CATHARINE II.  THE GREAT, empress of Russia, born at Stettin, daughter of Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst; “a most-clever, clear-eyed, stout-hearted woman”; became the wife of Peter III., a scandalous mortal, who was dethroned and then murdered, leaving her empress; ruled well for the country, and though her character was immoral and her reign despotic and often cruel, her efforts at reform, the patronage she accorded to literature, science, and philosophy, and her diplomatic successes, entitle her to a high rank among the sovereigns of Russia; she reigned from 1763 to 1796, and it was during the course of her reign, and under the sanction of it, that Europe witnessed the three partitions of Poland (1729-1796).

CATHARINE DE’ MEDICI, daughter of Lorenzo de’ Medici, wife of Henry II. of France, and mother of his three successors; on the accession of her second son, Charles IX.—­for the reign of her first, Francis II., was very brief—­acted as regent during his minority; joined heart and soul with the Catholics in persecuting the Huguenots, and persuaded her son to issue the order which resulted in the massacre of St. Bartholomew; on his death, which occurred soon after, she acted as regent during the minority of her third son, Henry III., and lived to see both herself and him detested by the whole French people, and this although she was during her ascendency the patroness of the arts and of literature (1519-1589).

CATHARINE OF ARAGON, fourth daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and wife of Henry VIII., her brother-in-law as widow of Arthur, from whom, and at whose instance, after 18 years of married life, and after giving birth to five children, she was divorced on the plea that, as she had been his brother’s wife before, it was not lawful for him to have her; after her divorce she remained in the country, led an austere religious life, and died broken-hearted.  The refusal of the Pope to sanction this divorce led to the final rupture of the English Church from the Church of Rome, and the emancipation of the nation from priestly tyranny (1483-1536).

CATHARINE OF BRAGANZA, the wife of Charles II. of England, of the royal house of Portugal; was unpopular in the country as a Catholic and neglected by her husband, on whose death, however, she returned to Portugal, and did the duties ably of regent for her brother Don Pedro (1638-1705).

CATHARINE OF SIENNA, born at Sienna, a sister of the Order of St. Dominic, and patron saint of the Order; celebrated for her ecstasies and visions, and the marks which by favour of Christ she bore on her body of His sufferings on the Cross (1347-1380).  Festival, April 30.  Besides her, are other saints of the same name.

CATHARINE OF VALOIS, daughter of Charles VI. of France, and wife of Henry V. of England, who, on his marriage to her, was declared heir to the throne of France, with the result that their son was afterwards, while but an infant, crowned king of both countries; becoming a widow, she married Owen Tudor, a Welsh gentleman, whereby a grandson of his succeeded to the English throne as Henry VII., and the first of the Tudors (1401-1438).