Today (Feb. 9) is the feast of Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich, a truly remarkable woman. Born in 1774 to peasants in Westphalia, Germany, Anne Catherine Emmerich suffered from bad health her whole life, but was also always very pious. Her visions were likewise lifelong, and she received so many as a child that she assumed all children could see Jesus and the souls in Purgatory. She could diagnose illnesses and recommend their cures, and she was also able to see people’s sins. She worked on farms and as a seamstress, then as a servant to a poor organist who taught her to play organ. She entered an Augustinian convent in 1802 and was known for her enthusiasm and her regular religious ecstasies.