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79-404: The name "wheel window" is often applied to a window divided by simple spokes radiating from a central boss or opening, while the term "rose window" is reserved for those windows, sometimes of a highly complex design, which can be seen to bear similarity to a multi-petalled rose. Rose windows are also called "Catherine windows" after Saint Catherine of Alexandria , who was sentenced to be executed on

158-471: A Greek Cross , the window being divided by the circles and the arms of the cross into numerous sections like tracery "lights". In another of these churches, San Miguel de Lillo , is the earliest known example of an axially placed oculus with tracery. Several such windows of different sizes exist, and decoration of both Greek Cross and scalloped petal-like form occur, prefiguring both wheel and rose windows. Circular windows and decorative circular recesses are

237-534: A Greek mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who was murdered by the Parabalani after being accused of exacerbating a conflict between two prominent figures in Alexandria, the governor Orestes and the bishop Cyril . The idea that Catherine's life was either based on or became confused with the life of the pagan Hypatia has become a popular theory among modern scholars since. However, while Christine Walsh accepts

316-422: A central roundel, each terminating in pointed arches. It was this window, completed about 1255, that set the pattern for many other rose window including those of the transepts at St Denis and the gigantic and complex window in the south transept at Notre Dame. At Chartres , the transepts roses follow the style of the original 12th-century rose, elaborating on the theme of contrasting forms. The south rose combines

395-571: A central wheel window with smaller oculi in each face. The Church of the Apostles, Cologne has an array of both ocular and lobed windows forming decorative features in the gables and beneath the Rhenish helm spire . The octagonal dome has a ring of oculi with two in each of the curved faces. In Třebíč , Czech Republic , is the 12th- and 13th-century Romanesque style Basilica of St Procopius with apsidal windows similar to those at Worms, but in this case

474-694: A feature of many Romanesque churches and cathedrals, particularly in Germany and Italy where the style existed for a prolonged period, overlapping the development of Gothic in France and its arrival with French architects in England. In Germany, Worms Cathedral , has wheel windows in the pedimental ends of its nave and gables, very similar to the Early Christian Basilica of S. Agnese in Rome. The apsidal western end has

553-515: A large female following, whose devotion was less likely to be expressed through pilgrimage. The importance of the virgin martyrs as the focus of devotion and models for proper feminine behaviour increased during the Late Middle Ages. Among these, St Catherine in particular was used as an exemplar for women, a status which at times superseded her intercessory role. Both Christine de Pizan and Geoffrey de la Tour Landry point to Catherine as

632-474: A long tradition is depicted either in mural or glass on the western wall of the building. In such windows Christ is shown seated in the centre "light" and within the lights around him are the symbols of the four Gospel writers , Apostles , Prophets , Saints and Angels . Some windows show God's dominion over Heaven and Earth by including Zodiacal signs and Labours of the Months . When rose windows are used in

711-462: A paragon for young women, emphasizing her model of virginity and "wifely chastity". This shows also for instance in the naming of Catalina Tomas ( Catalina being the Catalan version of Catherine ) whose family had a special veneration of Catherine of Alexandria. From the early 14th century the mystic marriage of Saint Catherine first appears in hagiographical literature and, soon after, in art. In

790-513: A phial of her oil, brought back from Mount Sinai by Edward the Confessor . Other shrines, such as St. Catherine's Hill, Hampshire were the focus of generally local pilgrimage, many of which are only identified by brief mentions in various texts, rather than by physical evidence. St. Catharine's College, Cambridge was founded on St Catharine's Day (25 November) 1473 by Robert Woodlark ( provost of King's College, Cambridge ) who sought to create

869-725: A rose window is the thirteen-spoked centrepiece of the Minor Basilica in Larino , Molise (1312). Others are the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi and Santa Maria di Collemaggio (1289) in L'Aquila . First United Methodist Church in Lubbock, Texas, houses one of the largest rose windows at 26 + 1 ⁄ 2 feet (8.1 m) in diameter. A Baroque oculus without tracery or stained glass can be seen at San Jose Mission in San Antonio , Texas, which

