Feast day of St Catherine of Alexandria

Catherine was a virgin (nun) and martyr of noble birth in Alexandria who defended the Christian faith against 'heathen' philosophers (c. 310 CE) commanded by Emperor Maximinus.

She was sentenced to be killed on a breaking wheel, now known as 'St Catherine's wheel', or 'catherine wheel', set with spikes or razors ...

At St Catherine's, near Edinburgh, was a spring that exuded petroleum, and which was believed to be curative. The locals said that St Catherine was commissioned by Margaret, the consort of Malcolm Canmore, to bring her a quantity of holy oil from Mt Sinai. In passing over Lothian, she dropped a few drops of the oil. On her earnest supplication, a well appeared at the spot, forever oozing some of the precious and health-giving oil.

Anciently, women and girls in Ireland kept a fast on every Wednesday, Saturday and Catherine's Day. The reason was for the improvement of husbands or the getting of good ones.

St Catherine was patroness of single women, and young women who met on this day in Britain called it going 'Cathar'ning' or 'caterning' (when 'cattern cakes' are eaten). This was still the case in mid-19th-Century England, at least in the more remote parts ...

Categories: saints, calendar+customs