Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Other names of this saint are, Saint Catherine of the Wheel and The Great Martyr Saint Catherine. According to the traditions, this is a virgin Christian Saint who lived some time in the 4th century. She was killed by Maxentus, a pagan emperor who ruled at that time.

She is said to have been an excellent scholar and princess and was converted to Christianity when just 14 years old. She had by then drawn several hundred people to the church. There have reports of her re appearance with the most notable one being the claim by St. Joan that she constantly appeared to her and gave advise, this claim was raised more that a millennium since her martyrdom.

Other churches other than the Roman Catholic also honor her. For instance, the Orthodox Church perceives her as one of the greatest Martyrs in history and holds a feast to celebrate her life on 25th November. She is said to be one of the 14 holy helpers in the Roman Catholic Beliefs.

Despite the removal of her feast from the General Roman calendar in 1969, they still commemorate her on 25th November. However, her feast was included into the General Roman calendar in 2002.

Requesting petitions for the following:            

• Love.
• Beauty.
• Healing.
• Visions.
• Feast: 25-Nov
• Day: Saturday
• Candle/Emblem: Yellow or White. A Wheel.
• Matters Concerning; Fertility, love, beauty, femininity, healing, jealousy, dreams, and visions. Patroness of jurors, philosophers, and teachers

Analysis of the cult

She is among the saints that were highly regarded in the culture of religion during the mid-ages, to the group better identifies as virgin martyrs that came up in the Middle Ages, she was highly esteemed. In this group, she was regarded as an intercessor between man and God and was taken to be the most sanctified virgin mothers.

A version of her hagiography has been developed in which she is seen to ask God to hear the prayer of any of the people who keep her killing into memory.

There were several shrines that paid tribute to saint Catherine; they were quite many in France and England. For instance, in England, the Westminster and Canterbury claimed to be in possession of some of her oil that they say had been brought from the Sinai Mountain by their confessor Edward.

There were numerous other shrines all over the country including St. Catherine Hill and Hampshire. The saint has a large following especially those who could not make it to pilgrimage, as a virgin martyr, Saint Catherine helped to improve on the general conduct of women especially in the middle ages

The distinguishing symbol for Saint Catherine is a spiked wheel that in the recent times has earned the title of Catherine wheel. Quite a good number of churches celebrate the feast on 25th November with the exception of the Russian orthodox that celebrates theirs on 24th November.

The change of date cannot be identified as the there are some instances in which the feats was carried out on 25th November. Among the earliest Roman Catholic churches in Russia is named Catholic Church of St. Catherine after Alexandrian Catherine as she was a patron of Catherine.