St. Catherine's Monastery

The Story

St. Catherine's Monastery stands at the foot of Mount Sinai in Egypt, on the site where tradition locates the Burning Bush from which God spoke to Moses. Built by order of the Emperor Justinian in the sixth century, it is among the oldest continuously inhabited Christian monasteries in the world, and it holds the relics venerated as those of St. Catherine of Alexandria. According to the traditional account, Catherine was a learned young noblewoman of Alexandria in the early fourth century who confounded the pagan philosophers assembled to argue her out of her faith, and was martyred under the Emperor Maxentius. Tradition holds that her body was carried by angels to the highest peak of the Sinai range, where monks later discovered it; her relics were enshrined at the monastery, which took her name and became one of the great pilgrimage destinations of the Middle Ages. The monastery belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church of Sinai and is not a Catholic shrine, but St. Catherine has been venerated in the West for a thousand years as one of the most beloved virgin martyrs, invoked as a patroness of philosophers, students, and young women, and honored on the Catholic calendar on November 25. Pilgrims and travelers who make the journey into the Sinai desert find a living community of prayer, a sanctuary enclosing the site of the Burning Bush, a renowned collection of ancient icons, and one of the oldest monastic libraries in existence, all beneath the mountain associated with the giving of the Law to Moses.

Church Recognition

St. Catherine of Alexandria is venerated in the Catholic Church as a virgin and martyr, and her optional memorial on November 25 was restored to the General Roman Calendar in 2002; the monastery itself is Greek Orthodox, under the autonomous Church of Sinai.

Catholic Teaching

The monastery speaks to the Church's veneration of the martyrs, whose witness is the supreme testimony to the faith (CCC 2473-2474), and to the veneration of relics (CCC 1674); its setting at Sinai also recalls God's self-revelation to Moses, a foundation of the history of salvation (CCC 2575-2577).

Plan Your Visit

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Practical

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Pilgrims visit the basilica, the Chapel of the Burning Bush, the reliquary of St. Catherine, and the monastery's famed icon collection, and many climb Mount Sinai itself; the monastery welcomes visitors of all traditions, with pilgrimage traffic heaviest in the cooler months.

Go Deeper

The monastery's official website, https://www.sinaimonastery.com, presents its history, library, and icons; readers may also consult the Catechism on martyrdom (CCC 2473-2474) and the account of Moses at Sinai in the Book of Exodus, chapters 3 and 19-20.