Catherine of Genoa was a 15th-century Italian mystic and nurse born into the noble Fieschi family. After experiencing a profound spiritual conversion in 1473, she dedicated her life to serving the poor and the sick, particularly during plague outbreaks in her native Genoa. Though she never entered a formal religious order, she lived as a member of the Third Order of Saint Francis. She is widely remembered for her intense mystical experiences and her influential theological writings regarding the soul and purgatory.