From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   November 25th - Saint Catherine of Alexandria   
      
   St. Catherine was born in Alexandria of a patrician family. She denounced   
   the   
   Emperor Maxentius in person for his persecution of the Christians, and when   
   50   
   pagan philosophers were converted by her arguments, he had them burned to   
   death.   
      
   When she refused the bribe of a royal marriage if she would apostatize, he   
   had   
   her lashed and imprisoned. On his return home from a camp inspection,   
   Maxentius   
   found that his wife, an officer and 200 soldiers of her guard had been   
   converted. He had them all put to death. He then condemned Catherine to   
   death on   
   a spiked wheel, and when the wheel miraculously broke, he ordered her   
   beheaded.   
      
   She was conducted to the place of her martyrdom followed by a multitude,   
   mainly   
   ladies of high condition who wept at her fate. The virgin walked with a   
   great   
   calm. Before dying she said this prayer:   
      
   "Lord Jesus Christ, my God, I thank Thee for having firmly set my feet on   
   the   
   rock of the Faith and directed my steps on the pathway of salvation. Open   
   now   
   Thy arms wounded on the cross to receive my soul, which I offer in sacrifice   
   to   
   the glory of Thy Name. Forgive the faults I committed in ignorance and wash   
   my   
   soul in the blood I will shed for Thee. Do not leave my body, slaughtered by   
   love for Thee, in the power of those who hate me. Kindly regard this people   
   and   
   give them the knowledge of the truth. Finally, O Lord, in Thy infinite mercy   
   exalt those who will invoke Thee through me so that Thy name be always   
   glorified."   
      
   After saying these words, she told the soldiers to execute their orders, and   
   she   
   was beheaded with but one blow of the sword. It was November 25 (around the   
   year   
   310).   
      
   Soon numerous miracles began to take place. Her body, as she had asked, was   
   carried away by Angels and buried on Mount Sinai so that she might rest   
   where   
   God had written on stone His law, which she had so faithfully kept written   
   on   
   her heart.   
      
   Catherine is one of the 14 Holy Helpers, was one of the voices heard by St.   
   Joan   
   of Arc. She is the patroness of philosophers, scholars, maidens, and   
   attorneys.   
      
      
   Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)   
      
   This excerpt from the life of St. Catherine is so elevated that I lament   
   commenting on it. It would be better to leave it shining alone on the   
   horizon.   
   But since I am asked to analyze it, I will say some words.   
      
   The first thing that occurs to me is the good position of the ladies of high   
   society of those times. Today, such ladies often form a network that   
   slanders   
   and disparages the good cause. What a great potential there was in that   
   country,   
   where the ladies of high condition followed St. Catherine to the place of   
   martyrdom, weeping for her, sympathetic for her, a martyr whose life would   
   be   
   snuffed out by the Emperor's hatred. The Emperor was omnipotent; he could   
   condemn any of them to death; notwithstanding they were there with St.   
   Catherine.   
      
   It is beautiful to see the contrast of spirits in the picture and the   
   different   
   graces the Holy Ghost was giving. The ladies were weeping, probably touched   
   by   
   the gift of tears. But St. Catherine did not weep, she was calm, serene, and   
   walked unswervingly toward death, inundated by another kind of grace of the   
   Holy   
   Ghost. She did not weep over her own situation, that martyrdom which grace   
   moved   
   the others to lament. One can imagine how impressive it was to see that   
   cortege   
   of ladies walking between aisles of soldiers and then to find that the only   
   one   
   who was serene, counseling the others to be tranquil, was St. Catherine, who   
   was   
   shortly to die.   
      
   Then, before her life ended, she said a prayer. It has the beauty of shining   
   lights that fill the skies and emanate from many places. They do not come   
   from   
   just one source, from one central idea.   
      
   So, she began: "Lord Jesus Christ, my God." Even as the Emperor tried to   
   oblige   
   her to adore the idols, she affirmed the divinity of Our Lord to show that   
   she   
   did not recognize any other god but Him.The next thing she said, "I thank   
   Thee   
   for having firmly set my feet on the rock of the Faith and directed my steps   
   on   
   the pathway of salvation." That is to say: I thank You for making me belong   
   to   
   You, the source of my salvation. You are the origin of every good that   
   exists in   
   me. I am good because You are good and gave me the solidity of the Catholic   
   Faith; You made me love virtue and gave me the firmness to practice it. I   
   recognize that everything that exists in me came from You.   
      
   She continued: "Open now Thy arms wounded on the cross to receive my soul,   
   which   
   I offer in sacrifice to the glory of Thy Name." Nothing more beautiful can   
   exist! She asked her Crucified Lord to open His bloodied arms to receive her   
   soul as she left this life, which also saw its earth soaked with the blood   
   of   
   her martyrdom. What a marvelous intimacy! What an encounter: the Martyr of   
   martyrs Our Lord Jesus Christ and this heroic and grandiose martyr St.   
   Catherine   
   of Alexandria! What a magnificent thought, that her blood should intermingle   
   with the blood of Our Lord! What a profound idea of the communion of saints   
   is   
   expressed in such a desire! She had such a great certainty that she would be   
   received into Heaven that she asked Our Lord to embrace her. How admirable   
   such   
   certainty is!   
      
   Then she said: "Forgive the faults I committed in ignorance and wash my soul   
   in   
   the blood I will shed for Thee." She was afraid that she had committed some   
   faults, and she asked to be washed clean by the merit of her martyrdom.   
      
   "Do not leave my body, slaughtered by love for Thee, in the power of those   
   who   
   hate me." After having asked Our Lord to attend to her soul, she asked   
   refuge   
   for her body. You can see the respect she had for her own body, for the   
   sanctity   
   of the body that was her companion in the practice of virtue. And what a   
   magnificent response to this request! Soon after she died, the Angels came   
   and   
   transported her body to the most majestic mountain that exists on earth   
   after   
   Mount Calvary, which is Mount Sinai, where God gave His Law to men.   
      
   "Kindly regard this people and give them the knowledge of the truth." She   
   was no   
   longer thinking of herself, but of the ones she was leaving behind.   
      
   "Finally, O Lord, in Thy infinite mercy, exalt those who will invoke Thee   
   through me, in order that Thy name be always glorified." She was so certain   
   that   
   she would go to Heaven that she was already interceding for those who would   
   pray   
   to her.   
      
   Once this prayer was said, she calmly told the soldiers to carry out her   
   sentence. No trembling, no desire to prolong her life a little more. Also,   
   no   
   precipitation, which sometimes is a reflection of fear. No. She said   
   everything   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)