Catalina de Balmaseda y San Martín or Sister Catalina de Cristo (1544-1594) was a Carmelite nun and associate of

Teresa of Ávila Teresa of Ávila, OCD (born Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada; 28 March 15154 or 15 October 1582), also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, was a Spanish Carmelite nun and prominent Spanish mystic and religious reformer. Active during th ...

. She was born in

Madrigal de las Altas Torres Madrigal de las Altas Torres (in English: Madrigal of the high towers) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain located in the province of Ávila, autonomous community of Castile and León. Displaying a total area of 106.80 km2, the muni ...

in Spain to nobility. Her parents did not teach her to read as they felt that would keep her innocent and away from heresy. This ultimately became an impediment to her as a nun and the order taught her reading before she became a prioress. She was the prioress in Barcelona when she died in 1594. Her body is said to be

incorrupt Incorruptibility is a Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox belief that divine intervention allows some human bodies (specifically saints and beati) to completely or partially avoid the normal process of decomposition after death as a sign of their ...

References

16th-century Spanish nuns Spanish Servants of God Discalced Carmelite nuns Carmelite mystics 1544 births 1594 deaths 16th-century Christian mystics Venerated Carmelites {{saint-stub