Catherine of Alexandria - Mary Manning
Mary Manning interviews St Catherine of Alexandria whose feast is celebrated on 25 November. She is the patroness of philosophers, preachers and young women, and also of wheelwrights and mechanics because of her principal symbol, the spiked wheel.
MM: Does it matter to you that there are many variations of your life and that they seem to be made up of fact and fiction, legends and myths?
C: That is true of many saints who lived long ago. People build up stories to suit their times. Several centuries ago, for instance, there was a fashion for telling remarkable stories about the saints to stimulate devotion. Some of the stories about me fall into this category. They were highly embellished and they put words into my mouth. Some showed me as a charming person with miraculous powers. Exaggeration such as this probably does not matter much if it remains consistent with the spirit of my life and beliefs.
MM: Some people say you did not even exist.
C: There have been historians who said I was invented only as an example of how people should behave, that I was an ideal rather than a reality. I was certainly presented as an ideal: highly learned in philosophy and theology, very beautiful, pure and virginal, and brutally murdered for publicly stating my beliefs. Your readers will need to make up their own minds about my existence, and to decide how much truth there might have been in that idealised description.
It is easier to accept information that appears to be factual, for instance, that my father was Costus, who at that time was the governor of Alexandria in Egypt.
MM: You are remembered for the strength of your beliefs, both before your parents and, in particular, when you confronted Emperor Maxentius.
C: One of the most popular, and colourful stories about my determination of spirit is about the day I told my parents that I would only marry someone who surpassed me in everything. Apparently I said of this man that ‘his beauty was more radiant than the shining of the sun, his wisdom governed all creation, his riches were spread throughout all the world.’ I might have said something along those lines but can’t imagine actually saying those words.
The story continues that I was persuaded to become a Christian after having a vision urging my baptism. I then visited Emperor Maxentius and tried to persuade him it was wrong to be persecuting Christians. He offered me a royal marriage if I would deny the my Christian faith but I refused. He sent pagan philosophers to dispute with me and I succeeded in converting them, and the Emperor’s wife, to Christianity.
Things became worse—for the Emperor and for me. He had me imprisoned and was so incensed when I converted the people who visited me that he condemned me to death on a spiked wheel which was then used for torture. The wheel broke when I touched it so he had me beheaded. That’s the instrument after which the Catherine wheel you use in fireworks displays is named.
MM: Your status in the church has changed over the years. After being the object of very special devotion for many centuries, you lost your position as a saint completely for a time, then had it returned. How does this make you feel?
C: Everything changes over the centuries. How I am seen by the world and the church at different times does not concern me any more than a change of job description bothers people in the 21st century. I did what I could during my life and expect I have influenced some people since then. But people’s lives and values change and it is natural that my experience would be more relevant at certain times than others.
MM: Two special places associated with you are St Catherine’s Monastery at Mt Sinai and Catalina Island. Can you tell us about these?
C: I am greatly revered by the Orthodox churches. The monastery was built by order of Emperor Justinian I between 527 and 565 and, although it has become commonly known as Saint Catherine’s, its correct name is The Sacred and Imperial Monastery of the God-Trodden Mount of Sinai.
It was said that my relics were miraculously transported there by angels and it became a popular place for pilgrims to visit. I am pleased to be connected with a place that means so much to people. Apart from that, the monastery library is a seat of learning as it preserves the second largest collection of early books in the world, outnumbered only by the Vatican Library.
Catalina island was named Santa Catalina by a Spanish explorer, Sebastian Vizcaino, who set foot there on the eve of my feast day in 1602. It is comforting to imagine being on an island named for me.
MM: The 1908 Catholic Encyclopedia says of you: ‘Ranked with St Margaret and St Barbara as one of the fourteen most helpful saints in heaven, she was unceasingly praised by preachers and sung by poets’. How important is it to you to be recognised in this way?
C: I would add art to that statement. Beautiful art, writing and music are among the things that enrich the life and spirituality of every generation. Raphael’s famous painting shows me leaning against the wheel and looking up towards heaven. Personally I think Carlo Crivelli’s depiction of me as strong and thoughtful, rather than conventionally beautiful, is more accurate.
MM: Could you leave us with a prayer?
C: This is the prayer I said before dying. I was accompanied to my execution by a great number of people, mainly women, who were weeping and distressed but it is said that, unlike them, I felt a great calm.
Lord Jesus Christ, my God, I thank you for having firmly set my feet on the rock of the faith and directed my steps on the pathway of salvation. Open now your arms wounded on the cross to receive my soul, which I offer in sacrifice to the glory of your Name.
Forgive the faults I have committed in ignorance, and wash my soul in the blood I will shed for you. Do not leave my body, slaughtered by love for you, in the power of those who hate me. Look kindly on these people and give them the knowledge of the truth. Finally, Lord, in your infinite mercy, exalt those who will invoke you through me so that your name be always glorified.
