of the time. Her visions and trances were considered as closer ties
between herself and the hosts of heaven, and she was looked upon with
awe and wonderment. Catherine of Pallanza, by word and by precept, and
by means of the wonderful power which she possessed, exerted a far wider
influence for the good of men and women.

Catherine of Genoa, the third of this series, and a member of the old
and distinguished Fieschi family, was born in 1447. Notwithstanding her
decided wish to enter a convent, and in spite of her repeated
protestations, she was compelled to marry, at the age of seventeen,
Julio Adorno, a man of tastes uncongenial to her. On account of her
slender figure and her delicate health, her parents had felt warranted
in their refusal to allow her to become a nun, but the husband of their
choice proved a greater trial to her strength and temper than the
cloister would have been. After ten years of suffering and brutal
neglect, Catherine became the mistress of her own fortunes, for at this
time her husband had the good grace to die. With an ample fortune at her
command, she was not slow to put it to some public good; and she at once
devoted her time and energies to the great hospital at Genoa, which was
sadly in need of such aid. In those days before the advent of the
trained nurse, the presence of such a woman in such a place was
unquestionably a source of great aid and comfort, both directly and
indirectly. Nor did she confine her favors to the inmates of this great
hospital, for she went about in the poorer quarters of the city, caring
for the sick wherever they were to be found. When alone, she was much
given to mystic contemplations, which took shape as dialogues between
the body and soul and which were later published with a treatise on the
_Theology of Love_ and a complete life of this noble woman. She died at
the age of sixty-three, on September 14, 1510.