Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510) Catherine, who lived for 60 years and died early in the 16th century, leads the modern reader directly to the more significant issues of the day. In her life she reconciled aspects of spirituality often seen to be either mutually exclusive or in conflict. This married lay woman was both a mystic and a humanitarian, a constant contemplative, yet daily immersed in the physical care of the sick and the destitute. For the last five centuries she has been the inspiration of such spiritual greats as Francis de Sales, Robert Bellarmine, Fenelon, Newman and Hecker. Friedrich von Hügel's famous Mystical Element of Religion was a study of the spirituality of Catherine. Purgation and Purgatory is a collection of sayings on spiritual purification in this life and the next.