I get the Magnificat monthly and there was a lengthy article in the November issue about St. Catherine (my patron saint). Here is an excerpt from the article. . .
…"For nearly a millenium, Catherine of Alexandria was one of the most celebrated female saints in Christendom. She was the embodiment of feminine excellence. She was the patroness of philosophy, of eloquence, of libraries. Her image graced churches everywhere and her symbol of martrydom, the spiked wheel known as the “Catherine Wheel”, was readily identifiable. Spinners, lacemakers, wheelwrights, cart drivers, ropeworkers, carpenters, millers, and anyone working in a trade connected with wheels invoked her and celebrated her feat.
And then she disappeared.
With the changes after Vatican II, many of the venerable old saints who had graced the liturgical calendar for centuries were removed in order to make room for new saints. Saints Christopher, Valentine, Linus, Maurice, Edward the Confessor, and most of the ancient virgin martyrs, like Catherine, were cut from the calendar. Their feasts were no longer celebrated by the universal Church.
As time marches on, new Christian heroes emerge. Yet older saints manage to gain new significance, like Agatha, who is now invoked against breast cancer, and the plague-saint, Sebastian, who is today invoked by those suffering from AIDS. Significantly, the memory of Catherine of Alexandria managed to endure for the last four decades even though her feast was not celebrated. She remains a potent female figure, so much so that she was recently reinstated on the liturgical calendar. And she has returned to her old feast day of November 25.
Like so many of the displaced saints, Catherine’s story is shrouded in legend. . ."
A beautiful painting of St. Catherine and several other now-obscure virgins, such as St. Barbara and St. Dorothy, is shown, and the symbols of the painting (the wheel, an enclosed garden, a dragon, a basket of flowers) are discussed.
The last words of the article in the Magnificat point, I think, to both worry and hope.
". . .The Second Vatican Council manded that all seminarians learn to interpret and appreciate Christian art, but it is an order that has gone largely unheeded. Thus the stories and symbols of a rich Catholic heritage drift slowly into obscurity.
Like the virgins assembled here."
The worry, of course is that in the last several decades many Catholics HAVE lost sight of stories and symbols of their heritage.
The hope is, that with the reemergence of those “obscured and displaced” saints, there will likewise be a reemergence, another renaissance if you will, of the richness and beauty of our Catholic heritage.
Let us pray: St. Catherine of Alexandria, pray for us.
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