Return to the index of "Other Women's Voices."
Updated 04-09-08
Catherine of Genoa
/Caterina Fieschi Adorno (1447-1510)
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"NOW I WILL ONCE MORE BE IN CHARGE."
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Catherine Fieschi was the youngest of five children born in Genoa to an aristocratic family. Her father, a former viceroy of Naples, died when Catherine was 14; two years later, for political and financial reasons, her brother arranged her marriage to Giuliano Adorno, a member of a rival family. The marriage was not a happy one, and for ten years Catherine alternated between seclusion and social activity; there were no children (although her husband had at least one child by a mistress).
When she was 26, Catherine experienced a religious conversion. At about the same time (it's not clear which came first), her husband became bankrupt. Catherine began a life of social work --- going into Genoa's slums to help the sick poor. For the first few years of this work, the sheltered aristocratic woman had great difficulty in overcoming her physical repugnance at dealing with the very poor and the very ill.
By 1477, Catherine's husband had begun to help her in her work. He later became a Franciscan tertiary (a lay person affiliated with the order); Catherine herself never became associated with any religious order. In 1479 the couple moved into rooms near the large Pammatone Hospital for the poor of Genoa and worked there, without pay.
In 1490, Catherine became the director of the hospital, and worked successfully to improve the institution's financial situation. In 1493, the plague came to Genoa, killing up to 80% of those who stayed in the city. Catherine supervised those Genoese who, like her tertiary husband, cared for the dying. In 1496 her husband died and she resigned her position as director, although she continued working full time until 1499, when her health began to fail.
During the ten years before her death, Catherine wrote Trattato del Purgatorio, describing her beliefs about Purgatory: she saw a place of joy rather than a place of physical suffering. She also wrote what would become the first part of Dialogo Spirituale: a witty conversation embodying the internal conflict she had undergone between her spiritual goals and her bodily desires. It was also during this period that she accepted, for the first time, a spiritual director, her successor as head of the hospital; it was he who would write her Vita.
A group of disciples gathered around her in the last years of her life; some wrote down her words when they were with her, others recorded what they remembered after her death. Her closest disciple, the young nobleman Ettore Vernazza, whom she had met during the plague, gathered these notes, which would become the last two parts of Dialogo. Some years after Catherine's death, her writings, with those of her confessor and her disciples were published together; it is this that you will find online as her "Life and Doctrine."
On this page you'll find:
Links to helpful sites online.
Excerpts from translations in print.
Information about secondary sources.
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1. In translation (from sometimes inaccurate Italian editions of Catherine's works):
(a) Links to the 1896 Life and Doctrine of St. Catherine of Genoa, translated from the Italian by Mrs. George Ripley. You can link to an introduction by L.T. Hecker (1873); to the Vita written by Catherine's spiritual director ("Life and doctrines...."); to the three parts of Dialogo ("Spiritual Dialogue...,") only the first part of which is Catherine's; and to Trattato del Purgatorio ("Treatise on Purgatory").
(b) After an introduction by Helen Douglas Irvine, an alternative translation of Trattato del Purgatorio, by Irvine and Charlotte Balfour (1946).
2. For excerpts from other translations:
(a) Use your browser's search function to go to "Genoa" for a brief passage from the second part of Diologo, on Catherine's rejection of "signs" and emotional satisfaction. At another page of the same site, go to "Genoa" for a line from Purgatorio, followed by one from Diologo describing to God how his love can "busy me so much with you." For all passages, the translation is by Serge Hughes.
(b) Go to "Genoa" for a few lines from Trattato del Purgatorio, on the joy of the souls in purgatory, translated by Hughes (for more from Hughes, see below, under "In print").
(c) Five brief excerpts from the Vita, Catherine's words written down by her disciples, here translated by Esther Cameron.
(d) About a third of the way down the page of an essay on the influence of women writers on Francis de Sales, a brief passage from the Vita on the effect of the desire for God; then see notes #24 and 28 for lines from the same work on sin and free will. For each, the translation is by William Marceau.
