Catharine, Saint, of Bologna

CATHARINE, SAINT, OF BOLOGNA: Roman Catholic saint; b. at Bologna or, according to other accounts, at Verona Sept. 8, 1413; d. at Bologna Mar. 9, 1463. About 1430 she entered the order of the Poor Clares at Ferrara after having been a lady of honor at the court of Princess Margaret of Este for about two years. She later became abbess of a convent of her order which was founded at Bologna. Her name was included in the Roman martyrology in 1592, and she was canonized by Benedict XIII. in 1724. Later tradition wove many legends about her name, and her body was preserved undecayed in her convent until recent years. To St. Catherine is ascribed a prophetic work entitled Revelationes, sive de septem armis spiritualibus, composed about 1438 and first edited probably at Bologna in 1475 and repeatedly since. In art she is represented in the habit of the Poor Clares, carrying the Christ-child, since the Virgin is said to have appeared to her and to have placed in her arms the infant Jesus in his swaddling-clothes.

(O. Zöckler†.)

Bibliography: The Vita which is the earliest source was published at Bologna, 1502, from which a number of biographies were drawn in the next century. Consult: J. Görres, Die christliche Mystik, ii. 53 sqq., 158–159, 4 vols., Regensburg, 1836–42.