ared
themselves Christians, and suffered death at the command of the emperor.

Catherine was not spared, for Maximin made a further attempt to win her.
He offered to make her mistress of the world if she would but listen to
him, and when she still spurned his proposals, he ordered her to the
torture. She was bound to four spiked wheels which revolved in different
directions, that she might be torn into many pieces. But an angel
consumed the wheels by fire, and the fragments flying around killed the
executioners and many of the spectators. The tyrant then ordered her to
be scourged and beheaded. The sentence was carried into effect on
November 25, 307.

A pious legend, recognized by the Church, says that angels bore
Catherine's body to Mount Sinai, and buried it there.

LESSON

ST. CATHERINE, for her erudition and the spirit of piety by which she
sanctified it, was chosen the model and patroness of Christian
philosophers.

Learning, next to virtue, is the noblest quality and ornament of the
human mind. Profane science teaches many useful truths, but when
compared with the importance of the study of the science of the saints,
they are of value only inasmuch as when made subservient to the latter.
The study of the saints was to live in the spirit of Christ. This
science is taught by the Church, and acquired by listening to her
instructions, by pious reading and meditation.

Be intent on learning this science, and order your life according to its
rules. It is the "one thing necessary," for it is the foundation of all
wisdom and true happiness. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom" (_Ps._ cx. 10).

_Prayer of the Church_

O GOD, who didst give the law to Moses on the summit of Mount Sinai, and
by the holy angels didst miraculously transfer there the body of blessed
Catherine, virgin and martyr; grant us, we beseech Thee, to come,
through her intercession, to the mountain which is Christ. Through the
same Christ our Lord. Amen.

XIV

St. Barbara, Virgin and Martyr

LEGEND

NICOMEDIA, a city in Asia Minor, was St. Barbara's birthplace. Her
father Dioscurus was a pagan. Fearing that his only child might learn to
know and love the doctrines of Christianity, he shut her up in a tower,
apart from all intercourse with others. Nevertheless Barbara became a
Christian. She passed her time in study, and from her lonely tower she
used to watch the heavens in their wondrous beauty. She soon became
convin