Egyptian History: Who was St Catherine?

St Catherine grew up Dorothea in Alexandria, Egypt. Born 294AD Dorothea was educated in a pagan school where she learned philosophy, rhetoric, poetry, music, physics,maths and astronomy and medicine. The beautiful daughter of an aristocratic pagan family, Dorothea did not lack suitors; a Syrian monk converted her to Christianity.

During the persecution of the 4th century persecution of Christians in the reign of the Roman Emporer Maximinus she confessed her faith and publicly accused the Emperor of sacrificing to idols. Fifty wise men tried in vain to dissuade her. Instead, she persuaded them – through a clever mix of rhetoric and quotation - to believe in Jesus. While the Romans tortured her she succeeded in converting even members of the Emperor's family and several of the Roman aristocracy. After her execution her body vanished: according to tradition, angels transported it to the peak of the highest mountain in Sinai, which now bears her name.

Three centuries later, guided by a dream monks in Sinai found her body, brought it down from the mountain and placed it in a golden casket in their church. The sweet fragrance of her sacred remains is today a continuous miracle.

The story of St Catherine martyrdom was carried to the West by the Crusaders and she became accepted in Europe as a major saint; so, since the 11th century, the Monastery of the Transfiguration has also been known as the monastery of St Catherine.