St Katharine's Day
- Occurring
- for 7 hours, 30 mins
- Venue
- The Guild Church for Workers at St Katharine Cree
- Address 86 Leadenhall Street City of London, EC3A 3DH, United Kingdom
Today is the Feast of St Katharine of Alexandria - our patron and the saint after whom this church is named.
Every year we hand out Wagon Wheel biscuits to passing workers to celebrate this day, and invite people to come to our Christmas Carols next week! The church is open for prayer and reflection - and we celebrate Holy Communion at 8:30am!
Who was St Katharine?
When persecution of the church began under the emperor Maxentius in the fourth century, Katharine went to the emperor and rebuked him for his cruelty. The emperor summoned 50 of the best pagan philosophers and orators to dispute with her, hoping that they would refute her pro-Christian arguments, but Catherine won the debate. Several of her adversaries, conquered by her eloquence, declared themselves Christians and were at once put to death.
Katharine ended up being killed for her unwillingness to reject her Christian faith - with a wagon wheel famously being used as a method of torture and execution.