Catherine of Genoa (1447–1510)

Biography

Italian laywoman, wife and mystic, Catherine of Genoa went from a life of inner emptiness to a radical dedication to God and the sick. Married at the age of sixteen to Julián Adorno, she endured a difficult marriage and sought solace in a worldly life. A conversion experience in 1473 revealed to him simultaneously his misery and the immense divine goodness. Since then she cared for the sick at the Pammatone hospital, where she became administrator, and helped her husband change his life. His teachings describe God's purifying love and unreserved trust.