St. Catherine of Alexandria
St. Catherine of Alexandria lived in the Roman empire during the reign of Emperor Maximinus. She was born to a noble family and took advantage of educational opportunities.
At the age of 18, she appeared before the Emperor to argue against his persecution of Christians and argue against the Roman civil religion. The emperor could not match her wits and called scholars in to debate with her. The plan was to get her to recant her faith. However, she converted a number of the scholars and the emperor's wife. Emperor Maximinus ordered her to die at the wheel, but when she touched it, it fell apart. The enraged emperor ordered her beheading.
St. Catherine of Alexandria is considered one of the most powerful saints for intercession.
St. Thomas Aquinas
St. Thomas Aquinas was born in 1226 to a wealthy family related to almost all the noble families of Europe. His family was devastated by his choice to join an order and used extreme measures for two years to get him to change his mind. But St. Thomas Aquinas, with divine assistance, prevailed in his decision.
Famous for his writing, St. Thomas Aquinas retranslated the writings of Aristotle for his day. From 1259-64, he worked on his Summa contra Gentiles which admittedly used more reason than faith to counteract the infuence of Aristotelian thinking in the universities by using their own logic and language against them.
St. Thomas Aquinas is more famous for his Summa Theologica which, although it was never finished, became the basis for modern Catholic teaching. St. Thomas Aquinas taught that Catholic doctrines are not contrary to reason and that they are understood through revelation.
St. Thomas Aquinas had experienced several "revelations," or mystical experiences, during his life. He concluded, "All I have written appears to be as so much straw after the things that have been revealed to me."
Teachers
Pope St.Gregory I (the Great)
Pope St. Gregory I was born in 540 in Sicily to a wealthy patrician family. During his youth the Italian peninsula was in turmoil with repeated military victories of invading barbarians. However, he was able to receive an education and in Rome had the reputation of being the best in grammar and rhetoric. After finishing his education he pursued the usual course of life for a member of a patrician family, i.e., public service.
After a few years of public service, he decided to become a monk. As a monk, he did great penance and later became famous for his arguments against the heresies of his day. He was elected pope in 590.
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