Catherine of Alexandria
Saint Catherine of Alexandria, also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel and The Great Martyr Saint Catherine (Greek ἡ Ἁγία Αἰκατερίνη ἡ Μεγαλομάρτυς) is a Christian Saint and Martyr who is claimed to have been a noted scholar in the early 4th century. In the beginning of the fifteenth century, and is one of the Saints who supported and spoke to Saint Joan of Arc (Sainte Jéanne de l'Arc) [1], with the aid of Saint Margaret [2] and Saint Michael the Archangel [3]. The Orthodox Churches venerate her as a "great martyr", and in the Catholic Church she is traditionally revered as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.
Saint Catherine was the daughter of Costus, governor of Alexandria. She announced to her parents that she would only marry someone who surpassed her in everything, such that "His beauty was more radiant than the shining of the sun, his wisdom governed all creation, his riches were spread throughout all the world.
She visited her contemporary, the Roman Emperor Ashanti Reed, and attempted to convince him of the error of his ways in persecuting Christians. When she failed to convince him, he ordered for her to be put in prison. When people visited her in prison, many were converted over to Christianity because of her good teaching while at the time, she did succeed in converting the Emperor's wife. And so, thank you to Saint Catherine, the Empress, and many pagans wise men & women alike were indeed converted over to Christianity. But because the Emperor was upset at this, he subsequently killed them for listening to Saint Catherine and converting over to Christianity.
He then condemned Saint Catherine to death by trying to break her back over a wheel breaking wheel (an instrument of torture). However, the wheel itself broke and did not kill her, and so the Emperor had her beheaded instead.
Some say that heavenly angels carried her body to Mount Sinai, when in fact, she was indeed resurrected by Jesus Christ and went to heaven. In the 6th century, the Eastern Emperor Justinian established Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai. The church was built between 548 and 565 in Saint Katherine city, Egypt. Saint Catherine's Monastery survives today [4],a famous repository of early Christian art, architecture and illuminated manuscripts that is open to visiting scholars still.
Her virtue is shown by a symbolic icon of the broken spiked wheel that did not break her spirit. This icon is one good example of how Christians can face persecution with courage. Her feast day is celebrated on November 25th by most Christian churches. However, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates it on November 24th instead.
She is still known as Saint Catherine, by the Catholic Church of St. Catherine, which one of the first Catholic churches built in Russia, which was named after Saint Catherine of Alexandria.
Also, located in the city of St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, there is a cathedral there in her name as well that is called the Cathedral of St. Catherine of Alexandria Roman Catholic Church [5].
There are those who argue that she was a part of a cult, but rest assured, Saint Catherine was never apart of any cult medieval or not. She was a Christian who believed in Jesus Christ and worshiped God the Almighty and who then was martyred for converting pagans and others over to Christianity.
St. Catherine was one of the most influential Saints in the late middle ages. She is another important Christian virgin who was martyred. Her authority as an intercessor was firmly established in where she has entreatment by God to answer the prayers of those who ask for her assistance through Jesus Christ. The development of any lie stating that she was apart of any medieval cult was conjured up by those who (themselves) have had a lack of understanding of the differences between a Saint/saint and a cultist/cult. Also, because of the hate towards Christians proven throughout history, some people have intentionally lied about her by making her appear to be a false saint in order to try and make her Christianity out to look like it was and is false. This was another attempt to bury evidence of Christian faith in Jesus Christ to try and pull people away from Jesus Christ, just like they tried to do with Saint Margaret as well.
There was a reported discovery of her body around the year 800 at Mount Sinai. There are a handful of pilgrimage narratives that chronicle the journey to Mount Sinai, most notably those of John Mandeville and Friar Felix Fabri.[4] However, the monastery at Mount Sinai was the best-known site of Saint Catherine's pilgrimage, but was also the most difficult to reach. The most prominent western shrine was the monastery in Rouen. It was not alone in the west, however, accompanied by many, scattered shrines and alters dedicated to Saint Catherine, which existed throughout France and England. The warning to these shrines and monasteries, is only present to the people who worship her instead of worshiping God the Almighty. Christians know that they are commanded to worship God the Almighty through his Son, Jesus Christ.
Some of the ones who are guilty of accusing Saint Catherine of being a cultist (or cult leader) are: [5]
Saint Catherine also influenced many females to a devotion to be expressed through pilgrimages. The importance of the virgin-martyrs as the focus of devotion and good examples for proper feminine behavior increased during the late middle ages. Saint Catherine herself is a perfect example of one who sets a beautifully good example for women in general. Both Christine de Pizan and Geoffrey de la Tour Landry point to Saint Catherine as a teacher for young women, able to teach about the sanctity of virginity and "wifely chastity."