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948-547: A small community of scholars who would study exclusively theology and philosophy. Woodlark may have chosen the name in homage to Catherine of Valois , mother of Henry VI of England , although it is more likely that it was named as part of the Renaissance cult of Saint Catherine, who was a patron saint of learning. St Catherine's College, Oxford , developed from the Delegacy for Unattached Students, formed in 1868. Catherine also had

1027-418: A spiked breaking wheel . A circular window without tracery such as are found in many Italian churches, is referred to as an ocular window or oculus . Rose windows are particularly characteristic of Gothic architecture and may be seen in all the major Gothic cathedrals of Northern France. Their origins are much earlier than Gothic architecture, however, and rose windows may be seen in various forms throughout

1106-513: A virgin by governing her passions and conquered her executioners by wearying their patience, but triumphed in science by closing the mouths of sophists , her intercession was implored by theologians, apologists, pulpit orators, and philosophers. Before studying, writing, or preaching, they besought her to illumine their minds, guide their pens, and impart eloquence to their words. This devotion to Catherine which assumed such vast proportions in Europe after

1185-556: Is remembered in the Church of England with a commemoration on 25 November . In 2022, Catherine was officially added to the Episcopal Church liturgical calendar with a feast day she shares with Barbara of Nicomedia , and Margaret of Antioch on 24 November. The pyrotechnic Catherine wheel , which rotates with sparks flying off in all directions, took its name from the saint's wheel of martyrdom. The lunar impact crater Catharina

1264-544: Is believed that Jacques-Benigne Bossuet dedicated to her one of his most beautiful panegyrics and that Adam of St. Victor wrote a magnificent poem in her honour: Vox Sonora nostri chori . In France, unwed women who had attained the age of 25 were called "catherinettes" . They would wear richly decorated bonnets on the day of her feast. This custom gave rise to the French idiom 'coiffer Sainte-Catherine' ("don St. Catherine's bonnet"), to describe an unmarried woman between

1343-544: Is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on 25 November. Her feast was removed from the General Roman Calendar in 1969 but restored in 2002 as an optional memorial. In the Episcopal Church , St. Catherine is commemorated on 24 November, together with the martyrs Barbara of Nicomedia and Margaret of Antioch , while in the Church of England her feast day is 25 November. Some modern scholars consider that

1422-401: Is debated: it could derive from ἑκάτερος ( hekáteros , "each of two"); it could derive from the name of the goddess Hecate ; it could be related to Greek αἰκία ( aikía , "insult, outrage, suffering, torture"); or it could be from a Coptic name meaning "my consecration of your name". In the early Christian era, it became associated with Greek καθαρός ( katharós , "pure"), and

1501-627: Is named after Saint Catherine. Santa Catarina Island in Brazil and the State of Santa Catarina are named after her. The Gulf of Santa Catalina is located in the Pacific Ocean on the west coast of North America. Santa Catalina Island off the coast of California, was named by Sebastián Vizcaíno , who arrived there on her feast day. The Santa Catalina Mountains in Arizona are her namesake. Kaarina , Finland,

1580-537: Is named after her. One accepted origin of the namesake of St. Catharines , Ontario, is Saint Catherine of Alexandria, but there are other proposed explanations as "no definitive documentation exists to conclusively prove that the founders chose the unique spelling for any one particular reason". St Catherine of Alexandria Parish and School in Oak Lawn, Illinois, is named after her. St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota

1659-717: Is not known. In 11th-century Kievan Rus , the feast day was celebrated on 25 November. Dimitry of Rostov in his Kniga zhyty sviatykh ( Book of the Lives of the Saints ), T.1 (1689) places the date of celebration on 24 November. A story that Empress Catherine the Great did not wish to share her patronal feast with the Leavetaking of the feast of the Presentation of the Theotokos and hence changed

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1738-461: Is richly dressed and crowned, as befits her rank as a princess, and often holds or stands next to a segment of her wheel as an attribute . She also often carries either a martyr's palm or the sword with which she was actually executed. She often has long unbound blonde or reddish hair (unbound as she is unmarried). The vision of Saint Catherine of Alexandria usually shows the Infant Christ, held by

