Patrick,
Sounds like one of two things, one cheap and one expensive.
The cheapest, and most likely is just a loose heat shield. There's one over the manifold, and on my stock EVO 1 exhaust, about 3 surrounding various parts including the cat.
The expensive option would be the cat breaking up and rattling it's way out down the system.
From your desription, I think you can rule out the cat as you say the rattle is from the manifold area.
Cheers,
Mark