The Feast of St Catherine of Alexandria.
Catherine, if legend is to be believed, was a beautiful and intelligent virgin during the time of the most intense persecution of Christians by the Roman emperor, around the year 300. She presented herself to the emperor Maximinus and castigated him for his murderous behaviour. When he produced a group of philosophers to demonstrate that her religious beliefs were false she defeated them in debate; astonished, many of them converted to Christianity and were executed for so doing. When members of the court came to view this young intellectual marvel, they too were converted by her eloquence and they too suffered martyrdom. Finally, the emperor ordered her broken on the wheel but the wheel broke when she was laid upon it. In the end, she was beheaded, whereupon angels took her body to Mt Sinai where today her relics can be seen at St Catherine’s monastery.
She is the patron saint of young women (and as such was a magical Christmas gift-bringer to girls, in much the same line as St Nicholas), of philosophers and those whose work involves wheels – watchmakers, for example. Her symbol, or attribute, is the wheel which is portrayed as broken. In the picture above, as is customary in religious art, Catherine is carrying the instrument which killed her (a sword). Beside her is a palm branch, symbolic of martyrdom.