There have been many executions of high profile people throughout the centuries and many of
them have been linked to religion.
When we think of examples, we think of people such as Thomas More and John Fisher, two people
who were close to Henry VIII who refused to give up on their religious convictions, and
because of this incurred the wrath of the notorious Tudor King.
However executions regarding religion have been going on since before the death of Christ,
and one teenage girl who became a saint following her execution at the start of the fourth century
was Saint Catherine of Alexandria.
Despite being around 17 when she was brutally killed, she is considered within the Christian
church as an important martyr who stood up to the savage Roman Emperor at the time.
So join us today as we look at, ‘The BRUTAL Execution of Saint Catherine of Alexandria.’
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Catherine was the daughter of Constus, who was the governor of Alexandria during the
reign of the Roman Emperor Maxentius.
Maxentius ruled during the years 286 to 305, and Alexandria was known for being a centre
of medical knowledge.
Catherine as a young girl began to study, however she was visited by a vision of the
Virgin Mary and also Jesus.
In this vision, she was told to become christian, and to study christian scripture.
However at the time, the emperor Maxentius was involved in organising large scale persecutions
of Christians, and many were being locked up and tortured for their religions beliefs.
Maxentius during his time as the Emperor was seen as very cruel and bloodthirsty, and he
was also considered to have been a tyrant.
Catherine who noticed the persecution then used her father’s role as the governor of
Alexandria to meet with the emperor and she criticised him for his cruelty and told him
to stop with the persecutions.
She chastised him, but in response Maxentius organised a committee of 50 philosophers to
debate with there, and it was hoped that Catherine would give up her Christian faith.
She never did however and remained firm in her devotion due to the visions she had experienced.
Catherine won the debate against the scholars and was noted for her eloquence and commitment
and a number of the scholars gathered by the Roman Emperor infact converted to Christianity
and themselves were sentenced to death by Maxentius when he heard this.
It was clear to the emperor that Catherine was dangerous for him as she was even skilled
at converting more people to the Christian faith, and Maxentius hated this.
He ordered that Catherine should be thrown in prison and that she should be tortured
horrifically and beaten to force her to recant her faith, and show her support to the Emperor.
She was starved in prison, but it was said that daily a dove came to the window of her
cell and fed her, and it was said this bird was sent from heaven.
During her imprisonment it was also said that Christ visited her, and he told her to continue
the fight against persecutions, and he promised her the crown of everlasting glory should
she remain firm and stand against the guards who brutalised her.
Her wounds from torture were also tended to by angels, but during her time in prison a
huge number of people came to see her.
Scores of people came to see her and spoke with her and Catherine converted all of them
to Christianity, but Maxentius was furious as his own wife even went to see her and converted.
After she was imprisoned for 12 days, the dungeon where she was being kept was opened
and a bright light and scent filled the dungeon and Catherine came forward radiating.
Maxentius had failed to get what he wanted from Catherine, and it was clear that torture
was not even enough to get her to ditch her faith.
Because of this, Maxentius even tried to win her over with a proposal of marriage, believing
that if he married her he could get her to leave her faith and he could get her to submit.
Catherine however refused this, and she said she could not marry as she was infact married
to Jesus Christ, and she even said that she had slept with him and because of this Maxentius
was furious.
He in a blind fit of rage sentenced Catherine to death and ordered that she should be executed
for her faith.
Her execution was performed as part of the persecutions, and she was to be executed in
a horrific way on the spiked breaking wheel.
This is also known as a Catherine wheel, and it was a device that saw someone strapped
to it.
In the Roman Empire this was used to mostly men, but Catherine was to be placed on it.
Someone would be strapped to it belly down, and then a in between the spokes of the wheel
they would be beaten brutally, breaking bones, including legs arms and even the spine.
It was a very brutal method of execution, but as Catherine was brought to the Catherine
wheel, she touched it and it shattered into pieces.
However shocked at this, the Emperor then ordered that she should be beheaded.
It was believed that her shattering the wheel was helped by some form of divine intervention.
But shortly after the wheel had shattered, Catherine was beheaded by a swordsman who
when he struck her head off her body, allegedly no blood came out but following this in the
centuries after she was venerated as a martyr.
There are many different buildings around the world that are named after St Catherine,
for example we recently visited St Catherine’s chapel on the south coast of England.
However there has been some doubt as to whether Saint Catherine’s story is just a legend,
and is devout of historical fact.
The early account of her life comes around 600 years after the date of her martyrdom,
but it was said that some relics of her were discovered around the year 800.
However Saint Catherine has given a number of people around the world faith and inspiration
centuries on.
There was cult that emerged around the time in which her execution, and also in the Medieval
period.
Around the year 800 for example it was claimed that her body was found, but the story of
St Catherine is a rather interesting one, and one which shows the brutality of a roman
emperor, who was renowned for executions and persecution.
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