St. Catherine the Great Martyr

St. Catherine
(or Katherine)
the Great Martyr of Alexandria


(Commemorated
November 24)
 

The Great Martyr of Alexandria, St. Catherine,
is one of the most beloved early Church Saints,
and is much honoured
and esteemed.


She was the daughter of Constus, the governor of Alexandria in Egypt
and lived in Alexandria during the time of the Emperor Maximian
(305-313 A.D.)
at the beginning
of the 4th Century.


She was not only a lady
of stunning beauty and considerable wealth,
but had the best education that money could buy in that age, living in the capital,
the centre of
Hellenistic knowledge.


She was thoroughly tutored in all of the philosophy, history, science,
and poetry of the ancients (the greatest philosophers and teachers of antiquity):
Homer, Virgil, Plato, Aristotle, Herodotus, Thucydides, Hippocrates,
Galen,
and so she excelled
at logic, rhetoric,
and languages.


All who knew her were astonished at her brilliance.
As one would expect,
many of the rich and famous sought her
hand in marriage,
for in addition to all that was just mentioned, she was an heiress to a throne.


However,
Catherine was not particularly interested
in all of these
proposals of marriage.
She told her parents that she would enter into marriage only if he would
have to be her equal in wealth, wisdom, beauty, and compassion.


Any petitioner for her hand less than her equal in all these things rendered him automatically unworthy.
So it was that all potential suitors were decisively stopped in their tracks.
Even the son of the Emperor himself, though certainly wealthy and apparently compassionate,
lacked wisdom and beauty.


Since this meant that her daughter would likely not in the circumstances find a spouse at all,
Catherine’s mother,
a secret Christian, sent her to her own spiritual Father,
a saintly Elder living in a cave outside the city,
for advice.


The holy man listened to the story of the girl's life and of her resolve not to marry an inferior,
which actually denoted her determination not to marry at all.


Since this man was a Christian, he decided to
tell the young lady of Christ Jesus and His teachings.


This description of the Heavenly Bridegroom produced in the soul of the holy maiden an ardent desire to see Him.
“If you do as I tell you,”
said the monk,
“you will gaze upon the countenance of this illustrious Man.”
In parting,
the Elder handed Catherine an icon of the Theotokos with the divine Child Jesus
on Her arm and told her
to pray with faith to
the Queen of Heaven,
the Mother of the Heavenly Bridegroom, and who is honoured and served
by the angels,
She would hear Catherine and grant her heart’s desire.



Catherine returned home and that night prayed,
as she had been instructed.
Soon, she fell deeply asleep and dreamt of the Holy Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child,
as they appeared in the icon she had been given.

In her dream, the Child kept his gaze on His mother, but away from young Catherine.

The Holy Virgin
spoke to Him, saying,
“Look, my Son, at Your beautiful and pious servant, Catherine.”
   
The Child answered,
“No, she is not beautiful but ugly and unbelieving,
and I will not look at her.”
   
The Holy Mother implored Him again, saying,
“But she is among the wisest, wealthiest, and most beautiful of people
in the world.”
   
He responded,
“no, she is silly and ignorant and I will
not let her see me.”
However, he added,
“if she will return to the man who gave her the icon
and follow his instructions rigorously, then she will someday see me and be consoled.”

Upon arising from sleep, Catherine immediately went with her entourage
to see the hermit again,
and upon reaching his cave, bowed deeply before him.

She told him of the dream and begged him to instruct her fully in the Christian faith.

She, being very gifted,
soon absorbed all of the ascetic teaching about God's glory,
of His creation
of the world, of the mission of Christ God here on Earth, of the wonders of Heaven,
and of the terrors of hell. Soon, she consented to be baptized.

The night after her baptism, she dreamt again of the Mother and Child, but this time Christ said,
“Before she was poor,
and now she is rich;
before she was ignorant,
and now she is truly wise;
before she was proud,
and now she is humble.
She is now worthy and I accept her as My bride.”

Christ then placed a ring
on her hand, saying,
“Today, I take thee as
My bride, for all eternity.”



It happened that at this time the Emperor demanded that the people of Alexandria show their loyalty to the state
through their devotion to the old gods, and so they were instructed to offer animal sacrifices to the idols;

Catherine refused.
Instead she publicly proclaimed her devotion to the one God who had given
Himself over to be crucified for the sake of humanity.

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