Saint Catherine of Genoa (1447 - 1510) was an Italian Roman Catholic saint and mystic, admired for her work among the sick and the poor. Although a member of the noble Fieschi family, she spent most of her life serving the sick, especially during the plague which ravaged Genoa in 1497 and 1501. She died in that city in 1510.

In the first part of the Spiritual Dialogue, St. Catherine relates in what manner she was caught up in worldly allurements, and how, from this state, she was converted to God, and gave herself to austere works of penance. In the second, she relates the sublime perfection of the spiritual life in which she is engaged. In the third, she speaks of the divine love and of its wonderful effects, and how she has experienced them.

Audio courtesy of Librivox.

Text from "Life and Doctrine of Saint Catherine of Genoa" New York : Catholic Pub. Society Co. [1874]