Catherine of Alexandria
Pre-Congregation | |
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Major shrine | Saint Catherine's Monastery |
Feast |
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Bagac, Bataan, Santa Catarina (state), Brazil . |
Catherine of Alexandria, also spelled Katherine
The
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 the Greek philosopher Hypatia, with the reversed role of a Christian and Neo-Platonist in the case of the latter.[6][7][8] On the other hand, the Catholic Encyclopedia states that "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".[9]
Life
According to the traditional narrative, Catherine was the daughter of Sabinella and Constus (or Costus), the governor of
Torture and martyrdom
The emperor gave orders to subject the saint to terrible tortures and then throw her in prison.[10] During the confinement she was fed daily by a dove from heaven and Christ also visited her, encouraging her to fight bravely, and promised her the crown of everlasting glory.[12][13] Angels tended her wounds with salve.
During her imprisonment more than 200 people came to see her, including Maxentius' wife,
The furious emperor condemned Catherine to death on a spiked breaking wheel, but, at her touch, it shattered.[9] Maxentius ordered her to be beheaded. Catherine herself ordered the execution to commence. A milk-like substance rather than blood flowed from her neck.[17]
Veneration
In the 6th century, the Eastern
Historicity
The Catholic Encyclopedia, while not denying her historicity, states that most of the details that embellish the narrative, as well as the long discourses that are put into the mouth of Catherine, are to be rejected as later inventions.[19] According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, no extant written mention of Catherine of Alexandria is known from before the 9th century, and "her historicity is doubtful".[16]
Donald Attwater dismisses what he calls the "legend" of Saint Catherine, arguing for a lack of any "positive evidence that she ever existed outside the mind of some Greek writer who first composed what he intended to be simply an edifying romance."[20] Harold Davis writes that "assiduous research has failed to identify Catherine with any historical personage".[21][22]
Sometimes cited as a possible inspiration of Catherine, the writer Eusebius wrote, around the year 320, that the Emperor Maximinus had ordered a young Christian woman to come to his palace to become his mistress, and when she refused he had her punished by having her banished and her estates confiscated.[27] Eusebius did not name the woman.
The earliest surviving account of Catherine's life comes around 600 years after the traditional date of her martyrdom, in the Menologium, a document compiled for Emperor Basil II (976), although the alleged rediscovery of her relics at Saint Catherine's Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai was about 800,[28] and presumably implies an existing cult at that date (though the common name of the monastery developed after the discovery).[citation needed]
In her book The Cult of St Katherine of Alexandria in Early Medieval Europe, Christine Walsh discusses "the historical Katherine":
As we have seen, the cult of St Katherine of Alexandria probably originated in oral traditions from the 4th-century Diocletianic Persecutions of Christians in Alexandria. There is no evidence that Katherine herself was a historical figure and she may well have been a composite drawn from memories of women persecuted for their faith. Many aspects of her Passio are clearly legendary and conform to well-known hagiographical topoi.
— Walsh 2007, p. 143
Name
Her name appears in Greek as Αἰκατερίνη (Aikaterínē) or Ἑκατερίνη (Ekaterínē). The etymology is debated: it could derive from ἑκάτερος (hekáteros, "each of two"); it could derive from the name of the goddess Hecate; it could be related to Greek αἰκία (aikía, "insult, outrage, suffering, torture"); or it could be from a Coptic name meaning "my consecration of your name". In the early Christian era, it became associated with Greek καθαρός (katharós, "pure"), and the Latin spelling was changed from Katerina to Katharina to reflect this.
Reflecting this confusion, Rufinus states that her first name was Dorothea (Δωροθέα) and that at her christening she acquired the name Aikaterina (Αἰκατερίνα), a name that signifies her pure, clean and uncontaminated nature (from the Greek αἰὲν καθαρινά, 'ever clean').[citation needed]
Medieval cult
Catherine was one of the most important saints in the religious culture of the
The development of her medieval
Catherine also had a large female following, whose devotion was less likely to be expressed through pilgrimage. The importance of the
Veneration
Her principal symbol is the spiked wheel, which has become known as the
The 1908 Catholic Encyclopedia describes her historical importance:
Ranked with
Adam of St. Victorwrote a magnificent poem in her honour: Vox Sonora nostri chori.
