MARTYR
KATHERINE
Late in the third century there lived in Alexandria a girl whom none
could surpass in beauty and intelligence. St. Katherine was born into a
wealthy pagan family and received an excellent education. By the time
she was 18 many young men desired to marry her, but St. Katherine
refused them all, feeling they were not good enough for her. Not
knowing what to do, her mother – a secret Christian – turned to her
spiritual father for help. He immediately understood that the wise
girl's heart would be won over by Jesus Christ. He told her that he
knew of a wondrous Youth Who surpassed her by far in all her talents
and gifts. By birth He was higher than any emperor or king; His wisdom
was above understanding; His wealth was spread throughout the world,
and His beauty outshone the very sun. At once St. Katherine wished to
see this Youth. The monk brought out an icon of the Holy Virgin holding
the Christ Child; he told St. Katherine to take it home and pray to the
Mother of God.
After praying fervently that night, St. Katherine
fell asleep and dreamt that she was standing before the Virgin and
Child. The Child's face was turned away from her. When His mother asked
Him to look at the beautiful girl, He said He wouldn't until she
changed her pagan ways and returned to the holy monk for guidance.
Eagerly St. Katherine did so. The monk taught her about the One True
God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and the Saviour of Mankind. St.
Katherine soon believed in Jesus Christ with all her heart and was
baptized.
Once again she saw the Holy Virgin in a dream; this
time the Christ Child was smiling at her with love and tenderness and
said that He would now be 'the Bridegroom of her soul.' As a sign of
His love and mercy, He placed a ring on the finger of her right hand.
When St. Katherine awoke, she found the ring on her finger!
Soon after this, the Emperor Maximian came to
Alexandria and arranged a huge pagan festival. Amidst the slaughter and
stench of the burning sacrifices, St. Katherine in all her beauty and
eloquence denounced the pagan gods. She challenged the Emperor to
invite his best philosophers for a debate in which her living God and
Lord Jesus Christ would triumph over his dead idolatry. The Emperor
agreed. Fifty philosophers gathered for the debate, but not one could
match the Saint's wisdom. Instead, St. Katherine convinced them to
believe in Christ. The enraged Emperor ordered the 50 men to be burnt
to death. As they went to their martyrdom, they begged St. Katherine to
pray that the One True God would forgive their former ignorance, and
she assured them of God's infinite mercy and love. When the fire died
down their dead bodies were found unharmed by the flames. Many people
were converted through this miracle.
Disturbed by her growing influence over his
subjects, the Emperor offered St. Katherine wealth and power if she
would sacrifice to his gods, but she was not interested. Then he
resorted to threats and vicious floggings. All of this the Saint
suffered without a murmur. She was then locked in a dungeon without
food or water.
Together with the head guard Porphyrius and 200 of
his men, the Emperor's wife Augusta secretly visited St. Katherine. So
taken were they by her eloquent wisdom and courage that she was able to
win them over to Christ. Even when the Saint warned the Empress of her
martyrdom in three days, the fear that Augusta first felt – knowing
only too well her husband's cruelty -- was overcome by the consolation
of God's everlasting peace and love so freely given by the young woman.
The next morning, when St. Katherine was brought
before the Emperor, he was astounded by her radiant beauty. Accusing
his guards of giving her food, he would have punished them had St.
Katherine not stopped him by saying that it was Christ Who had taken
care of His faithful servant. When the angry Emperor tried to frighten
her with threats of disfiguring her beauty, St. Katherine calmly
replied that all human beauty wilts like a flower and soon fades like a
dream.
Was there nothing that could shake her faith in the
One True God? It was no dream that a friend of the Emperor next
suggested; it was a cruel, inhuman torture. He proposed that the saint
be strapped down between four huge spiked wheels – two would turn to
the right and two to the left, slowly tearing her body to shreds. It
took three days to build. When St. Katherine was shown the monstrous
construction, she turned to her tormentors and said: 'Why do you waste
your time? I have told you, I believe in Christ.' She was immediately
tied down between the wheels, but before they could be turned, an angel
appeared and freed her bonds. The wheels shattered into bits, striking
dead many unbelievers who were watching. Others, seeing this
astonishing miracle, cried out: 'Great is the God of the Christians!'
When the Emperor still did not stop in his madness,
his wife stepped boldly forward: 'In truth, you are arrogant and stupid
to fight the Living God.' At these words the Emperor's wrath turned
against Augusta and she was beheaded. That night Porphyrius and his men
reverently buried her body. The next morning they confessed their faith
to the Emperor and they too were beheaded.
Crowds of people followed St. Katherine to the place
of her execution weeping and sorrowing that she was to meet such an
early and cruel death. However, the young saint told them they should
rejoice for her because she was soon to see her beloved Bridegroom and
Saviour Jesus Christ. St. Katherine was given a moment to pray and then
she was beheaded. From the wound, instead of blood, there flowed milk.
St. Katherine's body disappeared. According to the
report of a number of faithful people, it was taken by angels. Two
centuries later some monks were guided by a dream and found her body on
the highest mount in Sinai. Not far from there a monastery was
dedicated to her, and there her relics are kept, tended by faithful
monks to this day. Their sweet fragrance reminds us that Great Martyr
Katherine, as a beautiful flower plucked form the earth, continues to
bloom with unfading glory in God's everlasting Kingdom.