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Catholic sprouts

The Daily Podcast for Catholic kids

that strives to plant seeds of faith.

Greetings young squire sprouts. Today is the 25th day in the 11th month in the year of

our Lord, 2023. My name is Sir Roland Paterlaught, and you're listening to Saturdays with

Sir Roland on Catholic Sprouts where every Saturday we discuss the art of dragon slain.

Today is the feast day of the Virgin martyr St. Catherine of Alexandria.

St. Catherine was most likely just a teenager when she was martyred around the year 305 during Christian

persecutions. She was a very scholarly and intelligent young lady of noble birth, possibly a princess.

Around the age of 14, she had a vision of Mary in the infant Jesus and converted to Christianity.

The emperor at the time was persecuting and executing Christians.

She spoke out against it, and rather than executing her, he ordered that 50 scholars debate her.

Her wisdom blew them away, and many people were converted to Christianity, including the emperor's own wife, some legends say.

All those converts were eventually martyred, and he ordered Catherine to be martyred as well

after he tortured her.

But the instrument he was going to use to martyr her was called a breaking wheel.

When Catherine touched the wheel, it miraculously broke apart.

One other fun fact is that St. Catherine of Alexandria is one of the saints who appeared to St. Joan of Arc and gave her the mission of leading the French army into battle.

Saints stories such as this can sound pretty incredible, and since many of them happened long ago, sometimes the details of what really happened might seem a little uncertain.

As human beings, we do tend to embellish our stories from age to age. But one thing is certain.

Stories inspire people, and saint stories inspire us because the saints are like superheroes.

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