Saint Catherine Of Alexandria

17th century

Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Oil on copper, 11 x 8 cm

With frame, 21 x 18 cm

The Saint represented on this small copper is Catherine of Alexandria, a martyr venerated by both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Lived between the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. C., information on his life is contained in sources dating back several centuries, among which the Golden Legend of the Dominican friar Jacopo da Voragine should be mentioned. According to these sources, she lived in Alexandria, Egypt, where she grew up an orphan, surrounded by the attentions of many suitors given her great beauty; however, one night she dreamed of the Madonna and Child putting the ring on her, consecrating her as sponsa Christi and awakening in her the vocation for a life entirely devoted only to Christ and no other man. As regards Catherine's martyrdom, it was due to her refusal to honor the pagan rites that occurred during a festival held in honor of the Roman emperor in 305 at the palace. Catherine refused the sacrifices and asked the emperor to recognize Jesus Christ as the redeemer of humanity, arguing her invitation with philosophical depth. The emperor tried to convince her to venerate the gods without success and thus sentenced her to death with the torture of the cogwheel. During his martyrdom, lightning descended from heaven and split the cogwheel in half, forcing the emperor to behead, from whose severed neck not blood flowed but milk, a symbol of his purity. The episodes of her life are found in the attributes with which the saint is usually represented: the crown, symbol of royalty and mystical marriage with Christ, the broken cogwheel and the sword, symbols of martyrdom together with the common palm of martyrs. Also in this copper we find these objects, associated with a serene figure with a relaxed pose while gazing ecstatically at the clear sky from which faint rays of divine light descend.