St. Catherine of Alexandria: History, Fiction or Uncertain?
Kevin R. Henke
September 15, 2022
In Henke (2022a), I list four hypotheses to explain the Talking Snake story of Genesis 3. Hypothesis #3 compares the Talking Snake story to an ancient work of fiction or a “campfire story” that was mistakenly taken by the ancient Israelites as being real. I also linked to a webarticle by Jimenez (2014), which argues that some Roman Catholic saints are likely examples of works of fiction that were eventually taken as being true. Here is the relevant section from Hypothesis #3 from Henke (2022a):
3. The Talking Snake of Genesis 3 was part of a made-up campfire story, a parable or based on a pagan myth that eventually was taken as fact by the ancient Israelites, like how President Reagan and his fans mistook fictional stories from World War 2 as real. William Tell (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/in-search-of-william-tell-2198511/ ) and a number of Roman Catholic saints (https://listverse.com/2014/05/17/10-beloved-saints-with-fictitious-biographies/ ) are probably also myths.
Lundahl (2022c) then responded to this section from Henke (2022a):
“Modern scholars dispute the historicity of William Tell and Protestant scholars dispute that of lots of Catholic saints (and the modern scholars you provide are culturally Protestant. I may take up separate posts when trying to deal with these links, but Smithsonian Mag is not my best academic resource for European History of the Middle Ages and Listverse is trusted when providing lists, but not quite as trusted with backing up each detail on each list with good scholarship.”
This statement is from an individual that relies on Wikipedia (e.g., Lundahl 2022d; Lundahl 2022o), deliberately avoids using the actual peer-reviewed references that I give him, and shuns providing bibliographies (e.g., Henke 2022at; Henke 2022e).
In Henke (2022b), I replied to Lundahl (2022c):
“In my discussions of Hypothesis #3 in Henke (2022a), I mentioned that stories about William Tell and some Roman Catholic Saints are additional examples of works of fiction that are now widely misinterpreted as historical fact. I linked to the following webarticles:
In Search of William Tell (Robert Wernick, Smithsonian Magazine)
Listverse: 10 Beloved Saints the Church Just Made Up by Larry Jimenez and fact checked by Jamie Frater.
Lundahl (2022c) complains about the reliability of my references (Smithsonian Magazine and Listverse). He also states that he may give a separate response on these topics later.
Granted, my preliminary links on William Tell and some of the Roman Catholic saints were not articles from peer-reviewed journals. They simply provided some background information on how these individuals were probably not historical. Nevertheless, Mr. Lundahl could consult Jean-François Bergier’s Guillaume Tell (1988), which is mentioned in the Smithsonian Magazine article, if he did not like the summary in the article. The Listverse article on the Catholic saints also contains links with additional information and documentation. Nevertheless, here’s a journal article that discusses more about the origin of William Tell:
Hughes, S.C. 2012. “The Limits of Cultural Nationalism: Italian Switzerland from a Risorgimento Perspective”, Nations and Nationalism, v. 18, n. 1, pp. 57-77.”
I further discuss the William Tell story in Henke (2022ek). In this essay, I reply to comments in Lundahl (2022n) about another one of the ten Roman Catholic saints discussed in Jimenez (2014) and how she might not have ever existed. Of course, Mr. Lundahl, being a conservative Roman Catholic, does not like any Bible stories and probably not any Roman Catholic saints being identified as likely myths. Lundahl (2022n) then attempts to defend the authenticity of the stories about the ten questionable saints identified in Jimenez (2014).
St. Catherine of Alexandria is #8 on Jimenez’s list. Here is what Lundahl (2022n) says about St. Catherine of Alexandria and, as usual, I have distinguished the quotations from Mr. Lundahl’s sources and his opinions:
“Jimenez (2014) states:
“8) St. Catherine of Alexandria. ... Donald Attwater, in his updated version of Lives of the Saints, calls the above legend “the most preposterous of its kind,” as there is “no positive evidence that she ever existed outside the mind of some Greek writer who first composed what he intended to be simply an edifying romance.” The Catholic Encyclopedia, though maintaining belief in Catherine’s historical existence, admits that stories about her “are to be rejected as inventions, pure and simple. ”The 18th-century Benedictine monk Dom Deforis declared the same traditions as false, and since that time, devotion to the virgin-martyr of Alexandria lost all its former popularity. Catherine was removed from the Church’s liturgical calendar in 1969—but she was restored by Pope John Paul II in 2002.”
Mr. Lundahl:
OK, Donald Attwater, Dom Deforis and Catholic Encyclopedia are reasons to disbelieve what is told of her? With two of the three on top of that denying her existence?
Not good enough for me, no. And especially not as this "criticism" was cause for an impious removal in 1969!
Instead of being dismissive, Lundahl (2022n) actually needs to look at the evidence and ask why Attwater, Deforis and the Catholic Encyclopedia doubt these stories about St. Catherine of Alexandria. What evidence does Mr. Lundahl have to demonstrate that these stories about this saint are actually true? Why is it not good to be skeptical when there is a lack of evidence, Mr. Lundahl?
Supposedly, St. Catherine of Alexandria lived in the 4th century, but Hernando (c. 2010) indicates that early Christians said nothing about her and her popularity only began to spread in the 8th century. When stories only show up about 400 years after a person supposedly lived, a lot of historians become suspicious that a fictional hero was invented and that she was eventually misinterpreted as reality by an adoring public. This is exactly what happens according to Hypothesis #3 of Henke (2022a) and Henke (2022b). As with many other early saints, St. Catherine of Alexandria might have lived, but her life and the stories about her life need to be substantiated. Mr. Lundahl has no reason to simply accept whatever the conservatives in his Church tell him about these saints.
References:
Hernando, I.G. c. 2010. “Catherine of Alexandria” http://webs.ucm.es/centros/cont/descargas/documento21600.pdf (accessed September 9, 2022).
Jimenez, L. 2014. “10 Beloved Saints The Church Just Made Up”, Listverse, https://listverse.com/2014/05/17/10-beloved-saints-with-fictitious-biographies/ (accessed July 25, 2022).