St Catherine’s Chapel - Abbotsbury Dorset-041120 (3)
St Catherine’s Chapel was built by the monks of nearby Abbotsbury Abbey as a pilgrimage chapel. Virtually unaltered since, it is one of a handful of chapels of this kind which are located outside the precincts of the monasteries that built them. Its isolated setting allowed the monks to withdraw from the monastery during Lent for private prayer and meditation.
The fireworks known as Catherine wheels commemorate her torture in the 3rd century AD, when the Roman Emperor Maximus I ordered her to be broken on a wheel set with sword points for protesting about the persecution of Christians.
An angel is said to have broken the wheel, and after her subsequent execution Catherine’s body was said to have been conveyed to the heights of Mount Sinai by angels. She became the patron saint of virgins, particularly those in search of husbands, and it was the custom until the late 19th century for the young women of Abbotsbury to go to the chapel and invoke her aid. They would put a knee in one of the wishing holes in the south doorway, their hands in the other two holes, and make a wish.
St Catherine’s Chapel - Abbotsbury Dorset-041120 (3)
St Catherine’s Chapel was built by the monks of nearby Abbotsbury Abbey as a pilgrimage chapel. Virtually unaltered since, it is one of a handful of chapels of this kind which are located outside the precincts of the monasteries that built them. Its isolated setting allowed the monks to withdraw from the monastery during Lent for private prayer and meditation.
The fireworks known as Catherine wheels commemorate her torture in the 3rd century AD, when the Roman Emperor Maximus I ordered her to be broken on a wheel set with sword points for protesting about the persecution of Christians.
An angel is said to have broken the wheel, and after her subsequent execution Catherine’s body was said to have been conveyed to the heights of Mount Sinai by angels. She became the patron saint of virgins, particularly those in search of husbands, and it was the custom until the late 19th century for the young women of Abbotsbury to go to the chapel and invoke her aid. They would put a knee in one of the wishing holes in the south doorway, their hands in the other two holes, and make a wish.