In the fifteenth century there was a still further increase of the
religious orders for both men and women, which came with the continual
extension of the field of religious activity; for the mother Church was
no laggard at this time, and never ceased to advance her own interests.
In this general period there were three nuns in Italy, each bearing the
name of Catherine, who by their saintly lives did much for the uplifting
of those about them. The first of this trio was Catherine, daughter of
Giovanni Vigeo. Though born in Ferrara, she was always spoken of as
Catherine of Bologna, as it was in the latter city that she spent the
greater part of her long and useful life. There she was for many years
at the head of a prosperous convent belonging to the nuns of the Order
of Clarissa, and there it was that she had her wonderful visions and
dreamed the wonderful dreams, which she carefully wrote down with her
own hand in the year 1438. For more than threescore years after this
period of illumination she continued in her position, where she was ever
an example of godliness and piety. Her death came on March 9, 1463; and
although her great services to the cause of religion were recognized at
this time, and openly commended by the pope, it was not until May 22,
1712, that she was finally canonized by Clement IX.

The second Catherine was Catherine of Pallanza, which is a little town
near Novara in Piedmont, some thirty miles west of Milan. During the
year of the great pest, her immediate family was completely wiped away,
and she was left homeless and with few friends to guide her with words
of counsel. Her nearest relatives were in Milan, and to them she went at
first, until the first bitterness of her great grief had passed away.
Then, acting upon a decision which had long been made, and in spite of
the determined opposition of her friends, she took the veil. It was not
her intention, however, to enter one of the convents of Milan and live
the religious life in close contact with others of the same inclination,