SAINT CATHERINE
November 25
from The Golden Legend¹


Catherine comes from catha, total, and ruina, ruin; for the edifice of the Devil was wholly destroyed in her. The edifice of pride was destroyed by her humility, the edifice of carnal lust by her virginity, and the edifice of worldly greed by her contempt of wordly goods. Or Catherine is the same as catenula, a chain; for of her good works she fashioned a chain, whereby she climbed to Heaven. Such a chain or ladder has four degrees, which are innocence of life, cleanness of heart, contempt of vanity, and the speaking of the truth; and all these are stated by the prophet, who says: 'Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord?' and answers: 'The innocent in hands, and clean of heart, who hath not taken his soul in vain, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbor.' That these four degrees were present in Catherine, will be manifest from her legend.

Catherine, the daughter of King Costus, was instructed in all the liberal arts. The time came when the Emperor Maxentius convoked all, rich and poor alike, to Alexandria, to offer sacrifice to the idols; and when the Christians refused to obey him, they were punished. Then Catherine, who at the age of eighteen had been left alone in a palace filled with riches and servants, hearing the roaring of the beasts and the ringing of the chant, sent a messenger to find out speedily what all this might mean. When she learned this, she armed herself with the sign of the cross, took with her some of her household, and went to the scene of the torture, where she saw many Christians driven to offer sacrifice by the fear of death. Stricken to the heart with grief, she made her way boldly to the emperor, and spoke as follows: 'I offer thee greeting, Emperor, not only out of deference for thy rank, but also that I may reason with thee, and persuade thee to acknowledge the Creator of the heavens, and to renounce the worship of false gods!' Then, standing before the door of the temple, she held a long disputation with the Caesar, arguing according to the divers modes of the syllogisms, by allegory and metaphor, by logic and mystic. Then reverting to the common speech, she said: 'These things have I said to thee as to a wise and learned man; but now tell me, wherefore hast thou uselessly gathered this crowd to worship the stupidity of the idols? Thou admirest this temple wrought by the hands of artisans, thou admirest its precious adornments which will be as dust before the face of the wind. Thou oughtest rather to wonder at the heavens and the earth, the land and the sea, and all the things that are in them; to wonder at the ornaments of the heavens, namely the sun and the moon and the stars, and at their servitude, whereby from the beginning of the world to the end thereof they run to the West and return to the East, night and day, nor are wearied ever. And when thou hast taken notice of these things, ask and learn who is more powerful than they! And when, by His own gift, thou shalt have come to know Him, nor found any other like unto Him, do thou then adore Him and glorify Him, for He is the God of gods and Lord of Lords!' She then proceeded with great learning to demonstrate the Incarnation of the Son of God. The emperor, dumfounded could find no answer to all this, but finally, recovering himself, he said: 'Suffer us, O woman, suffer us but to finish the sacrifice, and then we shall make answer to thee!' He ordered her therefore to be led to the palace and guarded with care, for he was in admiration of the keenness of her mind and the beauty of her body. She was, indeed, incredibly beautiful and gracious, and the eyes of all followed her with wonder.

When the Caesar came to his palace, he said to Catherine: 'We heard thine eloquence and admired thy prudence, but, being occupied with the sacrifices of the gods, we have not understood all that thou saidest. Now, therefore, for a beginning, let us ask thy lineage.' To this Catherine made answer: 'It is written, "Speak of thyself neither in praise nor in blame, for this the foolish do, whom empty glory vexeth." Nonetheless I shall tell my descendance, not from pride but for the love of humility. I am Catherine, the only daughter of King Costus. But, albeit I was born to the purple and not ill instructed in the liberal learning, I have spurned all these things, and taken refuge in Our Lord Jesus Christ. Now the gods whom you adore can aid neither you nor others. O unhappy worshippers of these idols! Call upon them in need, and they cannot come to you! Invoke them in tribulation, and they cannot succor you! Summon them in danger, and they cannot defend you!' 'If it be as thou sayest,' replied the king, 'then the whole world is in error, and thou alone hast the truth. But since every word stands in the mouth of two or three witnesses, even if thou wert an angel, or heavenly power, still no one ought to give thee belief; and so much the less since thou art but a frail woman!' She answered: 'I pray thee, Caesar, suffer not thyself to be enchanted by thy fury, lest in the mind of the wise man there arise a dire disturbance. For so has the poet spoken: "If thou be ruled by the spirit, thou shalt be a king, but it by the body, a slave." 'I see,' said the king, 'thou disposest to ensnare us with thy pestilential cunning, while thou endeavourest to prolong thy discourse with quotations from the philosophers!'