3. The Italian original of Trattato del Purgatorio, from a 1990 edition by Cassiano Carpaneto (Cassiano da Langasco).
4. A contemporary portrait of Catherine, attributed by some to a cousin and friend, Tomasina Fieschi.
5. Links to the texts of the two volumes of Friedrich von Hugel's 1908 study, The Mystical Element of Religion, as Studied in Saint Catherine of Genoa and Her Friends: Volume 1, and Volume 2; some of the biographical information has been made outdated by later research, but the description of Catherine's thought is still generally accepted. You can also download each volume as a PDF file. (For more on the book, see "Secondary sources.")
6. Essays, etc:
(a) On two pages, excerpts (the introduction and the last section) of a 2005 conference presentation by J. Stephen Pearson, "Saint Catherine of Genoa: Life in the Spiritual Borderlands," which uses the Vita to present Catherine as living between the demands of the body and the soul, and those of the church and the world.
(b) A 1969 essay by Jean Guitton, "With a Humble Hope," which discusses the views Catherine expressed in Trattato del Purgatorio.
(c) An essay on Trattato del Purgatorio, by Leo Madigan.
7. Reviews (for information on the books' treatment of Catherine, see "Secondary sources"):
(a) Fiora A. Bassanese on the 2000 essay collection, A History of Women's Writing in Italy.
(b) John Freccero on Caroline Walker Bynum's 1987 study, Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women.
8. A list of editions of Catherine's writings. And half way down the page at a German site, a 2007 bibliography of studies.
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[Serge Hughes has translated Trattato del Purgatorio (as "Purgation and Purgatory"), and the three parts of Dialogo (as "The Spiritual Dialogue"). For the Dialogo, only Part 1 is Catherine's own work; however, Parts 2 and 3 act as introductions. Hughes recommends reading these first, then Part 1, and only then Purgatorio (p. 61). Benedict J. Groeschel's introduction to the book is helpful on Catherine's theology:]
Purgation and purgatory; The spiritual dialogue / Catherine
of Genoa; translation and notes by Serge Hughes; introd. by Benedict
J. Groeschel; pref. by Catherine De Hueck Doherty (The Classics
of Western spirituality). New York: Paulist Press, c1979. (xvi,
163 p.)
LC#: BT840 .C33 1979; ISBN: 0809122073, 0809102854
Includes indexes. Bibliography: p. 153-154.
Dialogo
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"I should like... to start out on a voyage to discover what
I am drawn to."
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[From Part 1: the opening:]
I saw the Body and the Soul conversing and arguing with one another. And the Soul said: "God made me to love and be happy. I should like, then, to start out on a voyage to discover what I am drawn to. Come willingly with me, for you too will share my joy." [p.91]
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"I am not afraid...."
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[Body agrees (if Self-Love can come along), but has some reservations about the voyage; Soul, rather naively, sees no problem:]
Body: ...Considering our naturally different tastes...,
it would be remarkable
if we came across food we both enjoyed.
Soul: ...I am not afraid of being won over to your
preferences,
since by nature of the two I am the stronger.
Body: True, you are the stronger of the two, but I
am at home here.
There are many things here that I enjoy.
It will be easier for me to convert you to my preferences, I
think,
than vice versa.
The things that give you joy
are not visible nor do they have any taste.
[p.92-93]
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"Keep in mind that the Body has its needs."
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[At first, Soul spends so much time contemplating spiritual things that Body and their companion Self-Love feel as if they are starving:]
Self-Love: ...God asks that we love our neighbor as
ourselves,
and you, Soul, were so little concerned
with the needs of the Body and of me
that we were in danger of death.
Learn to moderate yourself,
to take into account the needs
of your neighbor, the Body, and me as well---
for I, too, could not live in your beloved country....
If you, the Soul, wish to be helped by the Body,
keep in mind that the Body has its needs;
if you ignore them it will protest.
Meet those needs
and it will be at peace with itself and with you.
Soul: To attend to the Body's needs to such an extent
gives me pause.
I am afraid that I, too, will begin to find delight in them
and, unaware of the danger, will settle for them.
Watching you and the Body
so hungry and so intent on what gives you joy,
I sense that I too will become earthbound.
