Hail Thou Holy Catherine

Hail thou holy Catherine, Virgin Maid so pure and fine,

Our beloved heavenly Princess so sweet and dear,

May thy radiance for the love of God forever shine;

After the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the Queen of Heaven, to thee our honor and praises revere,

During this Great Apostasy, give all the love, guidance, and consolation thine,

Pray to Jesus and Mary for the true Christian Church in Rome,

And to all the faithful who are lonely and miserable, be especially ever near. 

Born a pagan in Alexandria to a pagan king and queen,

Thy beauty, wits, and intelligence in the Roman Empire and in Egypt were unmatched to whom anyone had seen,

In every science and especially in grammar, logic, and in rhetoric, thou wielded a sharp blade,

But even thou lacked the noblest science, the faith of all Christians, on God’s crusade;

Thus, the true God, our creator, converted thee, and after the cleansing waters of baptism, 

Christ the King desired thee, O Catherine, the most beautiful and lovely princess, 

For His most dearly beloved spouse and handmaid.

The King of Heaven placed a ring on thy finger as thou wore thy wedding gown, 

But thou, the Mystical Spouse of Jesus Christ, humbly ever so needed a martyr’s crown;

The wicked and most merciless emperor, Maxentius, would terrorize the Christians of the city,

Full of indignation at their coming apostasy and for their sacrifices to demons, thou took pity,

Despite the vain arguments of the pagan philosophers, thou, full of zeal, wielded the sword,

Conquering and disarming them one by one through the holy blade of the Holy Ghost and of Christ Our Lord.

O Saint Catherine, all thy sufferings and wounds for the Holy Cross, thou patiently bore,

Defending thine angelic purity from the evil emperor, thy glorious martyrdom remained in store;

In the name of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, who had risen,

Humiliated and stripped, cruelly scourged, and nearly mortally beaten, thou wast thrown into prison,

Tended by Saint Michael and the angels, thou fought, glowing in radiance in that dark cell more than ever before.

Hail thou holy Catherine, Glorious Virgin Martyr, who vanquished four thousand pagans,

At the sudden extraordinary sight of lightning and the mighty sound of thunder,

Almighty God, who is justice and mercy, annihilated the spiked wheel asunder;

Remember thy promise to all in the Church who would love, honor, and invoke thee,

For after thou wast martyred, the Angels of God assumed thy most pure body to heavenly glory,

Through thee, Saint Catherine, patroness of converts, historians, theologians, and philosophers,

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost have the victory.