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CATHERINE
OF ALEXANDRIA, VIRGIN & MARTYR (+310 A.D.)
Hello.
I’m Father Gilles Surprenant. This is the last week in Ordinary Time and Sunday
we begin our Advent preparation for Christmas. Only seven weeks ago we began
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Sign of the +
HOMILY
Here we
are still in November and we continue to remember the dead and pray for them. Many
are not remembered that were not wanted: the homeless, the abandoned, the
refugees, those who are trafficked and sexually exploited, those who die alone
in back alleys, and the ongoing slaughter of the innocents killed from the womb
every day. Whether they are aware of it or not, all those who survive the
unwanted dead also suffer because of their loss.
When in
1982 my baby nephew was killed in a car crash that almost killed my sister and
mother, it seemed unfair that the baby would never get to grow up. It was so
unfair for millions to die in the Holocaust of WWII that many people weren’t
sure they still wanted to believe in God. Yesterday we remembered 130,000
Christians martyred in Vietnam over two centuries. Christians have been
butchered since the time of Jesus’ Ascension into heaven, beginning with the 12
apostles and thousands of Christians for the next 300 years. It’s all so
unfair.
Our God
has never done or said anything to give the impression that life should be
fair. He chose to create angels and human beings with the priceless gift of
free will, which meant from the start that it would be possible for some angels
and some human beings to abuse this gift.
We can
certainly not accuse Jesus of leading us astray. As we heard in the brief quote
today from Jesus’ warnings to his disciples; Jesus knew with certainty that
some of us would be put to death just as He himself was about to be put to
death. God the Father was not afraid of giving us the gift of free will and
Jesus his Son was not afraid to endure the misuse of our free will when our
ancestors turned against Him and put him to death; as He knew they would.
In the
vision that God gave to the beloved disciple, the apostle and evangelist John,
he saw that God will demonstrate at the end of time that He actually is fair
and just as well as merciful. John needed a vision in order to see that what
happens in this life is directly connected to what will happen next in
eternity, once we pass through the thin veil of death into God’s presence.
Every
good done in this world will be rewarded in eternity, and every evil done in
this life will suffer the consequences, and in some cases, forever. God is
willing to forgive if only we will repent of our evil and ask forgiveness from
those we have harmed and from God. In the case of abortion, those little infants
now comforted in God’s radiant love and life-giving presence can also forgive
if those who let them die will ask to be forgiven. God will also forgive.
It is
estimated that worldwide in 50 years over 2 billion infants have been terminated
and extricated from their mothers’ wombs. That is 30 times the number of deaths
caused by WWII. A month from now we will honor the handful of Holy Innocents
who were killed by King Herod who felt threatened by the birth of Jesus. As
over 150,000 little innocents cry out to heaven each day at the moment of their
violent death; those who abandon them also cry out in silence.
Let us
remember now before God those hundreds of thousands who today will die unwanted
and unremembered; as well as for those who were unable to make room for them; for
they – like each of us – are loved by God: the Father, + the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
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St.
Catherine of Alexandria, Egyptian martyr
St. Catherine of Alexandria,
(died c. early 4th century, Alexandria, Egypt; feast
day November 25), one of the most popular early Christian martyrs and one of
the Fourteen Holy Helpers (a group of Roman Catholic saints venerated for their
power of intercession). She is the patron of philosophers and scholars
and is believed to help protect against sudden death.
St. Catherine of
Alexandria is not mentioned before the 9th century, and her historicity is
doubtful. According to legend, she was an
extremely learned young girl of noble birth, possibly a princess. She protested
the persecution of Christians under the Roman emperor Maxentius—whose wife and several
soldiers she converted while imprisoned—and defeated the most eminent scholars
summoned by Maxentius to oppose her. During her subsequent torture, she
professed that she had consecrated her
virginity to Jesus
Christ, her spouse, and was sentenced to death. The spiked
wheel by which she was to be killed broke when she touched it (whence the
term Catherine
wheel); she was then beheaded.
After her death,
angels allegedly took her body to Mount Sinai, where,
according to legend, it was discovered about 800 CE. In
the Middle Ages, when the story
of her mystical marriage to Christ was widely circulated, she was one of the
most popular saints and one of the most important virgin martyrs. St. Joan of Arc claimed
that Catherine’s was among the heavenly voices that spoke to her.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Catherine-of-Alexandria
Saint Catherine
of Alexandria’s Story
According to
the Legend of St.
Catherine, this young woman converted to
Christianity after receiving a vision. At the age of 18, she debated 50 pagan
philosophers. Amazed at her wisdom and debating skills, they became Christians—as
did about 200 soldiers and members of the emperor’s family. All of them were
martyred.
