St. Catherine's Entrance

View looking east from the atrium toward the entrance to the church of Saint Catherine.  In the center of the image is a sculpture of Saint Jerome on a pillar.  He has a Bible in his hand (translator of the Vulgate) and a skull (reminder of his mortality) at his feet.

The church of Saint Catherine was built in 1881 to replace an older Crusader Church that had been built over an even older Byzantine monastery.

St. Catherine of Alexandria Egypt was a female martyr.  Her connection with Bethlehem is not known, but she may have been honored here by Saint Paula—the benefactor of St. Jerome.  Saint Paula may have named the Byzantine monastery in honor of this other pious lady—both being examples of pious living and being faithful to death.

Image courtesy of Reinhold Buxbaum.