ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN APRIL
Saints celebrated on the 7th of April
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| A page of one of Fortunatus Hueber's Saints' books, "Stammenbuch..." (1693) |
Blessed Catharina Thomas, a virgin of the Order of regular nuns of Saint Augustine came from a noble family and was born on April 30, 1553 in Valdemuza (a village on the Balearic island of Majorca). Her father's name was Jakob Thomas and her mother Marquetta Gallart, both of excellent piety.
Apart from a rare beauty, our blessed was endowed with the highest spiritual gifts from God, so that from her earliest childhood she possessed the spirit of prayer and mortification to an extraordinary degree.
After the untimely death of her parents, she came to the house of her uncle, who was a harsh man, from whom she had to endure many things and, having to live among a multitude of servants, faced many dangers of body and soul.
At the age of 16 she made the decision to enter a convent and carried it out, although this plan was riddled with many obstacles, since, as a poor abandoned orphan, she owned nothing. Only God helped her to the desired goal. She was received by the nuns of Saint Augustine. She had much to suffer from the evil enemy after taking the vows, but she was also graced by God with delights and revelations.
She died on April 5, 1574, at the age of 41, and was beatified for her virtues on August 3, 1792 by Pope Pius VI. On April 1, she is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology for the Canonici Regulares and the Augustinians.
(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 1, Augsburg, 1858, p. 585)
Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations
PRAYER:
Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of the blessed Catharina 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.
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