Feast day: February 13
Saint Catherine de Ricci exhibited a great love of prayer and a deep devotion to Jesus from a very young age. When she was six years old, her father enrolled her in the local Benedictine monastery school in Florence, where her aunt was the abbess. When she was fourteen, Catherine joined a cloistered community of Dominican nuns and later became their prioress (superior).
Many people sought her prayers and practical advice, including three future popes. She also experienced many visions and ecstasies. When she reached the age of 20, she started receiving weekly ecstasies of the Passion of Christ. With these ecstasies, she also received the wounds of Jesus in the order that they appeared, from his scourging to the dent on his shoulder from carrying the cross. These ecstasies lasted for twelve years. Saint Catherine de Ricci was canonized in 1746.
(Image in public domain-70)