Saint Catherine of Sweden

Catherine was born around 1331, the second of the eight children of Bridget of Sweden — which means she is a saint who was the daughter of a saint, something that rarely happens. While still very young she was married, against her will, to the nobleman Edgar von Kyren. Husband and wife, by mutual agreement, took a vow of chastity. While Catherine was in Rome with her mother for the Holy Year, the news reached her that Edgar had died. She turned down every new marriage proposal and from then on followed Bridget in everything. Together they made long pilgrimages, and tradition says they had more than one close call. Then, in 1373, Bridget died. Two years later Catherine entered the monastery of Vadstena — the one her mother had founded, where men and women lived in separate enclosures under a rule inspired by Bernard of Clairvaux — and in 1380 she was elected its abbess. She spent her last years doing two things: praying, up to four hours a day on the Passion, and pursuing in Rome the cause for her mother’s canonization and the approval of the Order of the Most Holy Savior. She died at Vadstena on March 24, 1381. Innocent VIII declared her a saint in 1484. If your name is Catherine, today is your name day — even though many wait for April 29, the day of Catherine of Siena.