|
Saint Catherine of Genoa (Caterina Fieschi Adorno, 1447 – 15 September 1510) was an Italian Roman Catholic saint and mystic, admired for her work among the sick and the poor〔(Encyclopaedia Britannica Online: ''Saint Catherine of Genoa'' )〕 and remembered because of various writings describing both these actions and her mystical experiences. She was a member of the noble Fieschi family,〔Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford University Press 2005 ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3), article ''Catherine, St, of Genoa''〕 and spent most of her life and her means serving the sick, especially during the plague which ravaged Genoa in 1497 and 1501. She died in that city in 1510. Her fame outside her native city is connected with the publication in 1551 of the book known in English as the ''Life and Doctrine of Saint Catherine of Genoa''.〔 She and her teaching were the subject of Baron Friedrich von Hügel's classic work ''The Mystical Element of Religion'' (1908).〔 ==Early life== Catherine was born in Genoa in 1447, the last of five children.〔(Pope Benedict XVI. "On Catherine of Genoa", General Audience January 12, 2011 )〕 Catherine's parents were Jacopo Fieschi and Francesca di Negro, both of illustrious Italian birth. The family was connected to two previous popes, and Jacopo became Viceroy of Naples.〔(Capes, Florence. "St. Catherine of Genoa." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 27 Jul. 2013 )〕 Catherine wished to enter a convent when about 13,〔''Life'', chapter 2.〕 perhaps inspired by her sister Limbania who was an Augustinian nun, but the nuns to whom her confessor applied refused her on account of her youth, after which she appears to have put the idea aside without any further attempt.〔 After her father’s death in 1463, she was married by her parents' wish at age 16 to a young Genoese nobleman, Giuliano Adorno, a man who, after several experiences in the area of trade and in the military world in the Middle East, had returned to Genoa to get married.〔 Their marriage was probably a ploy to end the feud between their two families. The childless marriage turned out wretchedly:〔 Giuliano proved to be faithless, violent-tempered and a spendthrift, and he made the life of his wife a misery. Details are scanty, but it seems at least clear that Catherine spent the first five years of her marriage in silent, melancholy submission to her husband; and that she then, for another five years, turned a little to the world for consolation in her troubles.〔 Then, ten years after her marriage, she prayed "that for three months He (God) may keep me (Catherine) sick in bed" so that she might escape her marriage, but her prayer went unanswered.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Catherine of Genoa」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|