Note 151 — Chapter IV · CATHERINE’S LIFE FROM 1473 TO 1506 AND ITS MAIN CHANGES AND GROWTH

Vita, pp. 124b-126. I get Argentina’s maiden name from a Will of hers of the year 1522, of which a copy exists in the MS. volume Documenti relativi a S. Caterina da Genova, in the Genoa University Library, B. VII, 31. I have taken Argentina to have previously known, perhaps even to have served, Catherine, because of her surprise at Marco’s ignorance as to the identity of his visitor; and I have treated such possible service as but slight, because in Giuliano’s Will of 1494 and in Catherine’s Will and Codicil of 1498 and 1503, legacies are left to the two maids Benedetta and Mariola, but not a word appears as yet as to Argentina. The date as to the year I derive from the following facts:—(1) Catherine, as soon as Marco is buried, carries out her promise to him, and receives Argentina into her house: so the Vita, pp. 126c, 125c. (2) Whereas in the Codicil of 1503 there is still no trace of Argentina, in the Will of 1506 she appears, and receives legacies of personal linen, etc. These gifts are somewhat increased in the Will of 1509. Argentina has evidently not been long in Catherine’s service at the time of the drawing up of the Will of 1506. (3) The Protonotary Angelo L. Giovo (MS. Vita of the Saint of the Biblioteca della Missione Urbana Part I, ch. iii) puts down the date of Marco’s death as 1495. Although this is evidently wrong, I think it wise to keep at least one of his numbers, which I do by fixing upon 1505.