Catherine of Genoa: Purgation and Purgatory, The Spiritual Dialogue (Classics of Western Spirituality) (Paperback)

~ Catherine of Genoa (Author), Serge Hughes (Translator), Benedict J. Groeschel (Introduction), Catherine de Hueck Doherty (Foreword) "WHILE still in the flesh this blessed soul [Catherine] experienced the fiery love of God, a love that consumed her, cleansing and purifying all, so..." (more)
Key Phrases: fiery love, pure love, first dialogue

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Catherine, who lived for 60 years and died early in the 16th century, leads the modern reader directly to the more significant issues of the day. In her life she reconciled aspects of spirituality often seen to be either mutually exclusive or in conflict. This married lay woman was both a mystic and a humanitarian, a constant contemplative, yet daily immersed in the physical care of the sick and the destitute.

For the last five centuries she has been the inspiration of such spiritual greats as Francis de Sales, Robert Bellarmine, Fenelon, Newman and Hecker. Friedrich von Hügel's famous Mystical Element of Religion was a study of the spirituality of Catherine.

Purgation and Purgatory is a collection of sayings on spiritual purification in this life and the next. The Spiritual Dialogue gives us a readable and coherent inner history of Catherine.

Language Notes

Text: English, Italian (translation)

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Product Details

• Paperback: 190 pages
• Publisher: Paulist Press (November 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809122073
• ISBN-13: 978-0809122073
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #292,317 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars love from the LORD, November 15, 2000

By	catherine guelph "catrina_g" (milano, italy) - See all my reviews

St Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510) has a special importance for me because it is her after whom I was named. :D On 13 January 1463, at the age of sixteen, Catherine was married to Guiliano Adorni. He is described as a man of "strange and recalcitrant nature" who wasted his substance on disorderly living. Having little in common with her husband, their marriage had many difficult years. As did Jeanne Guyon, Catherine maintained a strong spiritual relationship despite opposition in her marriage. Guiliano became a member of the Third Order of St. Francis, and both he and Catherine worked among the poor and the sick. In 1497, she nursed her husband through his last illness. In his will he extolled her virtues and left her all his possessions. Instead of becoming bitter for her experience, Catherine brought joy and peace to the sick and lame as rector of the hospital of St. Lazarus in Genoa. Although Catherine was no scholar, she was, at the same time, inspired, vehement and warm-hearted. Her work reads as though she poured out what she had to say on paper, not staying to choose words, not revising or hardly revising. If she is sometimes careless of exactitude, she compensates for it by spontaneity. In her simple honest expression, Catherine is able to address the complex issue, for example, of what is the cause of the LORD our GOD's great love for us who are so set against her, and what are we that GOD would be mindful of us. "Know first that I am GOD who change not, and that I loved man before I created him, with an infinite, pure, simple and clear love for which there was no cause, save that I cannot but love what I have created and ordained to minister, in its degree, to my glory. And I have provided man richly with all fit means to reach his end, with natural gifts and supernatural graces which he will never lack in so far as they depend on me; nay more, with my infinite love which by divers ways and means surrounds him so that he may be subject to my care." If you are interested in the faith expression of a woman of grace and courage, this book will be interesting to you.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The brief Purgation and Purgatory took my breath away., January 1, 1999

By	Naomi DePlume (indianapolis, in USA) - See all my reviews

I have not read any Christian mystic who more brillantly captured the excitement of the concept of God's infinite love. Where Luther or Augustine wrote volumes to give voice to the experience of unmerited grace, Catherine of Genoa does full justice to the topic in a few lines.

By contrast, the Spiritual Dialogue rings a little hallow after the thunder clap of Catherine's Purgation and Purgatory. The shadow-boxing between Body, Soul, Spirit and Self Love offers little fresh insight and no drama.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Catherine of Genoa: Purgation and Purgatory, The Spiritual Dialogue (Classics of Western Spirituality) , May 5, 2008

By	JoyHopePeace "DB" (Lansing, MI) - See all my reviews

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Catherine of Genoa: Purgation and Purgatory, The Spiritual Dialogue (Classics of Western Spirituality)

This is a MUST READ!

For those of you who believe in heaven, purgatory, and hell, there is nothing I need to say. St. Catherine of Genoa says it all.

For those of you who believe in heaven and hell but not purgatory, I hope you aim for heaven and don't miss.

God in his mercy has given us purgatory as many of us are not nearly as pure as we might think. Persons undergoing additional purification in purgatory will get to heaven.

For those who do not believe in God that doesn't mean he doesn't exist. Science can only prove processes but how life came to be on this planet.

The others who miss and land in hell. Well, I'm sorry.

This is a must read! It will make you think and provide comfort.