l of life she was
determined to carry out. It was her firm resolve not to marry. Her
counsellors argued that, as she was endowed with certain qualities
above all creatures, she ought to marry and transmit these gifts to
posterity. The attributes they enumerated were, first, that she came
of the most noble blood in the world; second, that she was the richest
living heiress; third, that she was the wisest, and, fourth, the most
beautiful of all human beings.

The young queen replied that she would marry only one who possessed
corresponding qualities. "He must be," she said, "so noble that all
men shall do him worship," so rich that "he pass all others in
riches," so full of beauty "that angels have joy to behold him;" and
finally, he must be absolutely pure in character, "so meek that he can
gladly forgive all offences." "If ye can find such an one," she
declared, "I will be his wife with all mine heart, if he will
vouchsafe to have me."

Of course all agreed that there never was and never would be a man
such as she described, and the matter was at an end. To Catherine,
however, there came a strange conviction that her ideal was not an
impossible one. All her mind and heart were filled with the image of
the perfect husband she had conceived. She continually mused how she
might find him.

While she thought on these things, an old hermit came to her one day
saying that he had had a vision, and had been sent with the message
that her chosen bridegroom awaited her. Catherine at once arose and
followed the hermit into the desert. Here it was revealed to her that
the perfect man she had dreamed of was Jesus, the Christ, and to this
heavenly bridegroom she was united in mystic marriage. Returning to
her palace she wore a marriage ring, as the perpetual token of this
spiritual union.

The story explains the subject of our picture. The Christ-child,
seated on his mother's knee, is about to place a ring on St.
Catherine's finger, while St. Sebastian looks on as a wedding guest.
The infant bridegroom performs his part with delight. He holds the
precious circlet between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand,
and with his left singles out St. Catherine's ring finger. The bride's
hand rests on the mother's open palm, held beneath as a support.

[Illustration: THE MARRIAGE OF ST. CATHERINE
_The Louvre, Paris_]

All are watching the child's motions intently; the mother with quiet
pleasure, St. Sebastian with boyish curiosit