A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Adorni, (Catherine Fieschi)

by Mary Matilda Betham

ADORNI, (CATHERINE FIESCHI). Born at Genoa, 1447. Died 1510.

Author of two books of great repute, one on Purgatory, and the other, A Dialogue between the Soul and the Body, is said to have treated, in a very judicious manner, difficult theological subjects, though not learned. She was of a good family, and the wife of a Genoese nobleman, whose strange temper she suffered many years with great patience. She was a religious enthusiast; and used to have fits, or ecstacies, in which she usually spoke in verse, though she never composed in it at other times: but, a taste for poetry, which made her frequently get passages by heart, uncertain health, and a too lively imagination, may easily account for what then appeared miraculous.

F. C.