Madam Catalina

Madam Catalina is the pregnant wife of Niccoluccio Caccianimico, whose apparent death leads to her burial while she is still alive. Rescued from her tomb by Messer Gentile de' Carisendi, a former admirer, she recovers under the care of his mother and later bears a son. Gentile returns both mother and child to Niccoluccio, converting a private act of rescue into a public renunciation of any claim over Catalina. Her story places her at the center of a test of love in which fidelity to honor matters more than possession.

Identity and Marriage

Madam Catalina is a noblewoman of Bologna and the wife of Niccoluccio Caccianimico. The story introduces her through two relationships: her marriage to Niccoluccio and the unrequited love Messer Gentile de' Carisendi had felt for her when both were young. Gentile, unable to win her favor, had left Bologna after being appointed provost of Modena. Catalina is therefore not presented as a new romantic partner when he encounters her again, but as a married woman whose own household and obligations remain central to what follows.

During Niccoluccio’s absence, Catalina stays at a country house about three miles from the city because she is pregnant. Her sudden, violent illness extinguishes every visible sign of life. Several physicians judge her dead, and her closest female relatives believe her own statement that the pregnancy is not advanced enough for the child to be fully formed. Accepting that judgment, they bury her in a vault in a nearby church after mourning her. The mistaken assessment of both her condition and her pregnancy makes the burial seem final to her family, while leaving her husband away and unaware of the crisis.

Illness, Burial, and Rescue

News of Catalina’s burial reaches Messer Gentile through a friend. Despite having been poorly rewarded in love, he grieves for her and rides secretly, after nightfall, to the church where she lies. His first intention is an intimate farewell: he enters the tomb, lies beside her, and kisses her through tears. When he reaches to touch her breast, he thinks he feels her heart beating. He examines her more carefully and recognizes that a faint life remains. With his servant’s help, he lifts her from the tomb and carries her to his house in Bologna.

Gentile’s mother, described as a worthy and discreet woman, hears what has happened and takes charge of Catalina’s revival. She uses hot baths and great fires to bring her back to consciousness. When Catalina wakes, she does not understand where she is; seeing Gentile, she asks his mother to explain how she came there. Gentile then recounts the events. Her survival begins not with a planned rescue but with a small bodily sign that interrupts what everyone else has accepted as death.

Catalina’s Choices and Gentile’s Restraint

Once she understands her situation, Catalina is distressed and asks Gentile to ensure that she suffers nothing contrary to her honor or to her husband’s. She also asks to return home as soon as daylight comes. Gentile answers that, despite the desire he once felt, he will not use her against her wishes or compromise her honor. He asks instead that she remain quietly with his mother until he returns from Modena, so he can present her solemnly to her husband before Bologna’s leading citizens.

Catalina agrees because she recognizes the request as honorable, though she longs to reassure her family that she is alive. Her consent shapes the course of her recovery: she is not simply hidden away by Gentile, but agrees to stay for a purpose he has explained. During the time in his mother’s house, she gives birth to a boy. Her survival thus also brings the child into the story as a living member of the family whose premature burial had seemed certain.

Return and Narrative Significance

When Gentile returns, Niccoluccio and other prominent citizens are present. Gentile first declares that Catalina is rightfully his and challenges anyone to demand her back; the claim prepares the audience for a dramatic reversal, rather than announcing a lasting intention to keep her. He then rises, takes the child in his arms and Catalina by the hand, and gives them both to Niccoluccio. He identifies the boy as Niccoluccio’s son, explains that the child was born in his house, and swears that Catalina has lived there as chastely as she would have in her parents’ or husband’s home. He releases her from every promise she had made him and leaves her free to return to her husband.

Niccoluccio receives Catalina and the child with overwhelming joy, having had little hope of seeing either again. The gathered witnesses are moved to tears and praise Gentile; Catalina is welcomed home amid public rejoicing and remains a source of amazement to the people of Bologna, who regard her as one raised from the dead. Gentile thereafter remains a friend to Niccoluccio and both families.

Lauretta introduces the episode as an act of magnanimity by a lover, and Catalina’s rescue gives that framing its substance. Gentile’s initial desire is real, but the decisive actions are his promise not to violate her honor, his mother’s care, and his public restoration of Catalina and her son to her husband. Catalina’s insistence on her honor and her agreement to remain for the planned presentation help distinguish rescue from possession. The story’s final movement is from the sealed tomb, where her life is wrongly declared over, to a public reunion that restores her place in her family and turns Gentile’s old, unreturned love into lasting friendship.