In many places, her feast was celebrated with the utmost solemnity, servile work being suppressed and the devotions attended by great numbers of people. In several dioceses of France it was observed as a
Customs
In France, unwed women who had attained the age of 25 were called "catherinettes". They would wear richly decorated bonnets on the day of her feast. This custom gave rise to the French idiom 'coiffer Sainte-Catherine' ("don St. Catherine's bonnet"), to describe an unmarried woman between the ages of 25 and 30.[42]
In memory of her sacrifice in some homes, Egyptian and other Middle Eastern foods are offered for her feast, such as hummus or tabbouleh salads. Favourites also are melons cut into circles with sherbet "hubs", or cookies shaped as spiked wheels with icing.[citation needed]
Meanwhile, owing to several circumstances in his life,
Devotion to Catherine remains strong amongst Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians. With the relative ease of travel in the modern age, pilgrimages to Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai have increased.
Catherine of Alexandria is remembered in the Church of England with a commemoration on 25 November.[43]
In 2022, Catherine was officially added to the
Legacy
The pyrotechnic Catherine wheel, which rotates with sparks flying off in all directions, took its name from the saint's wheel of martyrdom.[27]
The lunar impact crater Catharina is named after Saint Catherine.[45]
Santa Catarina Island in Brazil and the State of Santa Catarina are also named after her.
The Gulf of Santa Catalina is located in the Pacific Ocean on the west coast of North America. Santa Catalina Island off the coast of California, was named by Sebastián Vizcaíno, who arrived there on her feast day.[46] The Santa Catalina Mountains in Arizona are her namesake.
Kaarina, Finland, is named after her.[47] One accepted origin of the namesake of St. Catharines, Ontario, is Saint Catherine of Alexandria, but there are other proposed explanations as "no definitive documentation exists to conclusively prove that the founders chose the unique spelling for any one particular reason".[48]
St Catherine of Alexandria Parish and School in Oak Lawn, IL, US is named after St. Catherine.[50]
In art
Countless images of Saint Catherine are depicted in art, especially in the late
She is very frequently shown attending on the Virgin and Child, and is usually prominent in scenes of the Master of the Virgo inter Virgines, showing a group of virgin saints surrounding the Virgin and Child. Notable later paintings of Catherine include single figures by Raphael in the National Gallery, and by Caravaggio (in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid).[citation needed]
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Ambrogio Bergognone. The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Catherine of Siena
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Konrad Witz, Saints Mary Magdalen and Catherine, shown as a crowned scholar with her wheel behind
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Catherine, reading again, with sword on the ground, c. 1520
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Master of the Legend of Saint Lucy, late 15th century Master of the Virgo inter Virgines
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The Beheading of St. Catherine, Barcelona Cathedral
-
Orthodox icon
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Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome
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The Resurrection of the Body of St. Catherine, Refectory Museum of the Cathedral of St. Mary, Pamplona, Spain
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Saint Catherine in a 15th-century fresco on the St. Jacob church in Urtijëi, Italy.
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Lorenzo Lotto, Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Augustine
-
Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherin' (triptych by Hans Memling
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Catherine of Braganza, Queen of England, painted as Catherine of Alexandria - by Jacob Huysmans
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Bernardino Luini - Painting of Catherine of Alexandria, (National Art Museum of Azerbaijan)
In music
- Catherine Wheel, an English Alternative Rock band formed in 1990.
- Adest dies triumphalis, a sequence in 9 voices in honour of Saint Catherine, by Francisco Valls.
- The Catherine Wheel (album), David Byrne's musical score commissioned by Twyla Tharp for her dance project.
- Katherine Wheel by Finnish rock group HIM
Contemporary media
- The opening scene of television series Amour Fou", features mob wife Carmela Soprano and her daughter Meadow Soprano in an art gallery, where (among other topics) they discuss Jusepe de Ribera's painting: The Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria.[52]
- A movie about Catherine, called Decline of an Empire, began production in January 2010 and was released in 2014.[53]
See also
- Cathedral of St. Catherine, Old Goa
- List of Christian women of the patristic age
- Saint Catherine of Alexandria, patron saint archive
- St. Catherine of Boletice
- St. Catherine's Cathedral, Kherson, dedicated to Saint Catherine, the original name of City of Kherson was to 'the Glory of Catherine'
- St. Catherine's Day
- St. Catherine's taffy
- Order of St. Catherine with Mount Sinai
Notes
- Latin: Catharina Alexandrina).
