Saint Who?
Saints Who Were Instruments of Healing
Saint Catherine of Genoa
Widow († 1510) Feast: September 15
Young Catherine was so miserably unhappy in her marriage that at one point she prayed to become seriously ill. After all, if she could spend three months in bed, she wouldn’t have to deal with her thriftless, unfaithful, bad-tempered husband.
Theirs was an arranged marriage, designed to unite her wealthy Italian family to his powerful one. Married at the age of sixteen, Catherine quickly discovered her husband’s faults. She moped in silence for five years and then spent another five years trying (and failing) to enjoy herself.
But God’s grace touched her heart. One day she received a deep experience of God’s love for her and her own unworthiness. At about the same time, her husband’s spending habits brought them to bankruptcy. With Catherine’s encouragement, he agreed to reform his life. They left their palace for a small house, and they began to care for the sick at a nearby hospital. Catherine was such a dedicated nurse and careful organizer that she was named administrator of the entire hospital. In her widowhood, she became a spiritual leader in Genoa and was known for her extraordinary fasts. By the end of her life, the girl who yearned for sickness had become a woman who healed others through her hands and her words.
Loving Father, protect us from discouragement,
and help us to trust in you.
