When all has been said, we must admit that the account of St Cecilia’s martyrdom, as it has come down to us, gives rise to serious difficulties from whatever point of view we regard it. Tillemont and Baillet were inclined to regard it as lacking all authority. The only way to give full force to all the facts of the case is to place it in the period to which it really belongs, _i.e._ to the reign of Julian the Apostate. (3) ST CATHERINE The Festival of St Catherine, though only of late introduction, quickly spread throughout the whole of Western Christendom; not only did Faculties of Theology select her as their patroness, but her day (25th November) was widely adopted for annual fairs, and her name was frequently given to children of both noble and lowly families. The original form of her name was Æcaterina (Αἰκατερίνα), the modern Russian Jekaterina; its derivation from the Greek _katharos_ cannot, therefore, be maintained. Catherine is said to have been a noble virgin of Alexandria, who, according to the legend, expostulated with the tyrant Maxentius on account of his cruelty during the Diocletian persecution, and was, in consequence, seized by him and forced to hold a disputation with fifty philosophers. Not only did St Catherine hold her own against the philosophers, but even won them over to Christianity; whereupon the empress, who had heard of her wisdom, visited her in prison, escorted by two hundred soldiers. The soldiers, however, along with their captain, were converted also, and condemned to death in a body by the emperor. The martyr herself was next tortured, milk, instead of blood, flowing from her wounds, and then put to death by the sword. So far the legend as given by Metaphrastes; the carrying of her body by angels to Mount Sinai is a later addition.