Saint Catherine de Ricci (English Edition) [Kindle-editie] beoordelingen het boek quotes

Mystical Marriage - Stigmatist - VisionaryFive years later, on Easter Sunday, she prayed to the Lord to give her a new heart, because she said "With this weak heart of mine, I cannot love you properly." Then, on the Feast of Corpus Christi, she went into ecstasy, and Our Lord appeared to Catherine and gave her a new heart, made of flesh. She said that her heart felt as if it was on fire. She had asked to love Him with a heart that could love Him as He deserved. Whose heart could better love Him than that of Mother Mary! Who knew how to truly love her Son, if not His Mother? Our Lord, when she asked for a new heart that could properly love Him, gave her the heart of His Mother Mary. From that time on, she said her heart was no longer hers, but that of Jesus, Mother. The following year, the 15th of April, 1542, she was mystically married to Jesus. [Now, many Saints we have written about have been given that special blessing by the Lord: Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Gemma Galgani, Saint Veronica Giuliani to mention just a few. But the outward sign of Saint Catherine de' Ricci's marriage was the most unusual we have ever heard.] Our Lord appeared to the young girl in a brilliance, reminiscent of the Transfiguration. He took her hand in His and kissed it; then He took a gleaming ring off His own finger and placed it on the ring finger on her left hand, saying, "My daughter, receive this ring as pledge and proof that thou dost now, and ever shalt, belong to Me." Now, this has happened before to many Saints. The difference with this Mystical Marriage was that there were witnesses to this miracle! The ring actually manifested itself in a physical ring of gold and diamonds. That's how Saint Catherine saw it all her life. It was seen and testified to by three of the nuns in the community, all of whom were mature nuns. Only they saw something different from Catherine. They saw a red mark around the finger, as if the ring had made a mark on her finger. There was a larger red mark, in the form of a stone, but not a stone, appearing where a stone would be on an actual ring. One description given was that it looked like a ring had been buried under the skin. This miraculous manifestation was seen by all on Ascension Thursday and the Feast of Corpus Christi, lasting for the entire day, each time. The only exception to this was when the governor of Prato asked to see it. On the Feast of Corpus Christi, Catherine was brought into the church so that he would be able to view the ring. As soon as she approached him, the ring disappeared, and did not reappear until he left. The ring became an important area of contention not only in her lifetime, but later, in the process of her Beatification and Canonization. [However, the Lord triumphed; her sincerity and spirituality were authenticated and she was officially added to the Communion of Saints.] Catherine's superior tried to find a way to remove the cause of the problem, the red mark on her finger. Catherine was open to any methods the superior chose to remove the mark. But all the time, Catherine insisted, she couldn't see any mark on her finger; what she could see was a magnificent ring of gold adorned with brilliant diamonds that Our Lord Jesus had given her