Today February 13

Today is the feast of the interesting St. Catherine dei Ricci (1522 - 1590), virgin, Dominican, stigmatist. I say she's interesting because she illustrates a truth about the stigmata -- and other mystical manifestations -- in that different people saw it in different ways. Not that it was psychosomatic or hallucinatory, but that there's an element of faith in the viewer as well as in this stigmatic (that is not always seen in other exemplars). And yet the sincerity, holiness and wisdom of the great Catherine are not in dispute. She was sought after even by high clergy, including three cardinals, all of whom later became popes -- for her outspoken wisdom, though she was not a particularly literary or learned woman. But coming back to her manifestations: some saw the full bloody stigmata on her, others saw not wounds but beautiful points of light, still others saw healed wounds, and some saw nothing at all.

Catherine was distinguished for her very "marital" imagery of the soul's union with God -- to the point of a sacred and chaste proposal of Our Lord complete with a wedding ring He supposedly placed on her left hand. Here again, some saw an actual gold ring with a diamond (these were invariably the most mature old nuns), some saw a real ring seemingly embedded under the flesh, many saw a reddening in the form of a ring on that finger, some saw nothing at all (notably the governor of Florence, who asked to see it). For her own part, Catherine always saw the gold ring, she always felt the stigmata, and she never doubted her visions. Despite the fame the visions brought her -- and maybe because of it -- she asked her nuns (she was prioress) to pray that she might be delivered of them, and so she was, in 1554. She always saw the ring, though, and always thought of herself (and the other nuns) as veritable "brides of Christ." That's not so unusual -- even Mother Teresa thought so of herself, and once said something like, "I am married to Jesus -- and sometimes it's difficult being married to Him!" I can imagine. St. Catherine dei Ricci, pray for us.