Who is St. Catharine?

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 patroness of students, unmarried girls, philosophers and scholars and is believed to help protect against sudden death.

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. Enlightened, the scholars confessed their newfound faith in Christ, for which they were burnt alive.

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), and she was then beheaded. Angels bore Catherine’s body to the highest peak of Mount Sinai where its presence was miraculously revealed to monks during the building of their fortress monastery in the 6^th century. They brought her relics to the monastery where they have exuded a heavenly fragrance ever since.