1817-630: The Abbey of St Denis , to the north of Paris, where the Abbot Suger , between 1130 and 1144, gathered the various newly emerging features of Gothic into a single building, thereby “creating” the Gothic style . Suger's original rose window in the prototype Gothic façade of St Denis probably pre-dates many of the remaining circular windows in Romanesque buildings such as those in England, at Trebic and Spoleto and that in

1896-729: The Basilica of Saint Denis (see left), Chartres Cathedral (see above), Reims Cathedral , Amiens Cathedral and Strasbourg Cathedral (see introductory pictures.) In Italy, the rose window was particularly used by the Lombard architects , as in San Zeno in Verona , and in the Cathedral of Modena , and in the Tuscan Gothic churches like the Cathedrals of Siena and Orvieto . An outstanding example of

1975-539: The Crusades , received additional éclat in France at the beginning of the 15th century, when it was rumoured that she had spoken to Joan of Arc and, together with Margaret of Antioch , had been divinely appointed Joan's adviser. Devotion to Catherine remains strong amongst Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians . With the relative ease of travel in the modern age, pilgrimages to Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai have increased. Catherine of Alexandria

2054-526: The Naranco mount, near the Church of Santa María del Naranco in Asturias . It was completed in 842 and it was consecrated by Ramiro I of Asturias and his wife Paterna in the year 848. It was originally dedicated to St. Mary until this worship passed to the nearby palace in the 12th century, leaving this church dedicated to Saint Michael . It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985. It originally had

2133-702: The Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus persuaded her to become a Christian. When the persecutions began under the emperor Maxentius , she 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. The emperor gave orders to subject Catherine to terrible tortures and then throw her in prison. During

2212-650: The early Christian architecture , Byzantine architecture, and especially in Merovingian art , and Visigothic architecture before the Muslim conquest of Spain. But half roses are also known, as with the church of San Juan Bautista in Baños de Cerrato. The scarcity and the brittleness of the vestiges of this time does not make it possible to say that complete rose window in tracery did not exist in early Middle Ages. In Early Christian and Byzantine architecture , there are examples of

2291-471: The transepts as well as in the later roses of the facade . This form probably stemmed from the now destroyed St Nicaise, also in Reims. The rose window was often placed above a row of vertical lights as the apex of the composition, the small corner "spandrels" between the rose and lower tier being filled by smaller lights of rose form, as in the transepts of St Denis and Notre Dame. The last step in evolution of

2370-519: The 1860s has been designed with five double sections like the two-part petals of a simple rose. The largest rose window in England is believed to be that installed in the chapel of Lancing College in 1978, with a diameter of 32 feet. France has a great number of medieval rose windows, many containing ancient glass. In northern France, a rose window is usually the central feature of the facade. The transept facades commonly contain rose windows as well. Examples can be seen at Notre Dame, Paris (see left),

2449-495: The 4th-century Diocletianic Persecutions of Christians in Alexandria. There is no evidence that Katherine herself was a historical figure and she may well have been a composite drawn from memories of women persecuted for their faith. Many aspects of her Passio are clearly legendary and conform to well-known hagiographical topoi . Her name appears in Greek as Αἰκατερίνη ( Aikaterínē ) or Ἑκατερίνη ( Ekaterínē ). The etymology

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2528-568: The 6th to the 8th century, and later in Greece . Small circular windows such as that at S. Agnese and Torcello as well as unglazed decorative circular recesses continued to be used in churches in Italy, gaining increasing popularity in the later Romanesque period . In the vicinity of Oviedo in Spain are several churches of the late 9th and early 10th century which display a remarkable array of windows containing

2607-704: The Creation, Last Judgement, and Glory of God. In 1954, the French artist Henri Matisse created the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Memorial Rose Window on the east wall of the Union Church of Pocantico Hills, New York . In Gothic cathedrals and churches, where a rose is often found above the West Door, the most common subject of the stained glass that it contains is the Last Judgement , which by

2686-508: The Gothic style was to set the rose into a tier of vertical lights, of staggered height and surmount it by a tapering pointed light so that it became the centre of a vast window composition, covering the whole end of the transepts, as in Rouen or Beauvais Cathedrals. This sort of elaborate composition can also be seen at the east end of Milan Cathedral . Rose windows were also set into square windows,

