Catalina Thomás

Catherine of Palma (1531–1574, born Catalina Tomàs i Gallard) was a Spanish canon and mystic from Mallorca. She is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church and her feast day is commonly celebrated on 5 April although in her home town of Valldemossa she is remembered on the 27 and 28 of July.

Life

Catalina was born 1 May 1531 at Valldemossa, Mallorca, Spain, in a peasant family as the sixth of seven children. She was named after her maternal grandmother and the saint Catherine of Alexandria who was especially venerated by the family. As Catalina's parents died while she was still a young child, she spent her early formative years with her grandparents close to the Valldemossa Charterhouse before, at the age of ten, moving in with relatives who were owners of the estate of Son Gallard in 1541. Here she helped the workers on the fields and tended to the flock which is why she is also often depicted as a young farmer. Catalina's spirituality and her growing desire for religious life clashed with the ideas her family had for her, leading to some years of tribulation in which some saints, including Bruno of Cologne, Catherine of Alexandria and Anthony the Abbot, appeared and comforted her. and canonised on 22 June 1930 by Pope Pius XI. The only writings of her that remain are two letters to the priest Vicente Mas and there are some Mallorquín folk songs about her life. along with Sebastian, Alphonsus Rodriguez and the Virgen de Lluc of the Santuari de Lluc.

Names

Spellings of her names found in sources include Catalina, She is also called Sor Tomassa or Sor Tomaseta (sor meaning sister in Catalan).