References
Citations
- ^ "Holy Great Martyr Katherine". Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. Archived from the original on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
- ^ "Wednesday of the Thirty-Fourth Week of Ordinary Time; Optional Memorial of St. Catherine of Alexandria, virgin and martyr – November 25, 2020 – Liturgical Calendar". www.catholicculture.org.
- ^ Williard Trask, Joan of Arc: In Her Own Words (Turtle Point Press, 1996), 99
- ISBN 88-209-7210-7)
- ^ Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 147
- ^ Walsh 2007, pp. 3–26.
- ^ a b Deakin 2007, pp. 135, 202.
- ^ Maria Dzielska: Hypatia of Alexandria, Cambridge (Massachusetts) 1995, p. 21; Christian Lacombrade: Hypatia. In: Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum, Bd. 16, Stuttgart 1994, Sp. 956–967, here: 966; Gustave Bardy: Catherine d'Alexandrie. In: Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, Bd. 11, Paris 1949, Sp. 1503–1505, here: 1504.
- ^ a b c d Clugnet 1908.
- ^ a b "Great Martyr Katherine of Alexandria". www.oca.org.
- ^ "Catharina K". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
Origin: St. Catherine of Alexandria; Greek theologian, philosopher
- ^ Irene González Hernando, Catherine of Alexandria
- ^ The Golden Legend: Volume VII
- ^ "Saint Catherine of Alexandria". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 29 October 2010.
- ^ "St Catherine of Alexandria". Downside Abbey Archives and Library. 25 November 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
- ^ a b "St. Catherine of Alexandria | Egyptian martyr". Britannica. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
- ^ Morton 1841, p. 133.
- ^ a b Foley & McCloskey 2009.
- ^ "Catherine of Alexandria, Saint". Catholic Answers. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
- ^ de Azevedo 2005, p. 324.
- ^ Harold Thayer Davis, Alexandria: The Golden City (Principia Press of Illinois, 1957), p 441
- ^ Allen 1997, pp. 214–217.
- ^ a b Walsh 2007, p. 10.
- ^ Watts 2006, pp. 197–198.
- ^ Deakin 1994, pp. 234–243.
- ^ Maria Dzielska: Hypatia of Alexandria, Cambridge (Massachusetts) 1995, p. 21; Christian Lacombrade: Hypatia. In: Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum, Bd. 16, Stuttgart 1994, Sp. 956–967, here: 966; Gustave Bardy: Catherine d'Alexandrie. In: Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, Bd. 11, Paris 1949, Sp. 1503–1505, here: 1504.
- ^ a b "Catherine of Alexandria, Lives of Saints". John J. Crawley & Co., Inc. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
- ^ a b S. R. T. O d'Ardeene and E. J. Dobson, Seinte Katerine: Re-Edited from MS Bodley 34 and other Manuscripts (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981), xiv.
- ^ John Mandeville, The Travels of Sir John Mandeville (New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1964); Felix Fabri, The Wanderings of Felix Fabri (New York: AMS Press, 1971), 217.
- ^ Walsh 2003, p. 31.
- ^ Lewis 2003, p. 44.
- ^ Lewis 2003, pp. 49–51.
- ^ Bugge 2012, p. 132.
- ^ Lewis 2000, p. 229.
- ^ Duffy 1992, p. 174.
- ^ Lewis 1999.
- ^ de Pizan 2003, p. 146.
- ^ Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies trans. by Rosalind Brown-Grant (New York: Penguin Books, 1999), 203
- ^ Barnhouse 2006, pp. 126, 193.
- ^ Yuste, Belén; Rivas-Caballero, Sonnia L. "Santa Catalina Tomás". Real Academia de la Historia. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
- ^ Allen 1997, p. 217.
- ^ "Coiffer sainte Catherine". La France pittoresque (in French). 24 November 2016.
- ^ "The Calendar". The Church of England. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
- ^ "General Convention Virtual Binder". www.vbinder.net. Archived from the original on 13 September 2022. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
- ^ "Catherine of Alexandria". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.