2765-566: The Latin spelling was changed from Katerina to Katharina to reflect this. Catherine was one of the most important saints in the religious culture of the late Middle Ages and arguably considered the most important of the virgin martyrs, a group including Agnes of Rome , Margaret of Antioch , Barbara , Lucia of Syracuse , Valerie of Limoges and many others. Her power as an intercessor was renowned and firmly established in most versions of her hagiography , in which she specifically entreats Christ at

2844-729: The Medieval period. Their popularity was revived, with other medieval features, during the Gothic revival of the 19th century, so that they are seen in Christian churches all over the world. The origin of the rose window may be found in the Roman oculus . These large circular openings let in both light and air, the best known being that at the top of the dome of the Pantheon . Geometrical patterns similar to those in rose windows occur in Roman mosaics . The German art historian Otto von Simson considered that

2923-409: The Romanesque façade of Spoleto Cathedral there is a profusion of recessed and traceried oculi surrounding the central features of a rose window set within a square beneath a large mosaic of 1207. In England there exist five Romanesque wheel windows, notably those at Barfreston and Castle Hedingham parish churches. The transition from the Romanesque style to the Gothic was not clear cut, even at

3002-563: The Virgin, placing a ring (one of her attributes) on her finger, following some literary accounts, although in the version in the Golden Legend he appears to be adult, and the marriage takes place among a great crowd of angels and "all the celestial court", and these may also be shown. She is very frequently shown attending on the Virgin and Child, and is usually prominent in scenes of the Master of

3081-599: The Virgo inter Virgines , showing a group of virgin saints surrounding the Virgin and Child. Notable later paintings of Catherine include single figures by Raphael in the National Gallery, and by Caravaggio (in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum , Madrid). San Miguel de Lillo St. Michael of Lillo ( Spanish : San Miguel de Lillo , Asturian : Samiguel de Lliño ) is a Roman Catholic church built on

3160-533: The Western church, the popularity of her cult began to reduce in the 18th century. Her principal symbol is the spiked wheel, which has become known as the Catherine wheel, and her feast day is celebrated on 25 November by most denominations. In many places, her feast was celebrated with the utmost solemnity, servile work being suppressed and the devotions attended by great numbers of people. In several dioceses of France it

3239-443: The ages of 25 and 30. In memory of her sacrifice in some homes, Egyptian and other Middle Eastern foods are offered for her feast, such as hummus or tabbouleh salads. Favourites also are melons cut into circles with sherbet "hubs", or cookies shaped as spiked wheels with icing. Meanwhile, owing to several circumstances in his life, Nicholas of Myra was considered the patron of young bachelors and students, and Catherine became

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3318-553: The confinement she was fed daily by a dove from heaven, and Christ also visited her, encouraging her to fight bravely, and promised her the crown of everlasting glory. Angels tended her wounds with salve . During her imprisonment more than 200 people came to see her, including Maxentius' wife, Valeria Maximilla ; all converted to Christianity and were subsequently martyred . Upon the failure of Maxentius to make Catherine yield by way of torture, he tried to win her over by proposing marriage. Catherine refused, declaring that her spouse

3397-569: The date is not supported by historical evidence. One of the first Roman Catholic churches to be built in Russia, the Catholic Church of St. Catherine , was named after Catherine of Alexandria because she was Catherine the Great's patron. A footnote to the entry for 25 November in The Synaxarion compiled by Hieromonk Makarios of Simonos Petra states: "Until the 16th century, the memory of St Catherine

3476-522: The details that embellish the narrative, as well as the long discourses attributed to Catherine, are to be rejected as later inventions. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica , no extant written mention of Catherine of Alexandria is known before the 9th century, and "her historicity is doubtful". Donald Attwater dismisses what he calls the "legend" of Saint Catherine, arguing for a lack of any "positive evidence that she ever existed outside

3555-448: The drums supporting domes and as upper lights in octagonal baptisteries such as that at Cremona . Romanesque facades with oculi include San Miniato al Monte , Florence , 11th century, San Michele, Pavia , c. 1117, and Pistoia Cathedral, 1150. As the windows increased in size in the later Romanesque period, wheel windows became a standard feature of which there are fine examples at San Zeno Maggiore, Verona and Monza Cathedral. On

