St. Catherine of Alexandria

Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Saint Catherine of Alexandria is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, venerated especially for her strength of faith and wisdom. Her story is mostly based on legend, but her devotion remains widespread and alive.

According to tradition, Catherine was a noble princess, extraordinarily beautiful and intelligent. After meeting a Christian hermit, she was baptized and devoted her life to Christ, refusing every marriage proposal.

In 305, during the festivities for the arrival of Governor Maximinus in Alexandria, she openly opposed pagan sacrifices. To silence her, the emperor summoned 50 philosophers—but she converted them all. They were executed.

Maximinus, impressed by her intellect and beauty, asked her to marry him. She refused. Tortured in prison for 12 days without food or water, she miraculously survived with the help of angels and a dove that brought her food.

Even the empress, touched by Catherine’s holiness, converted and was also martyred. Catherine was sentenced to die on a spiked wheel, but the instrument was destroyed by angels. She was eventually beheaded.

Legend says her body was taken by angels to Mount Sinai, where the Monastery of Saint Catherine was built in her honor. Her veneration spread widely, especially among peasants and various professions.

Iconography:
as a young princess, during her martyrdom, with a crown, a wheel, a sword, a palm

Feast day:
25 November

Patronage:
of the Swiss cantons of Valais and Fribourg, the cities of Sion and Fribourg, the University of Paris, teachers, students and pupils, theologians and philosophers, orators, coachmakers, potters, millers, rope makers, spinners, sailors, hairdressers, tanners, fabric merchants, printers, shoemakers, seamstresses, lawyers and notaries, all professions involving wheels, girls, virgins and married women, universities and libraries, hospitals, agricultural products, for finding drowned people, against migraines and tongue diseases