St Catherine of Alexandria

Martyrdom of St Catherine by Giuseppe Cali in Zurrieq church, Malta

Catherine was born of a noble family in Alexandria, her father being the pagan king Costus and her mother queen Sabinella, who both ruled over Alexandria. She was a very intelligent girl who studied the arts, the sciences and philosophy. She had decided at a very young age that she will remain a virgin, and would marry only if she found someone who was more intelligent than her, and was more handsome and was more wealthy than her. This was her way of saying she would be married to Christ because she said: “His beauty is better than the sun, His wisdom governs creation, and His riches are spread all around the universe.” She had converted to Christianity after she had a vision from heaven, at the same time when she started to criticize the emperor Maxentius who used to persecute the Christians. As a sort of revenge, the emperor chose 50 of her friends who had also converted and burned them alive. He even promised Catherine a royal wedding of she accepted to abandon Christianity, but of course, she refused him and ended up in prison.
While in prison, Catherine was able to convert the wife of Maxentius and 200 of his soldiers. They were martyred along with Catherine herself, who was tied to a large wheel. When the wheel broke, she was then beheaded. 1100 years after her death, St Joan of Arc recalls seeing her in a vision, who helped her and encouraged her in her own martyrdom. In sacred art, Catherine is shown as the bride of Christ, with the account of the mystical marriage of St Catherine. In paintings, she is always shown dressed as a princess, with the broken wheel and a palm in her hands, as well as the sword which eventually ended her life as a martyr.