Today, we celebrate the feast day of St Catherine of Alexandria. A martyr in the era right before Constantine embraced Christianity, St Catherine of Alexandria died for the faith around the year 305 AD, when she was still a teenager. She was greatly honored and admired by Medieval Christians. Pope John Paul II restored her feast day to the status of memorial in our liturgical calendar in 2002. She was born in Alexandria, Egypt, an important center of learning and education in the ancient world. Catherine was highly educated and came from a noble pagan family. Tradition holds that Catherine was converted to Christianity through a vision she had of the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus, inspiring her to dedicate her life as a virgin and to reject a marriage proposal that she received. Tradition also holds that Catherine came before the Emperor Maxentius during a time of brutal repression of Christians. She successfully defended the faith before a group of pagan philosophers and refused to renounce Christ. She also refused to become the emperor’s mistress. She was beheaded after brutal torture. More than 1,000 years after her death, Catherine would appear in a vision to the young French maid Joan of Arc, urging her to take up arms in defense of France. Joan of Arc would also die a martyr for the faith and become a beloved saint just like St Catherine of Alexandria. In our modern era when Christianity is facing hostility and persecution, when we are having to defend ourselves from different kinds of attacks, Catherine’s example of faith speaks to us very profoundly today.
As we hear Catherine’s witness of faith today, we hear Jesus in the Gospels tell his followers that they will be seized and persecuted, handed over to synagogues and prisons, led before governors and kings, and will be called to give testimony of the their faith. Jesus tells them that he will accompany them in their persecution, giving them courage, and helping them with the words they need to say to defend themselves. Sometimes we are called to suffer and to make sacrifices for our faith. Let us pray that we may have the courage to be true to our faith, no matter the cost.
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