3634-417: The dynamically sculptural facade of Laon Cathedral (which also, unusually, has a rose window in its eastern end as well as in it transept ends). These windows have large lights contained in tracery of a semicircular form, like overlapping petals. The window that is central to the well-known Gothic façade of Notre Dame, Paris , is of more distinctly Gothic appearance, with mullions in two bands radiating from

3713-515: The earliest examples of roses windows outside the Byzantine Empire . The designs closely resemble the motifs found on the Byzantine relief carvings of marble sarcophagi , pulpits and well heads and pierced decorations of screens and windows of Ravenna and Constantinople . The church of San Pedro has a rectangular window with a pierced decoration of two overlapping circles, the upper containing

3792-515: The evolution of the Rose window. Saint Catherine of Alexandria Catherine of Alexandria , also spelled Katherine ( Greek : Αίκατερίνη) is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin , who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the emperor Maxentius . According to her hagiography , she was both a princess and a noted scholar who became a Christian around age 14, converted hundreds of people to Christianity , and

3871-483: The façade at Speyer. Suger's window was not distinctively Gothic in its appearance. It no longer has its original form, but a mid-19th-century drawing by the restorer Viollet-le-Duc indicates that it had a very large ocular space at the centre, the glass supported by an iron hoop, and surrounded by simple semicircular cusped lobes cut out of flat stone in a technique known as "plate tracery". The window now has Gothic tracery in it, possibly added by Viollet-le-Duc who

3950-467: The foot of Mount Sinai was about 800 and presumably implies an existing cult at that date (though the common name of the monastery developed after the discovery). In her book The Cult of St Katherine of Alexandria in Early Medieval Europe , Christine Walsh discusses "the historical Katherine": As we have seen, the cult of St Katherine of Alexandria probably originated in oral traditions from

4029-569: The journey to Mount Sinai , most notably those of John Mandeville and Friar Felix Fabri . However, while the monastery at Mount Sinai was the best known site of Catherine pilgrimage, it was also the most difficult to reach. The most prominent Western shrine was the monastery in Rouen that claimed to house Catherine's fingers. It was not alone in the west, however, and was accompanied by many scattered shrines and altars dedicated to Catherine throughout France and England. Some were better-known sites, such as Canterbury and Westminster , which claimed

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4108-577: The legend of Catherine was probably based on the life and murder of the virgin Saint Dorothea of Alexandria and the Greek philosopher Hypatia , with the reversed role of a Christian and neoplatonist in the case of the latter. On the other hand, Leon Clugnet writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia states "although contemporary hagiographers look upon the authenticity of the various texts containing

4187-426: The legend of St. Catherine as more than doubtful, it is not therefore meant to cast even the shadow of a doubt around the existence of the saint". According to the traditional narrative, Catherine was the daughter of Sabinella and Constus (or Costus), the governor of Alexandria during the reign of the emperor Maximian (286–305). She was of Greek origin. From a young age she devoted herself to study. A vision of

4266-493: The many parallels between Catherine and Hypatia, she does not believe there is any evidence for or against the idea that Catherine was created based on Hypatia. The earliest surviving account of Catherine's life comes around 600 years after the traditional date of her martyrdom, in the Menologium , a document compiled for Emperor Basil II in 976, although the alleged rediscovery of her relics at Saint Catherine's Monastery at

4345-399: The mind of some Greek writer who first composed what he intended to be simply an edifying romance." Harold Davis writes that "assiduous research has failed to identify Catherine with any historical personage". Anna Brownell Jameson was the first to argue that the life of Catherine was confused with that of the slightly later neoplatonist philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria . Hypatia was

4424-411: The moment of her death to answer the prayers of those who remember her martyrdom and invoke her name. The development of her medieval cult was spurred by the alleged rediscovery of her body around 800 (about 500 years after her death) at Mount Sinai, supposedly with hair still growing and a constant stream of healing oil issuing from her body. There are several pilgrimage narratives that chronicle

