St. Catherine of Alexandria

ST CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA
From the writing of St Mechthild of Hackeborn7
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As the Soul wondered what praise she should offer God to honor his saints,
he told her, “Praise me because I am the crown of all saints.” She immediately
began to praise and bless the most blessed, ever-venerable Trinity as best she
could because he deigned to be the crown and marvelous dignity of the saints –
and by a singular privilege, he is the golden crown of all virgins. At once she saw
that the glorious Virgin and all the saints were wearing crowns of inconceivable
beauty. No words could express their glory… Now it is true that the beauty and
glory of all the saints is perfected by the blood of Christ, his innocence, and his
other virtues; and there is a tender intimacy and delight between the Lord and
every soul. Yet, by a special privilege, virgins enjoy God with a more delightful
intimacy, a greater pleasure, and a sweeter taste because he is their bridegroom…

On the Feast of the illustrious virgin Catherine, she appeared to the Soul in
a robe all patterned with golden wheels. At the top were two golden hands that
together held up the garment, symbolizing the blissful, undivided union of God
with her soul. Christ’s handmaid reverently greeted her with the antiphon
Hail, beautiful virgin. After this she asked, “Tell me, I pray, what is meant by that
verse we sing to you, whose face and beauty the Lord desired? What is that face of
yours that the Lord desired?”

“My face is the image of the venerable Trinity, which the Lord desired in me
because I had never corrupted it with serious sins. My beauty is that exceptional
beauty that Christ has given his faithful, inexpressibly beautifying them with the
color of his blood. And you should know that every time a person receives
communion, that beauty is renewed and increased. For example, someone who
receives communion even once doubles the beauty in her soul. But if a person
communicates a hundred or a thousand times, she increases the beauty in her soul
a hundred or a thousandfold.”

Then the virgin Mechthild prayed to St. Catherine for someone who was
devoted to her. She replied, “Tell her to recite for me the… antiphon ‘Come my
beloved, come and enter the chamber of your Bridegroom.’… Let her remind me of
the joy I had when Christ the King, my bridegroom, called me with those words.
For when that voice came to my ears, my heart was set ablaze with so much love
and I was dissolved in such unspeakable joy that all the horror of death was
reduced to nothing.”

7 Mechthild of Hackeborn. The Book of Special Grace. Trans. Barbara Newman. New York: Paulist Press, 2017. 111-113.