In the medieval period, saints became increasingly important in the Christian world, where they were upheld as ideals of both religious and secular behavior. The Miniature Altar of St. Catherine is a small devotional altar, only 5.9 inches tall, that depicts St. Catherine of Alexandria. The portable boxwood altar with a small carved depiction of the saint within its frame was created c. 1520, in present-day Germany or the Netherlands. It was designed to be knelt before during the owner’s private prayers with St. Catherine serving as the focus of their devotion. In the altar, St. Catherine stands with her hands slightly outstretched, holding a sword and an open book and dressed in an opulent gown and headpiece in popular late medieval style. Behind her is the bust of a man, likely Emperor Maxentius, who was important to St. Catherine’s legend. She was considered unique among saints, and hagiographies - biographies of the saints - from this period describe her story: she was born into nobility around 300 AD and converted to Christianity, violating legal and social codes. She was arrested by the emperor Maxentius, who convened a panel of fifty great philosophers to persuade her to abandon her faith and marry the emperor. Utilizing her education in the liberal arts and her verbal eloquence, she instead convinced them to convert, along with 200 Roman soldiers, and resisted the emperor’s sexual advances. She was first tortured on a breaking wheel - where her bones were broken and her body was tied around a wheel. Miraculously, this torture did not kill her, and so she was beheaded. The popularity of her cult in the late medieval period among new female monastic orders was likely due to the way her story embraces parts of traditional female hagiography while giving her more agency and power. 

Brandon Schuster, class of 2023 [Bibliography]