The goods of the earth
do not lead to an increased taste for spiritual things. [pp.96-97]
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"Your words are so utterly sensible on the surface."
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[Soul reluctantly agrees to try to satisfy Body and Self-Love:]
Soul: Since I cannot do otherwise, I will provide for
your needs.
I am afraid, though, that you are both plotting against me.
Your words are so utterly sensible on the surface
that they force me to be understanding....
(Still, if this is a trap, please God, I shall escape.) [p.99]
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"Take what you can get, and on the best available terms."
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[When Soul tries to think about spiritual things, Body and Self-Love keep interrupting and distracting her; Self-Love assures Soul that this is the way it should be:]
Soul: In meeting your needs,
I notice that bit by bit my own convictions are weakening.
Are you not getting more than your due?...
Self-Love: It is because you were aiming so unreasonably
high
that you feel as if your are debasing yourself
to come down to our level.
With time, though, you will learn to moderate yourself,
to be more sensible....
You are to love God fully, not is this world but in the next.
Take what you can get, and on the best available terms. [pp.100-101]
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"And yet, what must heavenly things be like?"
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[The Soul still tries to keep Body and Self-Love happy:]
...[I]ntent on not yielding to melancholy and nostalgia for the goods for which it was created, the Soul sought peace and joy where it could. And, listing with the wind, it said:
"The beauty and goodness and joy of created things
are means for knowing and enjoying things divine."
(Once it had tasted those joys, however, it asked itself:
"And yet, what must heavenly things be like?")
As the days passed, however, the Soul lost more and more of
its instinct for things divine. [p.102]
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"...being forced into a vase that was so small that it easily
overflowed."
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Both Body and Soul, therefore, were in distress. The Soul,
because its instinct for infinite joy was hampered by being forced
into a vase that was so small that it easily overflowed. The
Body, for its part, acted as if creation itself were not big
enough to satisfy its appetites. It smarted under the protests
of the Soul; and the more it strained to satiate itself, the
less it succeeded. [pp.103-104]
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"You turned me into your slave."
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[Soul finally turns to God for help, decides to take control, and then speaks to her companions; this ends Part 1 of the dialogue:]
Soul: Now I clearly see what I must do,
Prompted by God's light and the voice of reason....
In the beginning,
when I wanted to attend to the needs of the spirit,
I was in charge.
Through your deceit, you then bound yourself to me
and we agreed to do good together,
to have neither lord it over the other.
Gradually, however, you turned me into your slave.
Now I will once more be in charge.
If you wish to serve me, I will take care of all your needs;
if not, I will still be mistress and be served.
If needs be, I will compel you to be my servant---
and that will put an end to all arguments.
[pp.113-14]
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"Lord, Lord, I want no signs from you."
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[From Part 2: the Soul, after receivng an emotionally satisfying illumination from God, prays:]
Lord, Lord, I want no signs from you
nor am I looking for intense feelings to accompany your love.
I would rather flee those feelings as I do the devil.
They get in the way of Pure Love--
for under the guise of Pure Love
it is those emotional feelings to which the soul becomes attached.
Love must be naked.
I beseech you, therefore,
to grant me no such additional feelings,
for I do not care for them. [p.122]
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Trattato del Purgatorio
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"The soul opens itself fully to the rays of the sun."
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[On joy in the purgatory of the dead; Catherine's view differs from the descriptions of contemporary writers, whose emphasis was often solely on suffering:]
There is no joy save that in paradise
to be compared to the joy of the souls in purgatory.
This joy increases day by day
because of the way in which the love of God
corresponds to that of the soul,
since the impediment to that love is worn away daily.
This impediment is the rust of sin.
As it is consumed
the soul is more and more open to God's love.
Just as a covered object left out in the sun
cannot be penetrated by the sun's rays, in the same way,
once the covering of the soul is removed,
the soul opens itself fully to the rays of the sun.
The more rust of sin is consumed by fire,
the more the soul responds to that love,
and its joy increases. [p.72]
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"Its ardor in transforming itself into God is its purgatory."
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[And on purgatory during life:]
The inclination to evil
still remains in the soul revivified by Baptism,
and unless it is strenuously fought leads back to death.
