St. Catherine of Alexandria from the facade of St. Vincent Ferrer in New York. Once one of the greatest of saints in the West – as she still is in the East – St Catherine was struck off the Roman calendar in 1969 but was later “rehabilitated.”
According to myriad medieval manuscripts St. Catherine, a member of the original super powered squad known as the Fourteen Holy Helpers, was a brilliantly bright young woman of birth noble who went before his imperious Imperator Maximinus to quietly correct him for worshiping ersatz eternals and to unabashedly upbraid him for his pernicious persecution of Christians. Some of his incredibly inscrutable scholars and famously fine philosophers were canonically commissioned to definitively debate our holy heroine but she ended up confounding and converting many of them, so they were painfully put to death and Catherine was beaten and jailed. The Emperor’s good wife, interestingly intrigued by Catherine, went to visit her with the leader of the Emperor’s troops. They, too, (naturally) were converted and (of course) put to death. Then came Catherine’s turn; she was condemned to die on the wheel, but when she touched it, it suddenly shattered. Exasperated Max had her beheaded. Legend says that the angels carried her body to Mt. Sinai, where a monastery under her patronage was established and flourishes to this day under the care of Orthodox monks. Over 1,100 years following her martyrdom, St. Catherine was identified as one of the Saints who appeared and counselled, along with St. Margaret and St. Michael, St. Joan of Arc.
Now for the fun stuff……On St. Catherine’s Day, the twenty fifth of November, it is quaintly customary for unmarried women to pray for husbands, and to honor women who’ve reached 25 years of age but haven’t married — called “Catherinettes” in France. Catherinettes send postcards to each other, and friends of the Catherinettes make hats for them – traditionally using the colors yellow (faith) and green (wisdom), often outlandishly outrageous – and crown them for the day. Pilgrimage is made to St. Catherine’s statue, and she is asked to intercede in finding husbands for the unmarried lest they “don St. Catherine’s bonnet” and become spinsters. The Catherinettes are supposed to wear the hat all day long, and they are usually feted with a meal among friends. Because of this hat-wearing custom, French milliners have big parades to show off their wares on this day. The French say that before a girl reaches 25, she prays: “Donnez-moi, Seigneur, un mari de bon lieu! Qu’il soit doux, opulent, libéral et agréable!” (Lord, give me a well-situated husband. Let him be gentle, rich, generous, and pleasant!”) After 25, she prays: “Seigneur, un qui soit supportable, ou qui, parmi le monde, au moins puisse passer!” (Lord, one who’s bearable, or who can at least pass as bearable in the world!”) And when she’s pushing 30: “Un tel qu’il te plaira Seigneur, je m’en contente!” (“Send whatever you want, Lord; I’ll take it!”). An English version goes, “St Catherine, St Catherine, O lend me thine aid. And grant that I never may die an old maid.”
And for pious pyromaniacs there is the Catherine Wheel which is a type of firework consisting of a powder-filled spiral tube, mounted with a pin through its center. When lit it rotates quickly, producing a dazzling display of spectacular sparks and captivating colored flame.
Now, now Ladies, pretty please put those matches down….. I only relate the old legends, I don’t always endorse them…. Really……
Mr. Screwtape
2 Catherinettes in Paris in 1909. This custom continues to the present day among workers in the fashion industry in France. (source “Catherinettes” fr.wikipedia.org)
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