2. To initiate a Cause it is necessary that at least five years pass after the death of the candidate. This is to allow for greater balance and objectivity in the evaluation of the case and to allow the emotions of the moment to decant. There must be a clear conviction among people about his/her sanctity (fama sanctitas) and about the efficacy of his/her intercession with the Lord (fama signorum).

PLEASE NOTE

1) In order to be able to consult the Positio please fill in the request form on this page.

2) If your request is accepted, we will then send you the conditions and directions for consulting the document.

Catalina of Christ was born in Madrigal de las Altas Torres (Spain) on October 28, 1544, to deeply Christian parents: Cristoforo and Giovanna de Bustamante y Sanmartín, of noble descent. Third of four children, she loved to pray from the time she was a child.

Of precocious intelligence, she asked her father and the governess for explanations on Christian doctrine, at the same time she was generous towards the poor, especially towards children. As a young girl, she visited the sick in the hospital and in their homes; inviting those of her own age to do the same for the homeless, she offered her home so that they could spend the night there. Together with her sister she helped the sick with courage and generosity during the plague that struck Madrigal in 1570.

A relative of Teresa of Jesus, when she was left alone after the death of her parents and brothers, she was welcomed in the monastery of Medina del Campo, where she took the habit on October 6, 1571; on 5^th of August 1573 she made her profession. Between Catalina and Teresa there was a deep knowledge and mutual support on the path of holiness. When Teresa appointed her prioress of the new monastery of Soria in 1581, speaking of her with the provincial, Fr. Girolamo Gracián, she said: «Catalina of Christ knows how to love God very much and is a very great saint and has a very lofty spirit, and does not need to know anything else in order to govern. She will be as good a prioress as any».

The last known letter of Saint Teresa is addressed precisely to Catherine. At the death of Teresa of Jesus (5 October 1582), Fr. Gracián asked Catalina of Christ to write down her inner experience and designated her to continue the work of St. Teresa of Jesus; it was she who opened the first Carmelite community in Pamplona, on 8^th of December 1583 and that of Barcelona (Catalonia), on 14^th of June 1588.

Already during her life, the Mother enjoyed a reputation of holiness for her virtues, especially humility and charity. Purified from suffering and esteemed by all, she died in Barcelona on January 3^rd, 1594, arousing the regret of those who had known her.

On March 20, 1993, the decree of validity was granted to the Diocesan Inquiry into her «Life, Virtue and Reputation for Holiness».

1. The canonical norms concerning the procedure to be followed in the Causes of Saints are stated in the Apostolic Constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister promulgated by John Paul II on 25 January 1983 (AAS LXXV, 1983, 349-355).

2. To initiate a Cause it is necessary that at least five years pass after the death of the candidate. This is to allow for greater balance and objectivity in the evaluation of the case and to allow the emotions of the moment to decant. There must be a clear conviction among people about his/her sanctity (fama sanctitas) and about the efficacy of his/her intercession with the Lord (fama signorum).

PLEASE NOTE

1) In order to be able to consult the Positio please fill in the request form on this page.

2) If your request is accepted, we will then send you the conditions and directions for consulting the document.

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Anastasio Ballestrero was born in Genoa on October 3, 1913, the first of five children of Giacomo Ballestrero and Antonietta Daffunchio.

He entered the Order of Discalced Carmelites. On 6^th of June 1936 he was ordained a priest. He participated in the Second Vatican Council as Superior General of the Carmelites, a position he held for 12 years, from 1955 to 1967. On 21 December 1973 he was appointed Archbishop of Bari and Canosa. He received episcopal consecration on February 2^nd, 1974.

In 1975 he preached the spiritual exercises to Paul VI and the Vatican Curia. On 1^st of August 1977 he was called to succeed Cardinal Michele Pellegrino and was appointed Archbishop of Turin. Pope John Paul II elevated him to the rank of cardinal in the consistory of 30^th of June 1979. From 1979 to 1985 he was president of the Italian Bishops' Conference. On February 5, 1980 he formalized the constitution of the Turin diocesan Caritas, after an experimental period during which it had been managed by the engineer Giorgio Ceragioli.  On that occasion he appointed Don Piero Giacobbo as director, who in 1986 was replaced in the leadership of Caritas by Fr Sergio Baravalle.

His pastoral letters, as well as the two diocesan ecclesial conferences that were held during his episcopate (Evangelization and Human Promotion and On the Roads of Reconciliation), had a considerable influence on the path of the Turin Church in those years.

On November 14^th, 1983, after the decision of the former King of Italy, Umberto II, to donate it to the Catholic Church, he was appointed custodian of the Holy Shroud; in this capacity he made known the results of the tests carried out on the relic by the carbon-14 method.

He left the post of archbishop of Turin on 31^st of January 1989. He died in Bocca di Magra, in the Carmelite spirituality house, where he had retired, on June 21^st, 1998 at the age of 84. He is buried in the crypt of the hermitage of the Desert house of Varazze.

On 9 October 2014, the Diocesan Inquiry into his "life, virtue and reputation of holiness" began in the Archdiocese of Turin.

2. To initiate a Cause it is necessary that at least five years pass after the death of the candidate. This is to allow for greater balance and objectivity in the evaluation of the case and to allow the emotions of the moment to decant. There must be a clear conviction among people about his/her sanctity (fama sanctitas) and about the efficacy of his/her intercession with the Lord (fama signorum).

 Hermann Cohen à Carcassonne