Tag: St Catherine of Alexandria

Today’s patron saint of students, philosophers, lawyers, librarians, and unmarried women is liturgically venerated by the Latin Catholic Church. St Catherine of Alexandria has a remarkable following even with a sparse historical of her life. One will recall that she was banished from the Roman liturgical calendar at the reform of the calendar in the 1960s. As a well formed Benedictine monk said, “God measures our prayer by its sincerity, not by the historical accuracy of our knowledge!” Though banished now re-instituted by John Paul II in 2004 as an optional memorial. Catherine is included in the group called the Fourteen Holy Helpers.

St Catherine had reputation of learning. Tradition says that she defeated in debate fifty pagan philosophers assigned to her by the Roman emperor. The philosophers then embraced Christian faith and preceded Catherine in martyrdom. Iconography of Catherine included a spiked wheel on which she would have suffered death for Jesus Christ –except that it broke apart upon touching the saint. She was then beheaded.

An alive and thriving monastery today named in Catherine’s honor, the sixth century monastery was built on the site said to be where Mount Sinai was located. There rest her relics and an extraordinary collection of manuscripts and incredible icons. And by the way, those manuscripts are being preserved with the help of the Benedictines at St John’s Abbey in Minn.

My friend the Benedictine monk referenced above says, “She also played an indirect role in the Hundred Years War, by being one of the three saints (the others were St. Margaret and the Archangel Michael) to appear to the peasant girl who became France’s St. Joan of Arc. The trio of saints allegedly inspired Joan to the mission that played so large a role in the survival of a France independent of the English crown.”

While it may be true that Catherine’s historical path is a bit scant, historical biography is not the key we have in the saints. As John Paul realized the mistake of the liturgical reformers was to concentrate on an overly intellectualized approach to the spiritual life. Generations of Christians –nearly 1500 years worth– have a strong devotion to Catherine. Saints show us a path to Christ that is certain; saints like Catherine show us the face of Christ crucified and risen. Hers is a discipleship I am interested in imitating.

St Catherine, pray for us.

“Let all of us who love to honor the martyrs form a great choir and praise the most wise Catherine, for she preached Christ in the stadium and trampled the serpent, despising the art of orators.”

-Kontakion for the feast of Great-Martyr Catherine of Alexandria

Are we preaching Christ Jesus everywhere we go?

Saint Catherine of Alexandria whom we honor today in our liturgical memory. For centuries the church had listed Catherine on the ordo but with the liturgical renewal and revision following the Second Vatican Council she was removed from calendar; in 2002, John Paul returned her to the ordo. Her importance for us is what tradition says of her, namely, that she climbed Mount Sinai, the place where Torah was given, and an image which prefigures calvary when Jesus died. A journey each disciple of the Lord is called to make. Our more contemporary theological view of Catherine is that she is the bridge for the work of unity among Christians. Saint Catherine is a saint honored by the Eastern Churches and her memory is highly esteemed in the West. Hence, we, the Churches of East and West, are united in Jesus Christ through the person of Saint Catherine.

The reliability of the historical sources on Catherine is questionable, but liturgical legend is not to be dismissed. How the Churches came to know, love and reverence the holy disciples of the Lord is to be honored and studied. Historical accounts are not always that important: the witness, the experience, the faithfulness is what moves our heart. What is meant by legend does not mean fiction and nor is it an idea from a vigorous imagination. Legend in the Church is received wisdom. We consider her to be learned that, once converted to Christian faith, she defeated in debate fifty pagan philosophers working for the Roman emperor. Her defense of the truth of the Gospel and reality of the Church was reasonable enough that opened the door for the philosophers to accept Christianity themselves. Centuries later a famous monastery on Mount Sinai acquired both her relics and her name. Pope John Paul II made a pilgrimage to the Monastery of Saint Catherine on Mount Sinai in Egypt on February 26, 2000.

Saints beget saints. After the year 1000, devotion to Catherine  was widely accepted in the West.  It is said that Catherine was both honored as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers to whom the faithful asked to intercede for them before the Throne of Grace; and in the 15th century Catherine was one of the saints who appeared to Saint Joan of Arc, giving her God’s mission. It is a similar mission we receive when we are Baptized, it was the mission of Daniel and his friends seeking to be faithful in a foreign land, the mission of the poor widow and her little coins, the mission to witness to Jesus Christ as Catherine did with the philosophers.