St Catherine and her wheel, in medieval glass from Christ Church, Oxford. Today is her feast, once known as 'Catterns Day'.

Catherine was a very popular saint, patron of young women and anyone who works with books or wheels: philosophers, librarians, students, wheelwrights...

As a saint associated with female learning, it's fitting that St Catherine is the subject of a poem by one of the earliest female authors writing in England whose name we know: Clemence, a nun of Barking Abbey in the twelfth century https://www.historytoday.com/archive/out-margins/cultured-women-essex

St Catherine's feast was once a day for all kinds of fun and merry-making, especially for the women whose trades fell under her patronage http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100529850

A medieval pilgrim badge representing St Catherine's wheel (15th century, http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=46151&partId=1&searchText=St.+catherine+of+Alexandria&people=78970&from=ad&fromDate=1300&to=ad&toDate=1450&page=1)