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St. Catherine - Dolfi wood carving online shop; Saint Catherine of Alexandria Martyr
The texts of popular literature speak of Catherine as a beautiful eighteen-year-old Christian girl, the daughter of nobles, who lived in Alexandria. Maximinus Daia, who was appointed governor of Egypt and Syria, arrived here in 305. Grandiose festivals were celebrated on the occasion, including the sacrifice of animals to pagan deities. This was a compulsory course for all subjects. Catherine, however, calls on Maximinus to recognize Jesus Christ as the Savior of humanity and rejects the sacrifice. Unable to persuade the young woman to worship the gods, Maximinus proposed to Katharina. When the young woman refused, the governor sentenced her to a gruesome death: a large gear would tear her body apart. It will be a miracle to save the girl who will be beheaded. According to legend, angels miraculously brought her body from Alexandria to Sinai, where the hill near Gebel Musa (Mount of Moses) is still called Gebel Katherina. This would have taken place in November 305.
Feast day: November 25th - Optional commemoration
Alexandria, III-IV centuries
Patronage: philosophers, students, millers
Etymology: Catherine = pure woman, from Greek
Emblem: ring, palm, wheel
Saint Catherine, according to tradition, virgin and martyr in Alexandria, full of sharp intellect, wisdom and strength of spirit. Her body is the object of pious veneration in the monastery on Mount Sinai.
This is the elusive Catherine, without certain news of life and death. And she is the ubiquitous Catherine in Europe because her cult spread, which then also influenced popular literature and folklore. Some texts written between the sixth and tenth centuries speak of her, i.e. later than the year 305, which is given as the year of her death. And here's how her character emerges from these stories full of imaginative details. Catherine was a beautiful eighteen-year-old Christian girl, the daughter of nobles, who lived in Alexandria.
Here arrived in 305 Maximinus Daia, who was appointed governor of Egypt and Syria (he would proclaim himself "Augustus", i.e. emperor, in 307 and die by suicide in 313). Grandiose festivals were celebrated on the occasion, including the sacrifice of animals to pagan deities. It was an obligatory act for all subjects, including Christians, who were still being persecuted. Catherine stood before Maximinus and demanded that he instead recognize Jesus Christ as the Savior of humanity and refused the sacrifice.
Maximinus then called together a group of Alexandrian intellectuals to encourage them to worship the gods. But it was Catherine who convinced them to become Christians. Because of this willing conversion, Maximin had them all killed, then called Katharina back and even proposed to her. Another refusal, more denials, until the governor sentenced her to a gruesome death: a large gear would tear her body apart.
A new miracle saves the young woman, who is then beheaded: but the angels miraculously bring her body from Alexandria to Sinai, where the hill near Gebel Musa (Mount of Moses) is still called Gebel Katherina today. This will take place on the 24th-25th. November 305. And some scholars believe that the legendary story, through its transfiguration, indicates an actual transfer of the body to the mountain, but this occurred at a later date. Finally, at an unknown date, the remains of Gebel Katherina were brought to the monastery dedicated to her under this mountain.
Such an unreliable biography of her contrasts with the reality of a widespread cult outside Egypt. We find her in the Roman Basilica of San Lorenzo, in an 8th century painting with her name written vertically: Ca/te/ri/na; in Naples (10th-11th centuries) in the catacombs of San Gennaro, and later in many parts of Italy, as well as in France and central-northern Europe, where she also inspired poems, sacred representations and ""Cantari"".
Their annual festival is seen primarily as a celebration of youth. In France, Catherine became the patroness of theology students and the owner of many women's brotherhoods; and, above all, the patroness of seamstress apprentices, who received the name from her that was to last for a long time in Italy: ""Caterinette"". This product is characterized by a sophisticated brunito finish that gives an elegant and high-quality appearance.
