ST CATHERINE OF PALMA, VIRGIN AND MYSTIC - 5 APRIL

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN APRIL

Saints celebrated on the 5th of April

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST CATHERINE OF PALMA, VIRGIN AND MYSTIC 

Saint Catherine was born May 1, 1533 at Valldemossa, Mallorca, Spain, in a peasant family. She worked as a servant in a household in Palma where she learned to read and embroider.

SHE JOINED THE CANONESSES OF ST AUGUSTINE

She then joined the Canonesses of St Augustine at the convent of St Mary Magdalene in Palma. According to legend, she was visited by devils and angels, and went into ecstasy for the last years of her life. 

HER HOLY DEATH

She died April 5, 1574 at Palma, Mallorca, of natural causes. As of 1904 her hat, thimble, and other relics were kept, and her body preserved in a marble sarcophagus, in the convent of St Mary Magdalene, Palma.

HER VENERATION

After her death she was celebrated locally as a saint for half a century until a decree of Pope Urban VII forbade the veneration of unrecognised saints. Local people appealed to Rome and eventually she was beatified on August 12, 1792 by Pope Pius VI and canonised on June 22, 1930 by Pope Pius XI.

The house in Valldemossa where she was born, Carrer Rectoria 5, has become a shrine, and many houses in the village bear a plaque in her honour.

She is considered a patron saint of Mallorca.

(Information from Wikipedia -

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Palma)