CARDONA, CATERINA di. - Mystic of noble Catalan lineage, related to the royal family of Aragon, natural daughter of don Ramón de Cardona, born in Barcelona (not in Naples, as authors commonly say) in 1519, died at La Roda on 11 May 1577. Still very young, she went with her father to Naples, where she was educated by the Capuchin nuns. After the death of the knight whom she had married, she again withdrew to the convent of the Capuchin nuns, living with great austerity. With the princess of Salerno she came (1557) to the court of King Filippo II at Valladolid, where she was entrusted with the education of the princes don Carlos and don Juan d'Austria. She was greatly esteemed for the nobility of her birth, but even more for her virtues. Disguised as a hermit, she fled the royal court in 1562 and withdrew into the solitude of La Roda (province of Albacete), where she fed on wild herbs and raw roots, leading a most austere life wholly devoted to prayer and contemplation. After a convent of Discalced Carmelites had been founded at her request near her cave (1572), she continued to live in solitude, dressed as a Carmelite friar and guided by the Carmelites in her spiritual life. She died there in the repute of sanctity, highly esteemed also by s. Teresa, with whom she corresponded by letter.
Ambrogio di Santa Teresa