Blessed Catherine of Pallanza

Also known as

• Catherine Morigi
• Katarina Morigi
• Katarina of Pallanza

Memorial

• 6 April
• 27 April in the Ambrosian Rite

Profile

Catherine’s entire family died of plague when the girl was very young, and she was adopted by a woman in Milan, Italy. At age 14 she felt a call to devote herself to the service of God, and lived 15 years with a group of women hermits in the mountains near Varese, Italy. Noted for her austere lifestyle and personal piety, surviving wholly on irregular gifts of food from spiritual students. She attracted so many would-be students that she agreed to lead a group of five, including Blessed Juliana Puricelli, living under the Augustinian Rule; Pope Sixtus IV approved the community. Known to have the gift of prophecy.

Born

• c.1437 in Pallanza, Italy as Catherine Morigi

Died

• 6 April 1478 at Sacra Monte sopra Varese Monastery, Varese, Italy
• relics re-interred in the 1730s in a chapel built in her honour

Beatified

• 16 September 1769 by Pope Clement XIV (cultus confirmed)

Additional Information

• Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
• Kirken i Norge
• Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints

MLA Citation

• “Blessed Catherine of Pallanza”. Saints.SQPN.com. 5 April 2010. Web. 23 May 2013. <http://saints.sqpn.com/blessed-catherine-of-pallanza/>