By RAY CAVANAUGH
There are patrons of the arts, and then there’s St. Catherine of Bologna — the patron saint of artists. She was a nun, mystic, painter, and author whose feast day occurs on March 9.
Born in the northern Italian city of Bologna on September 8, 1413, she entered an aristocratic family. Her education was provided at a royal court until age 14, when she joined a convent in the city of Ferrara. First she served as the convent baker and laundress, then as mistress of novices, as told by the New Catholic Encyclopedia.
While in Ferrara, she began composition of her most enduring written work, The Seven Spiritual Weapons. During this time, she also claimed to have received a visitation from our Lady, who placed a newborn Jesus in her arms. She would later speak of visions of Jesus, Satan, and The Last Judgment.
Written in the third-person but heavily autobiographical, The Seven Spiritual Weapons speaks of a joyful entry into the religious life, followed by a troubled five-year period that today might’ve seen her diagnosed with clinical depression. Catherine overcame this distress following a series of apparitions.
Among the work’s main points is trust of God over oneself, and the author stresses the importance of reflection on the Scriptures so that one can better discern between Christ and Satan in the real world.
Aside from her literary endeavors, Catherine also painted. And as one might surmise, her paintings were of religious themes. One of them, a depiction of St. Ursula, hangs in a gallery in Venice. Other visual creations of hers are held in Oxford, UK, according to the website of the St. Catherine’s Patron of the Arts Association.
In 1456, Catherine, then in her early-40s, was made abbess of a new convent of Poor Clares in Bologna. In this position she remained until her death at age 49 on March 9, 1463.
Subsequent to her burial, a sweet odor began emanating from her grave. When she was exhumed weeks later, her body was found to be incorrupt and was set up in a local church for public veneration. Miracles were soon attributed to her.
As part of Catherine’s canonization process, eight Bolognese doctors conducted an inspection of her body on May 14, 1671. They each later issued a report “under pledge of secrecy,” according to Gianna Pomata’s 2007 article for the journal Renaissance Studies. The article also relates how four nuns regularly sponged Catherine’s long-deceased body and washed her clothes.
More than 550 years after her death, Catherine sits upright on a throne encased in glass in the Church of Corpus Domini in her hometown of Bologna. Adorned in a habit, she clutches a cross and a Bible. Her skin has turned black owing to centuries of accumulated soot from candles.
The saint’s remains “still baffle scientists who even until today cannot explain why . . . her body has retained a level of flexibility attributed to that of a living person,” as told by Judy Keane’s article “Catherine of Bologna, The Seated Saint” for Catholic Exchange.
Catherine had been revered as a saint in her hometown for centuries when she was formally canonized by Pope Clement XI on May 22, 1712.
Almost until her death, Catherine had kept her Seven Spiritual Weapons hidden. It first saw publication in 1475, and would spread across Europe in ensuing centuries, seeing translations into the languages of leading Catholic nations.
In the twilight years of the 20th century, other written works of hers were discovered and published in Italian. Writing the introduction to a 1998 translation of The Seven Spiritual Weapons, Marilyn Hall relates that “interest in [Catherine] is now increasing. Scholars are still sifting through archival material and other sources to determine what she wrote and what she painted.”
One of the leading experts on Catherine was Msgr. Patrick Panos, who died in October 2016. Before retiring in 2012, he served for 22 years as pastor of St. Catherine of Bologna Parish in Ringwood, N.J., where he created two shrines to the patron saint and encouraged parishioners to visit Bologna — a trip he made each year, according to The Record newspaper in North Jersey.
For someone who’s the primary saintly patron of artists, and whose incorrupt body is still on display, Catherine has remained strangely obscure outside of her native region.
“In my opinion, yes she should be more popular,” says Linda Zani Thomas, a longtime volunteer with the St. Catherine of Bologna Patron of the Arts Association. The Association is connected to the St. Catherine of Bologna Catholic Parish in Ringwood, N.J. Its annual event, which takes place this year from March 10-12, consists of an exhibition and sale of art and photography displayed within the parish center. Some 40 committee members and more than 100 volunteers make the show possible.
Now in its 18th year, the three-day event has developed into a bonanza drawing as many as 3,000 total guests, according to a YouTube video. For further information, head to www.stcatharts.org.
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