himself to be a weak character, a spendthrift and an unfaithful spouse.

GOD'S LOVE TOOK OVER

In 1473 St Catherine’s life changed when she felt in an intense way God’s love taking over her. The experience seems to have temporarily immobilised her, leaving her muttering, “No more sins! No more sins!”

"NO MORE SINS! NO MORE SINS!"

The impact of that first exhilarating awareness of God’s mercy remained ever with St Catherine, mixed with her own relentless sense of evil. She described her constant interior tension in her “Spiritual Dialogue”:

“Considering man’s sins, the Soul was astonished at the goodness of God, which together with its own defects it saw in a vision. And the Soul said: ‘O Lord, never more do I want to offend you, or do anything against your goodness, which has so bound me to you.’ Then turning toward her humanity and seeing all its defects and bad instincts, the Soul said: ‘Do you think you are clean enough to appear in the presence of God?’

"DO YOU THINK YOU ARE CLEAN ENOUGH TO APPEAR IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD?"

The year 1473 also brought St Catherine’s husband first to bankruptcy, and then to conversion to an active Faith. The couple agreed to remain celibate and relocated to a small house close to the hospital of Pammantone, where they both tended the sick.

SHE FORGAVE HER HUSBAND'S MISTRESS

St Catherine eventually became the administrator of the hospital, one of Europe’s largest at the time. When her husband died, St Catherine looked after his illegitimate daughter, providing for her in her will, and also she forgave her husband’s mistress. St Catherine died of an undiagnosed illness in 1510.

Here are a few more of her words:

“Lord, I make you a present of myself,

I do not know what to do with myself.

Let me, then, Lord, make this exchange:

I will place this evil being into your hands.

You are the only one who can hide it in your goodness

and can so rule over me

that nothing will be seen of my proper self.

On your part you will grant your pure love.”

From: Spiritual Thought from Fr Chris

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Catherine may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

WELCOME

  Please pick your saints: January - Saints by date  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17   18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29    30    31   February - Saints by date  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17 18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29   March - Saints by date: 1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17   18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29    30    31   April - Saints by date: 1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17   18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29    30   May - Saints by date: 1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17   18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29    30   

ST JOHN BERCHMANS, RELIGIOUS - 13 AUGUST

  ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST Saints celebrated on the 13th of August WELCOME! SAINT JOHN BERCHMANS, RELIGIOUS   (Patron Saint of Altar Servers.) The eldest boy of a poor cordwainer, in a small Belgian town, John was ever a dutiful, prayerful, and studious child. Our Lord called him when but young to leave his father and his father’s house, to serve Him in the Society of Jesus.  And because he was so good a son, it cost his father much to give him up to God; but he was too good a Christian to refuse outright.  HE WAS SENT TO ROME John had hardly taken his religious vows when he was sent to the centre of Christendom, the holy city of Rome. His modesty, his purity, shone out as great virtue always does; and the young laymen who attended the lectures would come to gaze upon his beautiful and holy face, and go away the better for the sight. GREAT VIRTUE Three short years, and his last sickness found him sighing for heaven, and three days before the great feast of Mary’s Assumption in 1

ST LAURA OF CORDOBA, WIDOW AND MARTYR - 19 OCTOBER

  WELCOME! SAINT LAURA OF CORDOBA, WIDOW AND MARTYR   Laura, a widow and martyr of Cordoba in Spain, is mentioned in the Spanish martyrology of Tamajode Salazar, who refers to Luitprand, where it says the following: St Laura is said to have been of a noble family, and  according to the wishes of her parents she married an equally noble man and gave birth to two daughters.  After the death of her husband and her daughters, she went to the monastery of St Aurea, named St-Maria de Cuteclara, and after her martyrdom led the same for nine years as her successor.  After she had made wonderful progress in all virtues, she was finally summoned to renounce the faith before a Saracen judge. But since she remained steadfast, she was first beaten very cruelly and then thrown into a bath of boiling pitch, where she remained in praise of God for three hours and then flew to heaven on October 19, 864.   St Laura is of the 48 Martyrs of Cordoba. PRAYER: Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that we who