Katarina was a young girl of noble birth, who enjoyed listening to stories and preaches told by Father Bernhard about virgins, who had dedicated their life to Christ and who were even ready to die as martyrs for their belief. Father Bernhard clearly tried to tempt her to become a nun by telling about Christ as a wonderful bridegroom with whom one never had to be afraid of dying in childbed nor to be treated badly. Katarina was not, however, sure of her conviction until her parents introduced her bridegroom to her. The family had chosen as a husband for their only daughter a fifty-year-old widower, who was quite well off, but who had already had two young wives, both of whom had died.

Soon enough Katarina's thoughts turned towards the Birgittine convent of Florence of which Father Bernhard had often spoken in a respecting way. When Katarina told her parents about her conviction they reacted very differently. The father was furious - the chosen husband was one of the wealthiest men in Rome. The mother smiled, and once again started to tell her daughter about the meeting of her own mother with St Birgitta. With the two women pressing and Father Bernhard assuring, Katarina's father finally had to give in. His daughter was solemnly ordained as a nun.