Catalina Lercaro

She was renowned in the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna (Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain).

The Lercaro were an important family of Genoese merchants, who were based in Tenerife after the Castillian conquest.

[1] Catalina, daughter of Antonio Lercaro and his wife, was forced to marry an older man, who enjoyed a good position and great wealth.

This arranged marriage did not please Catalina, who on her wedding day killed herself by leaping into a pit that was located in the courtyard of the family mansion.

Because she committed the sin of suicide, the Catholic Church prohibited her receiving a Christian burial in a consecrated cemetery.