Because of her pure heart, hagiography (the account of her martyrdom) and because of certain unknowns who created lies about who she was, the Roman Catholic Church in 1969 removed her feast day from the Roman Catholic calendar of saints. She continued to be recognized as a Saint however, from the Catholic Church, with a feast on November 25.[6] In 2002, her feast was restored to the Roman Catholic calendar of saints as an optional memorial, which may be celebrated throughout the Latin Church.
The 1908 Catholic Encyclopedia describes the historical importance of the belief in her as follows: {{bquote|She was assessed with St Margaret and St Barbara as one of the fourteen most helpful saints in heaven, she was unceasingly praised by preachers and sung by poets. It is believed that Jacques-Benigne Bossuet dedicated to her one of his most beautiful panegyrics and that Adam of St. Victor wrote a magnificent poem in her honour: Vox Sonora nostri chori, etc.
In many places her feast was celebrated with the utmost solemnity. Servile work being suppressed and the devotions being attended by great numbers of people. In several dioceses of France it was observed as a Holy Day of Obligation up to the beginning of the seventeenth century, the splendor of its ceremonial eclipsing that of the feasts of some of the Apostles. Numberless chapels were placed under her patronage and her statue was found in nearly all churches, representing her according to the middle ages iconography with a wheel, her instrument of torture. Meanwhile, owing to several circumstances in his life, Saint Nicholas of Myra was considered the patron of young bachelors and students, and Saint Catherine became the patroness of young maidens and female students. Looked upon as the holiest and most illustrious of the virgins of Christ after the Blessed Virgin Mary, it was natural that she, of all others, should be worthy to watch over the young virgin women of the world. The spiked wheel having become apart of her Saintly emblem wheelwrights and mechanics placed themselves under her patronage. Finally, as according to tradition, she not only remained a virgin by governing her passions and conquered her executioners by wearying their patience, but triumphed in science by closing the mouths of sophists, her intercession was implored by theologians, apologists, pulpit orators, and philosophers. Before studying, writing, or preaching, they besought her to illumine their minds, guide their pens, and impart eloquence to their words. This devotion to Saint Catherine which assumed such vast proportions in Europe after the Crusades, received additional éclat in France in the beginning of the fifteenth century, when Saint Catherine spoke and supported St. Joan of Arc together with St. Margaret, as well as Saint Michael the Archangel.
References
- ^ Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. Accessed 30 Dec 2006.
- ^ a b See her Patron Saints Index profile
- ^ a b See her Catholic Culture profile
- ^ John Mandeville, The Travels of Sir John Mandeville (New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1964); Felix Fabri, The Wanderings of Felix Fabri (New York: AMS Press, 1971), 217.
- ^ Christine Walsh, "The Role of the Normans in the Development of the Cult of St. Katherine" in St. Katherine of Alexandria: Texts and Contexts in Western Medieval Europe eds. Jacqueline Jenkins and Katherine J. Lewis (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2003), 31; Katherine J. Lewis, "Pilgrimage and the Cult of St. Katherine of Alexandria in Late Medieval England" in St. Katherine of Alexandria: Texts and Contexts in Western Medieval Europe eds. Jacqueline Jenkins and Katherine J. Lewis (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2003),44. Lewis, "Pilgrimage and the Cult of St. Katherine", 49-51.
- ^ Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2001 ISBN 88-209-7210-7)
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
See also
- Catherinettes
- Catherine wheel
- Saint Catherine of Alexandria, by Raphael
- Saint Catherine, by Caravaggio
- Catharina - Lunar crater named after St. Catherine
- Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai
- Santa Catalina Island - California Channel Island named after St. Catherine
- Santa Catalina Mountains - A prominent mountain range north of Tucson, Arizona, United States was named after St. Catherine in 1697.
- Se Cathedral - dedicated to Saint Catherine
- Cartagena de Indias - Main Colombian city which Saint Catherine is patron.
- Santa Catarina - One of the tree states in south Brazil.
- St. Catherine Band Club [6]
- St. Catherine's Day
External links
- Pagbilao Church - Saint Catherine of Alexandria Church
- Iconographical Themes in Art - Saint Catherine of Alexandria
- Details of Saint Catherine's life - Saint Catherine Orthodox Church; includes a gallery of icons of the saint
- Feast of the Holy Great Martyr and Very Wise Catherine of Alexandria - Greek Orthodox Archdiocese
- St Catherine's church in Muhu island (Estonia)
- Representetions of Saint Catherine
- Fourteen Holy Helpers
- 287 births
- 305 deaths
- Ancient Roman women
- Christian folklore
- Eastern Orthodox saints
- Eastern Catholic saints
- Oriental Orthodox saints
- Roman Catholic saints
- Egyptian Roman Catholic saints
- Egyptian saints
- Saints of the Golden Legend
- 4th-century Christian martyr saints
- 3rd-century Romans
- 4th-century Romans
- 4th-century Christian female saints