Afterwards,
God revivifies the soul with a special grace of His.
In no other way could the soul renounce its self-centeredness
or return to the pristine state of its creation;
and as the soul makes its way to its first state,
its ardor in transforming itself into God is its purgatory,
the passionate instinct to overcome its impediments.
[pp.80-81]
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[Steven Fanning's essay in this collection, "Mitigations of the Fear of Hell and Purgatory in the Later Middle Ages: Julian of Norwich and Catherine of Genoa," includes a discussion of Catherine's treatment of Purgatory in Trattato del Purgatario and her attitude toward Hell as described in the Vita. Fanning shows how Catherine's views differed from those of her contemporaries. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Fear and its representations in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
/ edited by Anne Scott & Cynthia Kosso (Arizona studies in
the middle ages and the renaissance; v. 6). Turnhout: Brepols;
[Cheltenham: European Schoolbooks] (distributor), c2002. (xxxvii,
350 p.: ill.)
LC#: PN56.F39 F4 2002; ISBN: 2503512070
Includes bibliographical references and index
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[This collection includes Kenneth Jorgensen's essay, "'Love Conquers All': The Conversion, Asceticism and Altruism of St. Caterina of Genoa," which presents what is known of Catherine's life, emphasizing Catherine's independence from ecclesiastical authority. At the end an excursus describes the changes of focus in studies of Catherine since that of Friedrich von Hugel (see below). (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Renaissance society and culture: essays in honor of Eugene
F. Rice, Jr. / edited by John Monfasani and Ronald G. Musto.
New York: Italica Press, 1991. (xxiv, 309 p.: ill.)
LC#: CB361 .R44 1991; ISBN: 0934977240
Includes bibliographies and index
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[This is a one-volume reprint of Friedrich von Hugel's two-volume study of Catherine. Von Hugel's was the first serious attempt at a critical presentation of her life and teaching. His view of Catherine's personality was of course determined by his period's understanding of psychology, and some manuscripts have been found since 1923. However, von Hugel's identification of Catherine's actual teachings amid all the words of her followers is still generally accepted. Chapter 6 of part 2 presents this "doctrine," and the appendix to Part 2 analyzes the early manuscript history. The original 1908 edition is available online. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Hugel, Friedrich von. The mystical element of religion: as
studied in Saint Catherine of Genoa and her friends; introduction
by Michael Downey (Milestones in the study of mysticism and spirituality).
New York : Crossroad Pub., c1999. (li, 466, 422 p.)
LC#: BX4700.C36 H9 1999; ISBN: 0824517903
Includes bibliographical references and index
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[Ann W. Astell's study includes a brief but useful section on Catherine (pp. 164-71) which compares her with Catherine of Siena and shows how the two differ in purpose and use of images. Quoted passages are given in the translation of Paul Garvin. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Astell, Ann W. Eating beauty: the Eucharist and the spiritual
arts of the Middle Ages. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press,
2006. (xiii, 296 p., [8] p. of plates: col. ill.)
LC#: BV823 .A77 2006 ; ISBN: 0801444667
Includes bibliographical references (p. [265]-285) and index.
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[Caroline Walker Bynum discusses Catherine in the chapter, "Food in the Writings of Women Mystics," and at various spots in the book (for these, see the index). Although Bynam maks some use of Dialogo and Trattato del Purgatario, her chief source is the rather extravagant Vita. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Bynun, Caroline Walker. Holy feast and holy fast: The religious
significance of food to medieval women. Berkeley: University
of California Press, 1987. (xvi, 444p.)
LC#: BR252 .B96 1987; ISBN: 0520063295
Includes notes & index
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[Gabriella Zarri's essay in this history briefly discusses Catherine's works and those of her disciples. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
A history of women's writing in Italy
/ edited by Letizia Panizza and Sharon Wood. Cambridge [England];
New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000. (xvi, 361 p.)
LC#: PQ4055.W6 H57 2000; ISBN: 0521570883, 0521578132
Includes bibliographical references (p. 282-350) and index
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Updated 04-09-08