Then, seeing that he was no match for her wisdom, the Caesar secretly sent letters summoning all grammarians and rhetors to hasten them to the pretorium of Alexandria, and promising them huge rewards if they, by their eloquence, could overcome the virgin's reasonings. Hence fifty orators gathered together from the various provinces; and these surpassed all mortal men in every earthly wisdom. When they asked for what reason they had been summonest from such distant parts, the Caesar replied: 'There is among us a maiden of incomparable sense and prudence, who refutes all our wise men, and affirms that all our gods are demons. If you master her arguments, you will return to your lands laden with honors!' To this one of them answered indignantly, in a voice that came out of his stomach: '0 mighty wisdom of the emperor, which has summoned the sages of the world from the remotest parts, for a trifling contention with one miserable maid, when the least of our pupils could have refuted her without effort!' But the king said: 'I could have forced her to offer sacrifice, or destroyed her with tortures, but I judged it better that she should be completely refuted by your arguments.' And they replied: 'Let the girl be brought before us, t she may be forced to avow her own temerity, and to acknowledge that hitherto she had never seen a wise man!

When the virgin learned of the contest which awaited her, she commended herself wholly to the Lord. At once an angel of the Lord stood by her, and admonished her to constancy, saying that only would she be able to conquer them, but she would convert them and lead them on to the palm of martyrdom. When therefore she stood in the presence of the orators, she said to the emperor: 'By what justice didst thou set fifty orators against one maiden, promising them rewards, while thou compellest me to fight without hope of guerdon? But my reward shall be my Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the hope and the crown of those who fight for Him!'

Then, when the orators asserted that it was impossible that God should become man or should suffer, the virgin showed that this had been predicted even by the Gentiles. For Plato had spoken of a god wounded and beset, and the Sibyl had said: Happy that God Who will hang from a high tree!' And as she went on disputing most learnedly with the orators, and refuting them with the clearest reasonings, they found naught to say against her, were left speechless. At this the emperor, filled with anger against them, began to upbraid them for that they suffered themselves to be vanquished and put to shame by a girl. Then one of them, the master of the rest, said: 'Thou knowest, 0 Emperor, that hitherto no one has been able to face us without being conquered forthwith. But this maiden, in whom the Spirit of God speaks, has so won our admiration, that we neither know what to say against Christ, nor wish to say aught against Him. Wherefore, 0 Emperor, we do, constantly confess that, unless thou canst proffer a more probable opinion in favor of the gods whom we have until now adored, we are all converted, and believe in Christ!' At these words the tyrant was aflame with rage, and commanded that they be burnt alive in the center of the city; but the virgin encouraged them and made constant in the face of martyrdom, and likewise diligently instructed them concerning the faith. And when they grieved that they were to die without baptism, she responded: 'Fear not, for your blood will baptize you, and win for you the crown of glory!' Armed therefore with the sign of the cross, they were cast into the flames, and rendered their souls to the Lord; and not a hair of their heads nor a shred of their garments suffered the least harm from the fire.

