It’s the Feast of Feria / S Catherine of Ricci, 4th Class, with the color of Violet. In this episode: the meditation: “Receptivity to the Word of God”, today’s news from the Church: “Communiqué From the General House: Meeting in Rome”, and today’s thought from the Archbishop.
Saint Catherine of Ricci was a mystic whose hidden life behind convent walls radiated spiritual intensity far beyond her cloister. Born in 1522 in Florence as Alessandra Lucrezia Romola de’ Ricci, she lost her mother at an early age and grew up in a household connected to noble circles. Yet from childhood she showed little interest in society or display. She longed for prayer, silence, and union with Christ. Against obstacles and concerns about her health, she entered the Dominican convent of San Vincenzo in Prato at the age of thirteen, taking the name Catherine.
Her religious life was marked almost immediately by extraordinary mystical experiences. At a time when the Church was carefully discerning claims of visions and spiritual phenomena, Catherine’s experiences were both intense and prolonged. Beginning in her late teens, she entered into weekly ecstasies in which she relived the Passion of Christ with vivid clarity. For twelve years, each Thursday and Friday she was seen absorbed in contemplation of the suffering of the Lord, her body bearing signs of interior participation in His agony. Witnesses, including clergy and superiors, carefully documented these events. Catherine herself never sought them and often asked that they cease, fearing pride or misunderstanding. What grounded her mysticism was not spectacle, but obedience and humility.
Beyond these experiences, Catherine proved a capable and balanced leader. She was elected prioress while still young and governed her community with firmness and compassion. She insisted on regular observance, charity among sisters, and fidelity to Dominican spirituality rooted in truth and contemplation. Her letters reveal a woman deeply practical, offering counsel to laypeople and clergy alike, including encouragement to reformers and even correspondence with figures such as Saint Philip Neri. She understood mystical union not as escape from responsibility, but as...
