Catherine of Alexandria
Catherine of Alexandria, also spelled Katherine, was, according to tradition, a Christian virgin and martyr, who suffered martyrdom in the early 4th century at the hands of the emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a princess and a noted scholar who became a Christian around age 14 and converted hundreds of people to Christianity.
The Eastern Orthodox Church venerates her as a great martyr and celebrates her feast day on 24 or 25 November, depending on the regional tradition. In Catholicism, Catherine is traditionally revered as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, and she is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on 25 November. Her feast was removed from the General Roman Calendar in 1969 but restored in 2002 as an optional memorial. In the Episcopal Church, St. Catherine is commemorated on 24 November, together with the martyrs Barbara of Nicomedia and Margaret of Antioch, while in the Church of England her feast day is 25 November.
Some modern scholars consider that the legend of Catherine was probably based on the life and murder of the virgin Saint Dorothea of Alexandria and according to some sources the Greek philosopher Hypatia, despite her death occurring 110 years later, with the reversed role of a Christian and neoplatonist being suggested in the case of the latter. On the other hand, Leon Clugnet, writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia, states "although contemporary hagiographers look upon the authenticity of the various texts containing the legend of St. Catherine as more than doubtful, it is not therefore meant to cast even the shadow of a doubt around the existence of the saint".
Patron saint of Unmarried girls; apologists; craftsmen who work with a wheel (potters, spinners); archivists; dying people; educators; girls; jurists; knife sharpeners; lacemakers; lawyers; librarians; libraries; Balliol College; Massey College; maidens; mechanics; millers; milliners; nurses; philosophers; preachers; scholars; schoolchildren; scribes; secretaries; spinsters; stenographers; students; tanners; theologians; St. Catherine University; University of Oviedo; University of Paris; haberdashers; wheelwrights; Aalsum, Germany; Żejtun, Malta; Żurrieq, Malta; Katerini, Greece; Grude, Belgium; Stabroek, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Pagbilao, Quezon, Philippines; Bagac, Bataan, Santa Catarina (state), Brazil
In the Martyrology
- November 25 Saint Catherine of Alexandria, virgin and martyr at Alexandria of Egypt