When the martyrs had been buried by the Christians, the tyrant again addressed the virgin: '0 glorious maiden, take counsel for thy youth, and thou shalt be second only to the queen in my palace; thine image shall stand in the centre of the city, and all adore thee as a goddess!' 'Cease to speak such things,' answered Catherine, 'for it were criminal even to think them! I have given myself as a spouse to Christ. He is my glory, He is my love, sweetness and my delight; and not flatteries nor torments shall win me from His love!' At this the emperor was filled with fury and ordered her to be stripped and beaten with scorpions, and then thrown into a dark cell, and left there for twelve days to tortured by hunger. Then the king was called to another part of the province to deal with certain impending cases, and the queen, inflamed with love, hastened at midnight to the virgin's prison, with Porphyrius the captain of the soldiers. When she entered, she saw filled with indescribable brightness, and the angels salving virgin's wounds. Then Catherine began to preach to her the joys of eternity, and converted her, and foretold that she would win the crown of martyrdom; and so they prolonged their converse throughout the night. And when Porphyrius heard these things, at the virgin's feet, and received the faith of Christ, together with two hundred soldiers. And since the tyrant had given order that she be left without food for twelve days, for those days Christ sent a white dove to bring her celestial food. At his return, the emperor had her brought before him, and seeing her more radiant than before, when he expected to find her emaciated with fasting, he thought that someone had provided food for her in the gaol, and in his anger, commanded that the guards be tortured. But she said: 'From no man have I received food, but Christ has fed me by an angel.' 'Fix what I tell thee in thy heart, I pray thee,' said the emperor, 'and have done with thy dubious answers. Not as a serving-maid do we desire to possess thee, but as a chosen and potent queen; and thou shalt triumph with honor in my kingdom!' 'Do thou also give ear, I pray,' she answered, 'and rightly judge, and truthfully decide; which should I choose - a puissant, eternal, glorious and comely king, or one that is weak, mortal, ignoble, and deformed?' Angrily the emperor retorted: 'Choose one of two things for thyself; either offer sacrifice and live, or undergo the keenest torments and die!' 'Whatever torments thou canst devise,' she said, 'delay them not, for I desire to offer my flesh and blood to Christ, as He also offered Himself for me. He in sooth is my God, my Lover, my Shepherd, and my only Spouse.'

Thereupon a certain prefect commended the following plan to the furious king: in three days four wheels, studded with iron saws and sharp nails, should be made ready, and by this horrible device the virgin should be cut to pieces, that the sight of so dreadful a death might deter the other Christians. It was further ordered that two of the wheels should revolve in one direction, and two be driven in the opposite direction, so that grinding and drawing her at once, they might crush and devour her. But when engine was completed, the virgin prayed to the Lord that for the praise of His name and for the conversion of the people who stood by, the machine might fall to pieces. And instantly an angel of the Lord struck the monstrous mill, and broke it apart with such violence that four thousand pagans were killed by its collapse.

At this the queen, who until that moment had remained concealed, and had watched the spectacle from above, came down to the emperor and upbraided him with harsh words for his cruelty. The king was beside himself with rage; and when the queen refused to sacrifice, he commanded that her breasts be torn off, and that she be beheaded. And as she was led to martyrdom, she besought Catherine to pray the Lord for her. 'Fear not, queen beloved of God,' answered Catherine, 'for this day thou shalt exchange a passing, kingdom for an eternal, and a mortal husband for an immortal Spouse!' Heartened by these words, the queen exhorted the torturers not to delay what they had been commanded to do. The ministers therefore led her forth from the city, tore off her breasts with iron blades and cut off her head; and afterwards, Porphyrius stole away her body and buried it.

On the morrow, when the queen's body was sought, tyrant ordered many to be dragged to the torture because it could not be found, Porphyrius burst into their midst and cried: ' 'Twas I that buried the handmaid of Christ, for I too have accepted the Christian faith!' Mad with anger, Maxentius uttered a terrible roar, and shouted: 'Woe is me, wretched and to be pitied by all! Behold, Porphyrius himself, the sole guardian of my soul and the solace of all my labors, has fallen into this delusion!' But when he addressed his plaint to the soldiers, they likewise responded: 'We too are Christians, and are prepared to die!' Then the Caesar drunk with ire, commanded that they be beheaded with Porphyrius, and that their bodies be thrown to the dogs.

