CATERINA THOMÁS, saint. - A canoness regular of the Order of St. Augustine, b. at Valdemuza on the island of Maiorca (Balearic Islands) on 1 May 1533, d. at Palma on 5 Apr. 1574. Having lost her parents at a tender age, she was received by a maternal uncle at San Gallard, where she came to know Fr. Antonio Castañeda, who helped her fulfil her ardent desire to withdraw into religious life. At nineteen, in fact, she entered the monastery of St. Maria Maddalena in Palma, where she spent the rest of her life in the practice of the highest virtues. The fame of her holiness, soon spreading beyond Palma and the Balearic Islands to the Spanish mainland, drew a great multitude around her, people flocking from every quarter to venerate her or seek her counsel.
God knew how to reward the great charity of this chosen servant of His and her lofty spirit of mortification with the gift of contemplation, accompanied by most frequent ecstasies. Beatified by Pius VI on 12 Aug. 1792, she was canonized on 22 June 1930 by Pius XI. Feast: 5 Apr.