Happy Feast...

...of St. Catherine de Ricci! Just last night I was reading about her and thought that I should put a post up about her.

"St. Catherine was born in Florence in 1522. Her baptismal name was Alexandrina, but she took the name of Catherine upon entering religion. From her earliest infancy she manifested a great love of prayer, and in her sixth year, her father placed her in the convent of Monticelli in Florence, where her aunt, Louisa de Ricci, was a nun. After a brief return home, she entered the convent of the Dominican nuns at Prat in Tuscany, in her fourteenth year. While very young, she was chosen Mistress of Novices, then subprioress, and at twenty-five years of age she became perpetual prioress. 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. On Easter Sunday 1542, Our Lord appeared to her, took a ring from His finger and placed it on the forefinger of Catherine's left hand in commemoration of her mystical espousal. She described the ring as being gold and set with a large pointed diamond, but others saw it only as a swelling and reddening of the flesh, which various experiments could neither duplicate nor erase.
After a long illness she passed away in 1589. Her feast day is February 13."

Also, St. Catherine is incorrupt. The Basilica of Prato possesses the remains of this saint who has been designated the patroness of the city. She lies in an ornate reliquary where her darkened, but still beautiful body is exposed for public veneration.

St. Catherine de Ricci, pray for us!