After this he again summoned Catherine, and said: "Although by thy black art thou hast caused the queen to die, yet it thou wilt recover thy senses, thou shalt hold first rank in my palace. Today therefore thou shalt either sacrifice to the gods, or lose thy head!' 'Do whatever thou hast devised in thy mind,' she replied; 'thou wilt find me ready to bear all!' She was therefore sentenced to be beheaded. And when she was led out to the place of execution she raised her eyes to Heaven, and prayed, saying: '0 hope and salvation of them that believe, 0 honor and glory of virgins! Jesus, good King, I implore Thee that whosoever shall celebrate the memory of my passion, or shall call upon me at the moment of death or in any necessity, may obtain the benefit of Thy mercy!' And a voice answered her: 'Come, My beloved, My spouse, behold the door of Heaven is opened to thee; and to those that shall celebrate the glory of thy passion with devout minds, I promise the protection of Heaven!' And when her head was cut off, milk gushed forth from her body instead of blood. Angels then bore her body from place to Mount Sinai, a journey of more than twenty days, and there gave it honorable burial. And from her bones an oil issues continually, which strengthens the limbs of the weak. Catherine suffered under the tyrant Maxentius, or Maximinus, who began to reign about the year of the Lord 310. The manner of Maxentius' punishment for this and other crimes is told in the history of the Invention of the Holy Cross.

It is said that a certain monk of Rouen betook himself to Mount Sinai, and there abode for seven years, devoting himself to the service of Saint Catherine. When this monk prayed earnestly that he might be made worthy to possess a relic of her body, suddenly one of the fingers broke off from her hand. The monk received the gift of God with joy, and carried it away to his monastery.
It is also related that a certain man, who had been much devoted to Saint Catherine, and had ofttimes invoked her aid, in the course of time grew lax, and neglected his devotion. Then one day, while he was at prayer, he saw a multitude of virgins passing before him, among whom there was one who seemed more resplendent than the rest. And when she came near to him she covered her face, and thus passed before him with her countenance veiled. As he marvelled at her radiance, and asked who she was, one of the virgins replied: 'That is Catherine, whom once thou knewest; but now, since thou seemest no longer to recognize her, she has passed before thee with veiled face, as a stranger.'

It may be noted that Saint Catherine was admirable in her wisdom, for in her was every kind of philosophy. Philosophy, or wisdom, is divided into the speculative, the practical, and the logical. The speculative in turn, according to some authors, is divided into the intellectual, the natural, and the mathematical. Saint Catherine had the intellectual in her knowledge of divine things, which she used especially in her disputation against the rhetors, to whom she proved that there is but one true God, and that all other gods are false. She had the natural in her knowledge of all lower beings, which she used especially in her argument against the emperor, as is there apparent. She had the mathematical in her contempt of earthly things; for, according to Boethius, this science speculates upon abstract forms without matter. This Saint Catherine had, when she abstracted her mind from the love of all material things; and she used this knowledge when she spoke to the emperor, and said: 'I have spurned all these things, and taken refuge in Our Lord Jesus Christ,' and again when she encouraged the queen to contempt of the world. Practical philosophy is divided into three namely the ethical, the economic, and the public or political. The first teaches us to strengthen our morals and to adorn ourselves virtue, and regards individual men. The second teaches us to manage the family, and concerns the heads of families. The third teaches how to rule cities and peoples and the state, and pertains to rulers. Saint Catherine had the first of these three when she ordered her life with all probity, the second when she managed wisely the large household which was left to her, and the third, when she advised the emperor prudently. Logic is divided into three parts, namely demonstrative, probable, and sophistic. The first pertains to philosophers, the second to rhetors and dialecticians, and the to sophists. It is manifest that she had these three, since it is written of her that she argued according to the divers modes of the syllogism, by allegory and metaphor, by logic and mystic.

Some authors have manifested a doubt whether Catherine martyred by Maxentius or by Maximinus. At that time three men held the Empire, namely Constantine, who had come to by succession to his father, Maxentius, the son of Maximian, who was hailed as Augustus by the praetorian soldiers at Rome, and Maximinus, who wielded his tyranny against the Christians in Orient. It would seem therefore, as some have held, that by a scribe's error Maxentius was put instead of Maximinus.



1. From: The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine, trans. and adapted by Ryan, Granger and Helmut Ripperger. (Arno Press: Longmans, Green & Co) 1941. pp. 708-716.