Why is Saint Catherine of Alexandria important?

Answer 1

The legend of St. Catherine of Alexandria (c. 282-305) has been important in Catholic hagiology since it was first mentioned in the ninth century. It is said that St. Catherine of Alexandria was an extremely learned young girl of noble birth who vowed to remain a virgin all her life. She protested the persecution of Christians under the Roman emperor Maxentius, whose wife she converted, as well as and several soldiers and hundreds of other pagans. Livid with rage, Maxentius ordered the young Catherine to be executed. While young girls are not expected to go as far as to sacrifice their lives for the faith, the story can encourage them to consider Catherine as a role model for virtue. However, we can not even be sure whether Catherine actually existed.
St. Catherine was never mentioned before the ninth century, and some assiduous research has failed to identify Catherine with any historical person. Donald Attwater calls the story of St. Catherine the most preposterous legend of its kind, citing the lack of any positive evidence that she ever existed outside the mind of some Greek writer who first composed what he intended to be simply an edifying romance. Even her name, which comes from the Greek katharos, ('pure'), is suspiciously apt for a virgin martyr, raising the possibility that her legend originated as an allegory. Perhaps even then, Catherine was important as an example to young girls.

Answer 2

Little legitimate information is known about Catherine of Alexandria. All that is known for certainty is she died the death of a martyr. In fact, because of the lack of evidence, she was removed from the Calendar of Saints in 1969. However, additional information about her was eventually uncovered and Pope John Paul II restored her to the status in 2002.

Although contemporary hagiographers look upon the authenticity of the various texts containing the legend of St. Catherine as more than doubtful, it is not therefore meant to cast even the shadow of a doubt around the existence of the saint. But the conclusion reached when these texts have been carefully studied is that, if the principal facts forming the outline are to be accepted as true, the multitude of details by which these facts are almost obscured, most of the wonderful narratives with which they are embellished, and the long discourses that are put into the mouth of St. Catherine, are to be rejected as inventions, pure and simple.

Answer 3

Because she was a Christian Martyr, & very educated. She is also one of the Saints whom Joan of Arc said commanded her to save France from the onslaughts of the English.