Stanzaic Life of Katherine

Stanzaic Life of Katherine. Middle English Legends of Women Saints. Ed. Sherry Reames. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 2003. Print.

In many ways, Stanzaic Life of Katherine follows many of the formulaic conventions of virgin martyrs, as with the Stanzaic Life of Margaret I read this morning. The differences with Katherine, however, are interesting. Instead of being approached by a would-be suitor, Katherine confronts the emperor in his place of worship. With a rhetorical flourish, Katherine stuns Maxenceus, causing him to send for the greatest philosophers and theologians to defeat her Christian logic. Oddly, rather than countering her Christian proclamation immediately with torture, Maxenceus seeks to combat her at an intellectual level. Within divine aid, Katherine not only out debates the philosophers but manages to convert them all. Maxenceus is furious, sentencing these men to being burned at the stake. This sets a pattern throughout the poem, Katherine converting Maxenceus' followers and the emperor in turn martyring these new converts, including the vicious treatment of his wife. Interestingly, these punishments are all more severe than what Katherine herself receives; she does see torture eventually, but this is always later and to a lesser severity than that acted upon the converts. From the point he meets her, Maxenceus seems to treat Katherine as an equal whom he needs to turn to his own ends, granting her general respect rather than trying to bend her with direct and immediate force. In many ways, the contention between Maxenceus and Katherine is one of philosophy, almost as a demonstration that the word of God is superior to the logic of pagans, possibly a shot at the neo-Classicists of the medieval Church.

On a different note, the relationship Katherine has with Christ is one that makes Margery Kempe's affection of the saint understandable. In others of these virgin martyr narratives, the martyr is often visited by an angel or even the Holy Ghost to affirm their actions. At several points, however, Katherine is visited by Christ directly, who seems to go out of his way to comfort the virgin martyr in her actions. This direct connection is interesting, and combined with Katherine's philosophical bent makes this martyr stand out from the general hagiographical formula.