4503-490: The nondenominational Abney Park Chapel in London designed in 1838–40 by William Hosking FSA; Holy Trinity Church, Barnes , London; St Nicholas, Richmond ; and St Albans Cathedral by George Gilbert Scott . At Christ Church Appleton-le-Moors , Yorkshire, the 19th-century architect J.L.Pearson appears to have taken as his inspiration the regional floral symbol of the white rose . This unusual plate-tracery window dating from

4582-563: The openings are filled with tracery of a Gothic form, clearly marking the transition to a new style. In Italy, the use of circular motifs in various media was a feature of church facades, occurring on Early Christian , Romanesque , Gothic , Renaissance and Baroque churches, a well-known example being those great circles in polychrome marble which complement the central circular window on Alberti's Early Renaissance façade at Santa Maria Novella in Florence . Oculi were also typically used in

4661-527: The origin of the rose window lay in a window with the six-lobed rosettes and octagon which adorned the external wall of the Umayyad palace Khirbat al-Mafjar built in Jordan between 740 and 750 CE. This theory suggests that crusaders brought the design of this attractive window to Europe, introducing it to churches. But the decorative pattern for rose and, independently, the tracery, are very present in vestiges of

4740-543: The patroness of young maidens and female students. Looked upon as the holiest and most illustrious of the virgins of Christ after the Blessed Virgin Mary , it was deemed appropriate that she, of all others, should be worthy to watch over the virgins of the cloister and the young women of the world. The spiked wheel having become emblematic of the saint, wheelwrights and mechanics placed themselves under her patronage. Finally, as according to tradition she not only remained

4819-442: The purported burning bush seen by Moses . Countless people make the pilgrimage to the monastery to receive miracle healing from Catherine. Sometimes cited as a possible inspiration of Catherine, Eusebius wrote around 320 that Maximinus had ordered a young Christian woman to come to his palace to become his mistress, and when she refused he had her punished by having her banished and her estates confiscated. Eusebius did not name

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4898-545: The radiating spokes of a wheel window, surrounded by a ring of smaller “plate tracery” lights with scalloped borders. The window, depicting the Last Judgement , contains its original scheme of glazing and retains much of the original glass of 1215, despite suffering damage during World War II . Following the west window of Chartres, more daring Gothic windows were created at the Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame in Mantes and in

4977-408: The rose had attained the greatest possible size – the entire width of the nave or transept, as seen in the transept roses at St Denis and Paris. In the facades of St Denis, Chartres, Mantes, Laon and Paris, the rose was put under a circular arch. The next important development in its use for the Gothic style was to put it under a pointed arch, as was done in the Notre-Dame de Reims (after 1241), in

5056-468: The spandrels being pierced and filled with smaller lights as at Paris , 1257, or unpierced with sculpture, the form more common in Italy as at Spoleto and also seen in the north transept of Westminster Abbey and at Strasbourg Cathedral , (see pictured above). A number of Australia's cathedrals have Gothic Revival rose windows including three by William Wardell at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney and another at St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne which form

5135-420: The transept ends, then one of those windows is frequently dedicated to Mary as the Mother of Jesus . In modern Catholic thought, the rose window is often associated with the Virgin Mary because one of her titles, referred to by St Bernard of Clairvaux , is the " Mystical Rose ". However, the specific association of Mary with the rose window is unlikely during the Medieval period, because the term "rose window"

5214-404: The upper part of a very large seven-light window in the west end. Two examples of rose windows are found in the National Basilica , built in 1893 and in the Santa Teresa Church, built in 1934. The cathedral in Cuenca , in the southern Andes, has a notable rose window. In England, the use of the rose window was commonly confined to the transepts although roses of great span were constructed in

5293-507: The use of circular oculi. They usually occur either around the drum of a dome, as at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre , Jerusalem , or high in the end of a gable of low-pitched Classical pediment form, as at Sant'Agnese fuori le mura , Rome, and Torcello Cathedral . A window of the 8th century, now in Venice , and carved from a single slab, has alternating tracery-like components of two tiers of four lancets separated by three oculi. Many semicircular windows with pierced tracery exist from

5372-417: The west front of Byland Abbey and in the east front of Old St. Paul's Cathedral in London. The cathedrals of York , Lincoln , Canterbury , Durham and Oxford feature medieval rose windows. Medieval Beverley Minster has an example of an Early Gothic wheel window with ten spokes, each light terminating in a cusped trefoils and surrounded by decorative plate tracery. Later windows are to be seen at