- ^ Otte, Stacey; Pedersen, Jeannine (2004). "Catalina Island History". A Catalina Island History in Brief. Catalina Island Museum. Archived from the original on 24 February 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2008.
- ^ "St Catherine's Church". The Lutheran Church in Turku and Kaarina. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
- ^ "Why St. Catharines with two "a's" ? · So Many Catharine's · Brock University Library". exhibits.library.brocku.ca. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
- ^ Our History., St. Catherine University. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
- ^ "Home". parish.scaoaklawn.org.
- ^ Caxton 1900, p. 1.
- ISBN 0748619003.
- ^ "Peter O'Toole comes out of retirement for Katherine of Alexandria". the Guardian. 26 November 2013.
Sources
- Allen, Prudence (1997). The concept of woman: the Aristotelian revolution, 750 BC-AD 1250 (2nd ed.). Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-4270-1.
- Barnhouse, R. (2006). The Book of the Knight of the Tower: Manners for Young Medieval Women. Springer. ISBN 978-1-4039-8312-1.
- Bugge, J. (2012). Virginitas: An Essay in the History of a Medieval Idea. Springer. ISBN 978-94-015-6886-9.
- Caxton, William (1900). The Golden Legend or Lives of the Saints, as englished by William Caxton. Vol. 7. London: J.M. Dent.
- Clugnet, Léon (1908). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company. . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).
- de Azevedo, Mateus Soares (2005). Ye shall know the truth: Christianity and the perennial philosophy. World Wisdom. ISBN 978-0-941532-69-3.
- de Pizan, Christine (2003). The Treasure of the City of Ladies: Or the Book of the Three Virtues. Translated by Sarah Lawson. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-196101-9.
- Deakin, Michael A. B. (1994). "Hypatia and Her Mathematics". The American Mathematical Monthly. 101 (3): 234–243. ISSN 0002-9890.
- Deakin, Michael A. B. (2007). Hypatia of Alexandria, Mathematician and Martyr. New York: Amherst.
- Duffy, Eamon (1992). The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, C.1400-c.1580. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-06076-8.
- Foley, Leonard; McCloskey, Patrick (2009). Saint of the Day: Lives, Lessons & Feasts. Franciscan Media. ISBN 978-0-86716-887-7.
- Lewis, Katherine J. (1999). "Model Girls? Virgin-Martyrs and the Training of Young Women in Late Medieval England". In Lewis, Katherine J.; James, Noe͏̈l Menuge; Phillips, Kim M. (eds.). Young Medieval Women. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-22130-0.
- Lewis, Katherine J. (2000). The Cult of St Katherine of Alexandria in Late Medieval England. Boydell. ISBN 978-0-85115-773-3.
- Lewis, Katherine J. (2003). "Pilgrimage and the Cult of St. Katherine of Alexandria in Late Medieval England". In Jenkins, Jacqueline; Lewis, Katherine J. (eds.). St Katherine of Alexandria: Texts and Contexts in Western Medieval Europe. Isd. ISBN 978-2-503-51290-7.
- Morton, James (1841). The legend of St. Katherine of Alexandria. Abbotsford club. Publications,no. 20. London: Abbotsford club – via Cornell University Library.
- Walsh, Christine (2003). "The Role of the Normans in the Development of the Cult of St. Katherine". In Jenkins, Jacqueline; Lewis, Katherine J. (eds.). St Katherine of Alexandria: Texts and Contexts in Western Medieval Europe. Isd. ISBN 978-2-503-51290-7.
- Walsh, Christine. (2007). 'The Cult of St Katherine of Alexandria in Early Medieval Europe. Aldershot: Ashgate.
- Watts, Edward Jay (2006). City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520244214.
External links
- Passio sanctae Katharinae – 11th century (between 1033 and 1048); at Latin Wikisource
- Details of Saint Catherine's life – Saint Catherine Orthodox Church; includes a gallery of icons of the saint
- St Catherine's church in Muhu island (Estonia)
- Saint Catherine of Alexandria at the Christian Iconography web site
- "The Life of St. Catherine, Virgin and Martyr" from the Caxton translation of the Golden Legend
- New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
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- Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. .
- Colonnade Statue St Peter's Square