Looking for Images of St Catherine Today

Northern Europe. Her images are to be found in most medieval and a few more modern churches. There are: stained glass, statues, carvings, paintings, manuscripts, mosaics.

England The Reformation caused the destruction of innumerable works of religious art. Stained glass windows were smashed or defaced, statues had their heads broken off or were removed altogether (some were buried for safety and have since been retrieved. See the statues of St Catherine and St Margaret at Forde Abbey, Dorset).

Statue of St Catherine at Forde Abbey, Dorset

St Catherine's chapel in Abbotsbury lost its altar and whatever images it had at this time - you can still see the altar foundations and niches for the medieval statues. Silver and gold altar services were melted down (the few that survived the Reformation were destroyed in the Civil War). As a result of the Protestant shift in emphasis from pictures and storytelling to the written word, images of the saints, which made medieval churches vibrant and alive, are no longer seen by most people as anything other than interesting decorations. Few British people today are aware of the symbols and stories of the saints. Symbols which identify St Catherine in images are :

c.1290. Cold Overton, Leics, UK	1300's - Deerhurst Priory Church, UK	c.1400's

- Her crown to show her royal birth,
- The hooked wheel, sometimes in pieces, intended instrument of her martyrdom,
- A book to show her learning,
- Long flowing hair, an emblem of virginity
- The sword and palm of martyrdom

Not all of these are necessarily shown together. The colour code in religious paintings was: red for martyrs, sky blue for preachers, white for virgins, green for hope, yellow for the passage of time.

She can most often be found in art works from the 13th to the 16th centuries in:

stained glass, paintings, murals, mosaics, statues and statuettes,
carvings in wood, stone, ivory and alabaster,
etchings on glass, finger rings, lockets, bracelets, pilgrim badges etc.

The representations in art tend to divide into three categories:

- A solitary figure, with several symbolic attributes (see the list above);
- One of a group of saints, sometimes in situations that are historically impossible, such as at the Crucifixion;
- A mystic marriage, in which Mary holds the baby Jesus on her lap, who offers a ring to St Catherine.

The Marriage of St Catherine, Paulo Caliari, 1500's

There are very few churches still dedicated to St Catherine. One is the unique and beautiful all wood church at Honfleur in Normandy,

Honfleur Church, Normandy, France

and there is another at Padua in Italy. but there are many chapels within churches and cathedrals. When these chapels were installed, they were often second only in importance to the Madonna's. Many church bells were dedicated to her in the West Country, and there were several hospitals, notably one on the Thames near the present St Katherine's Dock founded by Queen Matilda in 1148. It moved at some time in the middle ages to what is now Regents Park. In the nineteenth century, having been dormant for almost 300 years, St Catherine re-emerged in the work of the British Arts and Crafts Movement and the Pre-Raphaelites. Her images, mainly as stained glass, have begun to re-appear in churches. For example, Burne-Jones has a window in Holy Trinity, Sloane St, London, and our own church of St Nicholas in Abbotsbury has a modern window showing her - it forms the symbol of our project.

St Nicholas Church, Abbotsbury, UK

Because of her great learning St Catherine was the patron saint of the University of Paris in the middle ages. Cambridge and Oxford universities both have colleges named after her, where her symbols form an intrinsic part of the decoration of the buildings.

Because of her connection to wheels and people who use them, there are some old guilds associated with St Catherine, such as the Haberdashers Guild of the City of London, which owns many historical artefacts linked to the Saint.

	Haberdashers Guild, London, UK

St Catherine's Day: November 25

Since St Catherine's festival on November 25th has been removed from the calendar by the Catholic Church, her day is no longer generally celebrated in catholic countries. The celebrations we know about are:

- A short service is said in the chapel at Abbotsbury by the Vicar.
- An elaborate ceremony is held at the Monastery of St Catherine in Sinai.
- In France, people give tongue-in-cheek 'Catherinette' parties for unmarried girls. The best is probably given by the Paris couture houses. They have a service and entertain their unmarried employees over the age of 25 - the Catherinettes - to a splendid party. They wear exotic hats in St Catherine's colours of green and yellow.
- There is a celebration in the Italian city of Padua

Prayers to St Catherine

The chapel in Abbotsbury is often visited by women who are looking for husbands. There is a prayer for them to say:

A husband, St Catherine

A handsome one, St Catherine

A rich one, St Catherine

A nice one, St Catherine

And soon, St Catherine

We know some people who have tried it: she often does produce a husband. There is a little shrine to the Saint by a pool at Lyons la-Foret in Normandy. Girls are advised to say:

Cat and Wheel

Until fairly recently there were many pubs in England called the 'Cat and Wheel', whose sign was a catherine wheel. At Holt in Wiltshire, the church has catherine wheels carved on the tower and 'catten cakes' were sold on her feast day up until the nineteenth century.