25 November
Catherine of Alexandria, Martyr, 4th century
The story of Catherine of Alexandria has caught the popular
imagination of many generations (she is, for example, one of the
personages from whom Joan of Arc claimed to receive regular visits
and messages), although most scholars judge it to be simply a work
of fiction with no historical basis. It is said that Catherine was a
Christian maiden of Alexandria in Egypt, possessed of beauty,
brains, and noble birth. She rebuked the heathen emperor Maxentius
for his idolatry, and he responded by offering to marry her if she
would renounce her faith. She refused. Fifty philosophers were set
to refute her in a public debate. She easily won every point, and
made them look foolish. The emperor, a sore loser, had them burned
alive. She was sentenced to be tortured on a spiked wheel, but the
wheel flew apart and the fragments killed many of her accusers.
After this and other marvels, Catherine was beheaded, and from her
veins flowed not blood but milk. The angels carried her to Mount
Sinai, where St. Catherine's Monastery is now located.
She is depicted carrying a spiked wheel, representing the manner in
which it was proposed to put her to death. The "catherine-wheel," a
form of fireworks that spins as it burns, is named after her.
Catherine is patron of preachers, philosophers, librarians (probably
association with the Library of Alexandria), young girls, and
craftsmen working with a wheel (potters, spinners, etc). The Mount
Sinai monastery was built by Justinian in 527, and has borne the name
of Catherine since the eighth or ninth century. The monastery survives
unmolested by the Moslems (by express command of Mohammed) and has a
vast but uncatalogued treasure of ancient manuscripts. One of the
earliest known manuscripts of the complete New Testament, the Codex
Sinaiticus, was found there, and after a time in St Petersburg was
sold by the government of the USSR and bought by public subscription
for the British Library.
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November