St. Dorothy lived in Caesarea in Cappadocia. The legend has it that when she was on her way to her martyrdom a jesting soldier asked her to bring him roses and apples from the "Paradise" she said she was going to. The following winter an angel brought the soldier a basket of roses and apples, and he converted to Christianity as a result. For this reason, St. Dorothy's attribute is a basket of roses and apples. Sometimes, as at left, the basket is replaced by her own garment and the apples are omitted.
St. Dorothy was not included in Voragine's Golden Legend, but in preparing his translation of that work Caxton included a life of the saint.
Feast day: February 6
At left, from Lorenzetti's Madonna and Child with Mary Magdalene and St. Dorothy
Other images:
Monstrance
from Basel Cathedral
Painting,
possibly of DorothyHagiography:
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