Miniature Stories of the Saints

Also known as
    Katherine of Alexandria

Profile
    Apocryphal. Nobility. Learned in science and oratory. Converted to Christianity after receiving a vision. When she was 18 years old, during the persecution of Maximus, she offered to debate the pagan philosophers. Many were converted by her arguments, and immediately martyred. Maximus had her scourged and imprisoned. The empress and the leader of Maximus' army were amazed by the stories, went to see Catherine in prison. They converted and were martyred. Maximus ordered her broken on the wheel, but she touched it and the wheel was destroyed. She was beheaded, and her body whisked away by angels.

    Immensely popular during the Middle Ages, there were many chapels and churches devoted to her throughout western Europe, and she was reported as one of the divine advisors to Saint Joan of Arc. Her reputation for learning and wisdom led to her patronage of libraries, librarians, teachers, archivists, and anyone associated with wisdom or teaching. Her debating skill and persuasive language has led to her patronage of lawyers. And her torture on the wheel led to those who work with them asking for her intercession. One of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.

    While there may well have been a noble, educated, virginal lady who swayed pagans with her rhetoric during the persecutions, the accretion of legend, romance and poetry has long since buried the real Catherine.

Died
    beheaded c.305 in Alexandria, Egypt

Canonized
    Pre-Congregation

Representation
    spiked wheel; woman strapped to the spiked wheel on which she was martyred; woman arguing with pagan philosophers

Profile
One of five children born to Jacques d'Arc and Isabelle Romee. Shepherdess. Mystic. From age 13 she received visions from Saint Margaret of Antioch, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, and Michael the Archangel.

In the early 15th century, England, in alliance with Burgundy, controlled most of what is modern France. In May 1428 Joan's visions told her to find the true king of France and help him reclaim his throne. She resisted for more than three years, but finally went to Charles VII in Chinon and told him of her visions. Carrying a banner that read "Jesus, Mary", she led troops from one battle to another. She was severely wounded, but her victories from 23 February 1429 to 23 May 1430 brought Charles VII to the throne. Captured by the Burgundians during the defence of Compiegne, she was sold to the English for 10 thousand francs. She was put on trial by an ecclesiastical court conducted by Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais, a supporter of England, and was excuted as a heretic. In 1456 her case was re-tried, and Joan was acquitted (23 years too late).

"About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they're just one thing, and we shouldn't complicate the matter." - Saint Joan of Arc, as recorded at her trial

Born
6 January 1412 at Greux-Domremy, Lorraine, France

Died
burned alive on 30 May 1431 at Rouen, France

Beatified
    11 April 1905 by Pope Saint Pius X

Canonized
    16 May 1920 by Pope Benedict XV

Also known as
    Lucia of Syracuse
    Lucia de Syracuse

Memorial
    13 December

Profile
    Rich, young Christian of Greek ancestry. Raised in a pious family, she vowed her life to Christ. Her Roman father died when she was young. Her mother, Eutychia, arranged a marriage for her. For three years she managed to keep the marriage on hold. To change the mother's mind about the girl's new faith, Lucy prayed at the tomb of Saint Agatha, and her mother's long haemorrhagic illness was cured. Her mother agreed with Lucy's desire to live for God, and Lucy became known as a patron of those with maladies like her mother's.

    Her rejected pagan bridegroom, Paschasius, denounced Lucy as a Christian to the governor of Sicily. The governor sentenced her to forced prostitution, but when guards went to fetch her, they could not move her even when they hitched her to a team of oxen. The governor ordered her killed instead. After torture that included having her eyes torn out, she was surrounded by bundles of wood which were set afire; they went out. She prophesied against her persecutors, and was executed by being stabbed to death with a dagger. Her name is listed in the prayer "Nobis quoque peccatoribus" in the Canon of the Mass.

    Legend says her eyesight was restored before her death. This and the meaning of her name led to her connection with eyes, the blind, eye trouble, etc.

Born
    c.283 at Syracuse, Sicily

Died
    stabbed in the throat c.304 at Syracuse, Sicily; her relics are honoured in churches throughout Europe

Canonized
    Pre-Congregation

Name Meaning
    light; bringer of light (= Lucy)

Patronage
    against blindness
    against dysentery
    against epidemics
    against eye disease
    against hemorraghes
    authors
    Begijnendijk, Flemish Brabant, Belgium
    blind people
    Conzano, Italy
    cutlers
    eye problems
    glaziers
    laborers
    martyrs
    Mtarfa, Malta
    peasants
    Perugia, Italy
    saddlers
    salesmen
    sore eyes
    sore throats
    stained glass workers
    Syracuse, Sicily, Italy
    throat infections
    Villa Santa Lucia, Latium, Italy
    writers

Profile
Healed from a crippling disorder by a vision of the Blessed Virgin, which prompted her to give her life to God. After receiving a vision of Christ fresh from the Scourging, she was moved to join the Order of the Visitation at Paray-le-Monial in 1671.

Received a revelation from our Lord in 1675, which included 12 promises to her and to those who practiced a true to devotion to His Sacred Heart, whose crown of thorns represent his sacrifices. The devotion encountered violent opposition, especially in Jansenist areas, but has become widespread and popular.
Born
22 July 1647 at L'Hautecourt, Burgundy, France
Died
17 October 1690 of natural causes; body incorrupt

Also known as

Teresa of the Infant Jesus; Therese of the Child Jesus; the Little Flower; the Little Flower of Jesus