The Saints: St. Catherine of Alexandria

Dued c. 305/ Feast - Nov. 25

Catherine was a virgin and martyr in Alexandria, Egypt. That she publicly reproached the emperor after he ordered Christians to worship pagan gods and demolished the arguments of 50 philosophers charged with challenging her beliefs are part of the legend. Also legendary was the manner of her death: when she was placed on a rotating spiked wheel (the Catherine wheel), the wheel splintered and killed bystanders,  prompting her beheading. According to tradition, angels carried her body to Mount Sinai, where the famous Orthodox monastery was dedicated to her. © 2005 CNS