Sentenced to be
executed on a spiked wheel, Catherine touched the wheel and it shattered. She
was beheaded. Centuries later, angels are said to have carried the body of
Saint Catherine to a monastery at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Devotion to her
spread as a result of the Crusades. She was invoked as the patroness of
students, teachers, librarians and lawyers. Catherine is one of the 14 Holy
Helpers, venerated especially in Germany and Hungary.
Reflection – The pursuit of
God’s wisdom may not lead to riches or earthly honors. In Catherine’s case,
this pursuit contributed to her martyrdom. She was not, however, foolish in
preferring to die for Jesus rather than live only by denying him. All the
rewards that her tormentors offered her would rust, lose their beauty, or in
some other way become a poor exchange for Catherine’s honesty and integrity in
following Jesus Christ. Saint Catherine of Alexandria is the Patron Saint
of: Lawyers, Librarians, Philosophers, Students, Teachers.
https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-catherine-of-alexandria
St. Catherine of Alexandria
Saint Catherine
of Alexandria is a canonized saint in the Catholic Church who, per Christian
tradition, was martyred around 305 in Alexandria, Egypt. Of course, the Church
of the first Millennium was undivided. She is also recognized as the Great
Martyr and Saint by the Orthodox Church. There are no surviving primary sources
attesting to her existence, but the fact that her memory, and the stories about
her, have been kept alive - and handed down in the tradition - certainly
confirm her existence, and her life of heroic virtue and holiness.
The young saint
was born around 287 in Alexandria, Egypt. At that time, Alexandria was one of
the finest cities in the world, and a center of learning and culture as well as
faith. Christian tradition states she was of noble birth, possibly a princess.
As a member of the nobility, she was also educated and was an avid scholar.
Around the age of fourteen, she experienced a moving vision of Mary and the
infant Jesus, and she decided to become a Christian. Although she was a
teenager, she was very intelligent and gifted. When the emperor Maxentius began
persecuting Christians, Catherine visited him to denounce his cruelty.
Rather than order
her execution, Maxentius summoned fifty orators and philosophers to debate her.
However, Catherine was moved by the power of the Holy Spirit and spoke
eloquently in defense of her faith. Her words were so moving that several of
the pagans converted to Christianity and were immediately executed. Unable to
defeat her rhetorically or to intimidate her into giving up her belief, the
emperor ordered her to be tortured and imprisoned.
Catherine was
arrested and scourged. Despite the torture, she did not abandon her faith. Word
of her arrest and the power of her faith quickly spread and over 200 people
visited her. According to some legends, the emperor's own wife, Valeria
Maximilla was converted by Catherine. The emperor eventually executed his own
wife over her conversion. However, this is not mentioned in the historical
record and may be a legend. It is believed that Maximilla was alive and with
her husband at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312, seven years after the
death of Catherina.
Following her
imprisonment, Maxentius made a final attempt to persuade the beautiful
Catherine to abandon her faith by proposing marriage to her. This would have
made her a powerful empress. Catherine refused, saying she was married to Jesus
Christ and that her virginity was dedicated to him. The emperor angrily ordered
her to be executed on a breaking wheel. The breaking wheel is an ancient form
of torture where a person's limbs are threaded among the spokes and their bones
are shattered by an executioner with a heavy rod. It is a brutal punishment
that results in a slow and painful death, normally reserved for the worst
criminals.
When Catherine
was presented before the wheel, she touched it and a miracle occurred that
caused the wheel to shatter. Unable to torture her to death, the emperor simply
ordered her beheaded. One account claimed that angels took her body to Mt.
Sinai. In the sixth century, the Emperor Justinian ordered a monastery
established in her name. The monastery, Saint Catherine's, remains to this day
and is one of the oldest in the world.
Around the year
800, a legend spread that her body has been found with her hair still growing
and a constant stream of oil coming from her body. Nothing exists to this day
of her remains, and her very existence has been called into question. Despite
these questions, and the possibility that her story may be confused with that
of one or more other saints, she is still venerated in the Eastern Orthodox
Church as a Martyr. Many Roman Catholics also venerate her to this day as one
of the great virgin saints of the early Church.
During the
medieval period, St. Catherine was one of the most famous saints of the Church.
She has was a popular subject in renaissance art and many paintings from the
period are dedicated to her.
Catherine is still a very popular Catholic name. The
spiked wheel is a popular symbol often associated with St. Catherine. Her feast
day is Nov. 25, and she is the patron of a great many professions and causes.
Her patronage includes students, unmarried girls, apologists and many more as
well as many places around the world.
Go to this website,
click on this button to Continue reading about St. Catherine of Alexandria
https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=341
© 2006-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2006-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
