St. Catherine of Alexandria

According to ancient tradition a young Christian noblewoman of immense learning who debated and converted the philosophers sent by the emperor to refute her. Sentenced to death on a spiked wheel — which broke at her touch — she was beheaded. The wheel that bears her name is the symbol of innumerable medieval altarpieces, and Joan of Arc heard her voice.

Though her historical existence is debated, Catherine's story captured the medieval imagination like few other saints. She was said to be of royal blood in Alexandria, educated in the liberal arts and philosophy, and to have experienced a mystical marriage with Christ in which he placed a ring on her finger — an image that inspired countless Renaissance paintings.

Her cult spread from the East to the West through returning Crusaders, and she became one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers invoked against sudden death. She is the patroness of philosophers, students, and unmarried women, and the firework called a "Catherine wheel" preserves her memory in popular culture to this day.