Catherine of Alexandria, Saint
- Catherine of Alexandria, Saint
-
Early Christian martyr.
According to tradition, she was a learned girl of noble birth who protested the persecution of Christians during the reign of the Roman emperor Maxentius. She converted the emperor's wife and defeated in debate the best scholars he sent to oppose her. She was sentenced to be killed with a spiked wheel (the
Catherine wheel),
but, when it broke, she was beheaded instead. Her body was transported by angels to the top of Mount Sinai. One of the most popular saints of the Middle Ages, she was patron of philosophers and scholars. Her historicity is doubtful.
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▪ Egyptian martyr
died , c. early 4th century, Alexandria, Egypt
one of the most popular early Christian martyrs and one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. She is not mentioned before the 9th century, and her historicity is doubtful. According to the legend, she was an extremely learned young girl of noble birth who protested the persecution of Christians under the Roman emperor Maxentius—whose wife and several soldiers she converted—and defeated the most eminent scholars summoned by Maxentius to oppose her. The spiked wheel (whence the term catherine wheel) by which she was sentenced to be killed broke, and she was then beheaded.
After her death angels allegedly took her body to Mt. Sinai, where it was discovered c. 800. In the Middle Ages, when the story of her mystical marriage to Christ was widely circulated, she was one of the most popular saints. She is the patron of philosophers and scholars. St. Joan of Arc claimed that Catherine's was among the heavenly voices that spoke to her. In 1969 her feast day was removed from the church calendar.
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Universalium.
2010.
Look at other dictionaries:
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