St. Katherine of Alexandria

St. Katherine was born to the earthly ruler of Alexandria, Constas. She suffered through the reign of the Emperors Maximian, Maxentius, and Maximinus. She was known for being tall in stature and exceptionally beautiful. She was also well-studied in the philosophical arts of Plato, Aristotle, Homer, and Virgil. She knew the medicines of Aesculapius, Hippocrates, and Galen. She was gifted in rhetoric and in the languages. Her parents intended to marry her but she was determined to keep her virginity. None of the suitors could match her wit, her intellect, her stature, or her beauty. She challenged her parents thus, "Present unto me a young man who is like unto me in the four virtues in which you claim I that I am peerless among women, and I will take him to be my husband."

Now her mother was a secret Christian. And her mother brought her to a certain priest. The priest began hearing the case for St. Katherine. She told him what she sought in a suitable husband and the priest explained that he did indeed know a man that would be suited for her. He began to describe this man. The Man was from before all time, born of a Virgin, He presented Himself for the sake of the world. The priest began to describe the life and work of Jesus Christ. He then told her to take with her an icon of the Ever-Virgin with the Christ-Child. She brought the icon home and began to ponder about this Man that the priest had explained to her. In a vision, she beheld the same icon that the priest had given her but the Christ-Child looked away from her. She found herself then in a room with the Ever-Virgin holding the Christ-Child but the Christ-Child refused to look upon the maiden and only looked toward His Mother. Each time she tried to peer into the face of the Christ-Child, the Child would turn His eyes away from her. The Theotokos wondered why and asked Her Child why He would not look into the face of the young maiden. She was quite beautiful in stature. The Christ-Child explained that while the maiden beheld much outer beauty, inwardly, she was filthy. She needed to clean herself from the filth that lay within her. And then He would look upon her.

Katherine, after having this vision, went back to the priest and inquired more about the Christian Faith. Eventually, Katherine rejected all of her Pagan deities, turned to Christ, and was baptized by the priest whom her mother had brought her to. She then beheld in a vision once again, Our Lady with the Christ-Child. This time, the Christ-Child was looking upon her, seeing in her a future bride fit for the Kingdom of Heaven. And she would soon be tested by the material elements of the world which follow after the Father of Lies and give credence to idols and fallen spirits over the one true God of the Universe, Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Emperor Maximinus had declared Christianity illegal and demanded that all must offer sacrifices to his idols. Seeing this new law and understanding the bloodthirsty extremes of the Emperor, Katherine would approach the Imperial Palace and make an argument against the Emperor's gods.

Appealing to Plato, Homer, and Diodorus, before finally confirming the Truth of Christ, Katherine masterfully refuted the Emperor's feeble arguments against the Christian faith in favor of his idols. This frustrated the Emperor so much, but he desired not the death of one so beautiful, so he had many of his wise men come to make an argument against the Christian faith against this woman. Once more, Katherine appealed to the philosophers to shame the gods and then finished off her argument with the Truth of Christ, which is hidden from the wise and revealed to infants (Matt. 11:25). The philosophers stood dumbfounded. They had no argument against the Christian. The Emperor demanded they give an answer but the philosophers explained that since the chief of their philosophers could not refute her arguments, neither could they. And they even accepted Christianity that very moment. These philosophers were put to death immediately, receiving a baptism of blood and entering into the Heavenly Kingdom. Katherine was beat and placed in prison.

In prison, she was visited upon by the Emperor's General Porphyrios and the Augusta whose name in some martyrologies is given as Faustina. As the two visited Katherine, they learned of the Christian faith from her and became attuned to it. Katherine explained to them that they would soon suffer greatly for the Kingdom of Heaven, but it would be for a moment in comparison to their eternal glory. When Katherine was released from prison and brought before the Emperor again, he was irate to find that she was in full health and in good nutrition despite that he had ordered her not to be fed while in prison. He inquired who had fed her to which she replied that no man had fed her but the Lord kept her nourished. The Emperor again began to use bribery and persuasion to convince her that it was the gods who gave her the gifts she held and that she should accept them. But she continued to refuse the Emperor's arguments. The Emperor's prefect Hursasden recommended a punishment so wicked that it had only recently been concocted in that era. He had four wheels which spun. Two in the rightward direction, and two in the leftward direction. The wheels meeting together. This is how the disobedient Katherine ought to receive death. The Emperor gave Katherine another opportunity to repudiate Christ. She refused and repudiated the Emperor's pagan deities once more. The wheels began spinning but as they approached Katherine, they broke apart and flew out in every direction. Those in the room met horrific ends as they cried out, "Great is the God of the Christians!"

Faustina entered into the room in the aftermath and ordered the Emperor to cease and desist his reproach of the Christians. He forgot she was his own wife and became incessant with anger. He had her breasts torn out ad as he was readying to strike her head off with a sword, she called out to Katherine who gave her one last blessing and bid her to eternity. The Emperor struck down his own wife. Then, his General Porphyrios honorably buried the body of the Emperor's holy wife and when the Emperor discovered this, he had Porphyrios and his men slain. Desiring to give Katherine one last chance, the Emperor offered Katherine his hand in marriage. But Katherine wouldn't have it. She repudiated the gods. And as the Emperor led her out to be beheaded, she prayed this one final time:

"My Lord Jesus Christ and God, I  thank Thee that Thou hast secured my feet on the rock of patience and hast directed my steps. Stretch out Thy sacred hand, which was nailed to the Cross for our sake, and receive my soul, which today is separated from the body out of love for Thee. Be Thou mindful, O Lord, that we are flesh and blood; and do Thou forgive my transgressions, which I committed unknowingly, before Thy dread judgment seat; but wash away with the blood that I shed for Thee; and grant that my body, cleaved for Thee, will become invisible to those who seek it, keeping it safe and secure wheresoever Thou dost wish. Look down from on high upon Thy people who surround me, O Lord, and guide them to the light of Thy knowledge. Bestow upon those who invoke Thy name, through me, all they seek for their bereavement, that Thy works may be praised by all and that Thou mayest be glorified with Thine unoriginate Father and Holy Spirit, now and ever unto endless ages. Amen."

She ordered the executioner to cut her head off and as she was beheaded, milk flowed from her body and God had angels carry off her body to a secret place on Mount Sinai to the peak of the highest mountain in Sinai which now also bears her name. She now rests eternally in the glory of the Heavenly Kingdom. St. Katherine of Alexandria, pray for us!