St Catherine of Alexandria

Catherine was a princess; her mom and dad were the Queen and King of Alexandria. She was a very smart girl and she had a good education, which made her very wise. Her mom and dad did not know Jesus, so growing up Catherine did not believe in Jesus either. When she was about 14 years old, she had a vision of Mary giving Catherine to Jesus in marriage. From that day on, she believed in Jesus and gave her life to Him. When she was older, she went to visit the Roman Emperor Maxentius, who was killing Christians because of their faith. She tried to convince him that what he was doing was wrong and she shared the Gospel with him, hoping that he would also come to believe in Jesus. Even though all who heard her share the Gospel gave their lives to Jesus that day, the Emperor refused to believe and he had everyone who had just become Christians condemned to death. He threw Catherine into prison but, while she was there, over 200 people came to see her to hear about Jesus, including the wife of the Emperor! They all came to believe in Jesus and became martyrs for their faith in Jesus. The Emperor still tried to change Catherine’s mind about Jesus - he even asked her to become his wife and live a life of luxury in Rome - but she said no and told him she was the Bride of Jesus. This made the Emperor very angry and he had Catherine killed because of her faith in Jesus. St. Joan of Arc, hundreds of years later, said that St. Catherine appeared to her to encourage her to follow Jesus.