5451-415: The wheel with circles and semicircles, while the north rose introduces square lights which, rotating around the centre, are all set at different angles, creating a kaleidoscopic effect of great energy. From the building of Chartres the dimensions of the rose window began to increase with the development of more elaborate window styles associated with Gothic architecture . By the middle of the 13th century

5530-465: The woman but Rufinus of Aquileia names her Dorothea ( Δωροθέα ) in his translation of Eusebius' work. A sixteenth century Italian historian, Caesar Baronius (c.1538-1607), suggested that Catherine and Dorothea were the same person and that Catherine (Hecaterina) was her former pagan name while Dorothea (the gift of God) was the name given to her at the time of baptism. The Catholic Encyclopedia , while not denying her historicity, states that most of

5609-423: Was martyred around age 18. More than 1,100 years after Catherine's martyrdom, Joan of Arc identified her as one of the saints who appeared to and counselled her. The Eastern Orthodox Church venerates her as a great martyr and celebrates her feast day on 24 or 25 November, depending on the regional tradition. In Catholicism , Catherine is traditionally revered as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers , and she

5688-601: Was Jesus Christ, to whom she had consecrated her virginity. The furious emperor condemned Catherine to death on a spiked breaking wheel , but at her touch it shattered. Maxentius ordered her to be beheaded. Catherine ordered the execution to commence. A milk-like substance rather than blood flowed from her neck. In the 6th century, the Eastern Emperor Justinian had established what is now Saint Catherine's Monastery in Egypt, which had been originally built encircling

5767-428: Was chosen over that of St. Anne because it sounds better when translated into Chinese. Sœur de La Chapelle was a French nun who wrote a tragedy about her martyrdom. Countless images of Saint Catherine are depicted in art, especially in the late Middle Ages , which is also the time that the account of Saint Catherine's Mystical Marriage makes its first literary appearance. She can usually be easily recognised as she

5846-732: Was founded by the Franciscan Fathers and dates from 1718 to 1731. The largest rose window in the United States is The Great Rose Window above the main doors of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. It is designed in the Gothic Revival style and made from more than 10,000 pieces of stained glass . Washington National Cathedral has three large rose windows which represent

5925-871: Was founded in 1905 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and named for St. Catherine of Alexandria. University of Saint Katherine in San Marcos, California is the first Eastern Orthodox Christian university in the United States and the English-speaking world. St. Catherine's School , is an independent Episcopal diocesan school in Richmond, Virginia. St Helen and St Katharine , a girls' school in Oxfordshire, England celebrates "St. Katharine's Day" each November. The name of St. Catharine's School for Girls (Kwun Tong) in Hong Kong

6004-404: Was not coined until the 17th century, a time when few such windows were being constructed. However, with the revival of the Gothic style in the 19th and 20th centuries, much stained glass that was installed in rose windows, both in new churches and as restoration in old churches, was dedicated to the Virgin Mary . Note: The styles below refer to the architectural advancements that occurred in

6083-484: Was observed as a Holy Day of Obligation up to the beginning of the 17th century, the splendour of its ceremonial eclipsing that of the feasts of some of the apostles . Many chapels were placed under her patronage, and nearly all churches had a statue of her, representing her according to medieval iconography with a wheel, her instrument of torture. The Russian , Serbian and Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Churches celebrate it on 24 November. The origin of this tradition

6162-556: Was observed on 24 Nov. According to a note by Bartholomew of Koutloumousiou inserted in the Menaion , the Fathers of Sinai transferred the date to 25 Nov. in order that the feast might be kept with greater solemnity." The 1908 Catholic Encyclopedia describes her historical importance: Ranked with St Margaret and St Barbara as one of the fourteen most helpful saints in heaven , she was unceasingly praised by preachers and sung by poets. It

6241-403: Was very concerned about the lack of stability of the whole façade, and having restored the towers, was impelled to demolish the northern one when it suddenly subsided. Along with the simple wheel windows of the late Norman period in England, Germany and Italy, a large late 12th-century window still exists at Chartres Cathedral . This remarkable window combines a large roundel at the centre with

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