St. Catherine de' Ricci

St. Catherine de' Ricci was born Alessandra Lucrezia Romola de' Ricci on 23 April 1522 at Florence in Italy, of a noble family, and entered a Dominican convent at Prato while still a girl, taking the name Catherine. Devoted from childhood to the Passion of Christ, she rose to govern her community as prioress and was esteemed for her wisdom, prudence, and holiness.

She is renowned for the extraordinary mystical graces granted her, above all a recurring ecstasy in which, over many years, she is said to have relived the sufferings of Christ's Passion each week from Thursday to Friday, and to have received the marks of the stigmata and a mystical ring of espousal to the Lord. Yet she remained a wise and practical superior, and her counsel was sought by bishops, cardinals, and future popes, as well as by ordinary people, through a large correspondence. She had a particular reverence for the memory of the reformer Savonarola. She died at Prato on 2 February 1590 and was canonized in 1746. Her memory is kept on 4 February.