“We must live by faith because everything that happens is arranged by God to confirm us in his love.”

Caterina was born on January 21, 1839, in Naples, Italy, to Peter and Teresa de Micheroux, an upper middle-class Neapolitan family from which she received a sound religious formation. She was taught literature, languages, and music at the Royal Educational Institute.

She tried to outshine her sister in society, frequently going to the theatre and ballet but began to gain an awareness of a call to the religious life through spiritual directors. She then soon gave up the transient pleasures of life for an everlasting one with God.

At the age of 15 she sought a closed and contemplative vocation but left due to her frail health. In her disappointment, Blessed Ludovico da Casoria helped her understand that she was called to become a “fisher of souls” by “remaining in the midst of society.” He encouraged her to join the Third Order Franciscans, devote herself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

At the age of 20 she entered the Congregation of Perpetual Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament but was again forced to leave due to poor health.

She spent hour upon hour in adoration of the Eucharist and was then approached by her confessor about the French Sacred Heart apostolate known as the Apostleship of Prayer. She had found what she was looking for but felt there needed to be one with its own personality to publicly “revive love for Jesus Christ in hearts, in families, and in society”. At the age of 35, this led her to start a new congregation, the Servants of the Sacred Heart.

With a big concern for the young, she then opened the Orphanage of the Margherites, founded a lending library, and set up the Association of the Daughters of Mary who provided nursing and great assistance to the cholera victims in 1884.

The originality and novelty of the open and public form of her foundation had many perplexities with hostility from Rome, but with her hard work, they were overcome, and her congregation was approved by Pope Leo XIII on June 13, 1890. She participated in the 1st National Eucharistic Congress celebrated in Naples in 1891 and was crowned the Apostolate of the Foundress of the Servants of the Sacred Heart.

She died on December 28, 1894, in Naples of natural causes.

“Joy is the most beautiful act of faith, hope, and love in the life of every Christian.”

She is the patron saint of the Servants of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Her feast day is December 28.

For God’s Glory.