Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Saint Catherine of Alexandria was born around 287 AD into a noble family in Alexandria, Egypt. She was extraordinarily intelligent, receiving the finest education available — philosophy, rhetoric, logic, and languages. As a young woman of great beauty and learning, she was sought after by many as a bride. But she had encountered Christ in a vision and dedicated her life to Him.

When Emperor Maxentius arrived in Alexandria and ordered everyone to sacrifice to the gods, Catherine went to him and challenged the pagan practices with brilliant philosophical arguments. Maxentius was so astonished that he gathered fifty of the finest pagan philosophers to debate her. They could not defeat her arguments. Several of them converted to Christianity on the spot. The enraged emperor had them all executed.

Catherine was tortured — including on a spiked wheel designed to tear her apart, which shattered miraculously — and was finally beheaded in 305 AD. She is one of the patron saints of students and scholars, because she used her brilliant mind fully in the service of her faith. The great monastery built in her honor on Mount Sinai is named after her and is one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world.