Saint Catherine of Alexandria, honored daughter, branch of virtue, crown of laurel.

Invitatory:   By your virtues as by rays of the sun you enlightened the unbelieving philosophers, and like the most bright moon you drove away the darkness of disbelief from those walking in the night; you convinced the queen, and also chastised the tyrant, God-summoned bride, blessed Catherine. You hastened with desire to the heavenly bridal chamber of the fairest fairest Bride-groom Christ, and you were crowned by Him with a royal crown; standing before Him with the angels, pray for us who keep your most sacred memory. - Orthodox Troparion in tone 4

St. Catherine of Alexandria [c. AD 287 - c. AD 305]  patron saint of apologists; craftsmen who work with a wheel (potters, spinners, etc.); the archivist; attorney; barrister; bibliophile, educator; feminine elder, jurist; knife grinder/knife sharpener; instructor and student at every level of knowledge; lawyer; librarian; maidens; mechanics; millers; nurses; philosophers; preachers; scholars; schoolchildren; scribes; secretaries; seekers; single women; tanners; theologians; those in transition to other dimensions, University of Paris; wheelwrights, and young girls. Divine advisor to St. Joan of Arc

Feast Day:  In the 12th century the Crusaders returning from the East brought back her story and introduced devotion to her in Europe. November 25, and November 24 [Eastern Orthodox churches in Russia]

Legend: St. Catherine rejected many offers of marriage. She was transported to heaven in vision and betrothed to Christ by the Virgin Mary. See The Holy Family with Saints Anne and Catherine of Alexandria,  José de Ribera 1648  at the Metropolitan in New York; Saint Catherine Tended by the Angels and Visited by the Queen, French, Paris, about 1420, at the Getty Museum; and online Titian: St. Catherine at Prayer .

Legend: Catherine (literally 'the pure one') was condemned to death on the breaking wheel, that it broke when she touched it, so she was beheaded. Both symbols, the wheel and sword, are associated with Saint Catherine, as portrayed on the crest of Altena.

Attributes:  sword, crown, palm, wheel, and book.

Places: 

 

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