Speaking the Truth: God's Law and Prophecy in Seinte Katerine

The early thirteenth-century Seinte Katerine, of the "Katherine Group" of anchoritic works, readily lends itself to comparison with two groups of texts. The companion saints' lives of Juliana and Margaret provide an obvious starting point: the three legends are associated in several manuscripts, they share a common genre, and they even have a number of themes and plot elements in common. Secondly, this version of the legend of Saint Katherine of Alexandria is one of many extant accounts of that saint's martyrdom, each of which varies from the others in details, but also in major elements. Jacqueline Jenkins has recently observed that "the ability to adapt, and in so doing represent or reflect contemporary social, political or religious trends, is an important feature of the St Katherine legends, and must account for a large part of the saint's enduring popularity." A number of scholars have noted that Katherine stands apart from Juliana and Margaret as much as she shares common features with them. However, the distinctive features of Scinte Kriterine, relative both to Seinte Juliene and Seinte Margarete and to other versions of the Katherine legend, warrant further attention. Foremost among these features is the thirteenth-century author's emphasis upon Katherine's learnedness in, and fidelity to, God's law. While this feature is present in the stories of Juliana and Margaret, and in various portrayals of Katherine, it achieves prominence uniquely in the Seinte Katerine legend. Two related themes in that legend appear to be inextricable from its focus on God's law: the author's emphasis on his heroine's "true belief," and her association with the great prophets of Holy Scripture. This multi-faceted focus results in a text which fashions Katherine (an alleged fourth-century Alexandrian saint who probably never existed) into an embodiment, in a single life, of the principles which were central to the lives of its anchoritic readers—even though Katherine's actions would not have served as literal models for their own.