When we think of saints, we often think of holy, celibate, virtuous people, and when we think of holy, celibate, virtuous people, oftentimes our eyes will glaze over, drool will spill from our mouths, and we will be shaken awake by angry people who like talking of such boring things. Yet, if we go beyond our modern concept of saints and sainthood, if we move past images of men and women who have nothing better to do that pray the day away, we will find juicy details worthy of modern social media sites and soap operas.
For instance, St. Catherine of Alexandria was one of the most popular saints of the Medieval period, and while she was holy, celibate, and virtuous, she also married Jesus. Yep, she married him with the BVMās (Blessed Virgin Mary) blessing and everything. Then once they were married, āChrist made himself so beautiful to behold by so many pleasing features that His radiant splendor filled her heart in her body with wondrous melodies.ā Pretty kinky for a saint.
Now, you may be thinking Catherine lived hundreds of years after Jesusās death, so unless she was into necrophilia, that wouldnāt have really worked out. However, you have forgotten one important thing. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, walked on water, turned water into wine, and came back from the dead himself…so thinking he couldnāt magically appear in Catherineās dreams, ask for her hand in marriage, marry her, and then await her martyrdom so she could join him in Heaven is completely ludicrous. The moral of this story is Jesus gets what Jesus wants, and if he wants to marry someone hundreds of years younger than him, who are we to judge?
That aside, Catherine whose name means pure and virginal, was an ideal saint. She was of noble birth. She converted to Christianity, and converted all of the pagan philosophers who were sent to debate her by the emperor as well as the emperorās wife and general to Christianity. She miraculously healed after being tortured on the wheel. (Having connections to JC is pretty beneficial in the martyrdom business.) She refused to renounce her faith, and when she finally did die, the wheel she was on broke apart killing her torturers in the process. After her death, she was said to have been one of the saints who appeared to Joan of Arc. She really got around.
Though in the 60s, the Vatican decided she was too ideal, too holy, too virtuous, and too pure. Alas! Jesusās best girl was stripped of her sainthood and called a figment of the medieval imagination. I canāt imagine that will go over too well when those responsible meet their maker… insulting someoneās wife isnāt the best way to get on Jesusās good side in the afterlife.
Still, whether she was real or not, to the people of the Middle Ages, she was as real as you or me. She appears in many forms of medieval artwork, make known by her wheel. So, when non-AMRS folk start droning on about how boring the medieval period was and how cloistered and repressed the people were, when they start talking about how we should be more like they were and less apt to discuss sex and violence, when they say we should have the patience of a saint, instead of drifting into boredom, simply think of Catherine and smile.
