Professor Butter Beard and the “Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine”
“Listen everybody, look, I don't know what you're waiting for. A wedding, what's a wedding? It's a prehistoric ritual where everybody promises fidelity forever which is maybe the most horrifying word I ever heard of. Which is followed by a honeymoon, where suddenly he'll realize he's settled with a nut, and want to kill me, which he should…..” - Stephen Sondheim
A wedding, what’s a wedding? Been there, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t allowed myself a few delicious fantasy commitments. Especially recently, as it seems to be the season of weddings within my circle. First on the suitor list is “Andy the Highlander,” the scrumptious Scottish content creator who I know just is waiting to whisk us away, in matching kilts of course, to our cottage in Aberdeenshire that we convert into a bakery and bookstore. Waiting in the wings is Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of Sûreté du Québec, the provincial Canadian police force, as written by Louise Penny in my favorite mystery book series. I can already imagine our French pastry wedding reception on a moonlit evening in Three Pines, catered by Ruth Zardo and her ducks.
Also ready to offer a ring, of course, is “Hot Rabbi.” I understand that Mr. Brody was already snagged, but just in case, Adam, I’m ready to discuss conversion. And, dear readers, prepare yourselves as the brooding Mr. Darcy emerges from his estate pond, clothes clinging like Greek “wet drapery,” as he proposes with his family signet ring and the hands me the keys to Pemberley.
I must admit though, I have never imagined being asked to wed by a god. But I do know of someone who was, and she graciously accepted the offer.
Caterina di Jacopo di Benincasa, known as “Caterina of Siena,” was an Italian Catholic mystic who engaged in papal and Italian politics through extensive letter-writing and advocacy. Born and raised in early 14th-century Siena, Caterina wanted from an early age to devote herself to God, which was against the will of her parents. She joined the “mantellates,” a group of pious women, primarily widows, informally devoted to Dominican spirituality. Later these types of urban pious groups would be formalized as the Third Order of the Dominicans, but not until after Caterina’s death.
After Caterina donned the habit of the mantellates, she spent three years in seclusion, except when she went to confession and mass, in a small room that she converted into a temple of continual prayer, fasting, silence, self-mortification, and study. According to Dr. Kevin Vost, Caterina had been inspired since childhood by the prayerful ancient “Desert Fathers” and she “established a desert within the walls of her own home, and solitude in the midst of people.”
During a prayer one morning, the illiterate Caterina asked Christ to teach to her to read so that she could say the Psalms and sing his prayers, since she was not intelligent enough to master it on her own, adding that she would remain ignorant and meditate on him in other ways if this was not his will. When she woke the next morning, she found she could read fluently. She read so fast that she was not able to read out separate syllables and could hardly spell the words, which was immediately understood as a sign of a “miracle.”
During these years of secluded contemplation and through the remainder of her life as well, Caterina experienced many mystical ecstasies with visions of Christ and of the saints. Among the most profound of her ecstatic visions was the “mystical marriage,” in which she was espoused to Christ, among a wedding party which included the Virgin Mother, Saint John the Evangelist, Saint Paul, Saint Dominic, and King David, who accompanied the ceremony by playing his harp. Christ presented her a ring that was invisible to others, but which she could see for the rest of her life.
The artistic theme of the “Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine” actually covers two different subjects in Christian art arising from visions received by either Catherine of Alexandria (late 3rd-century) or Caterina of Siena (1347–1380), in which both these virgin saints went through a mystical marriage wedding ceremony with Christ, in the presence of the Virgin Mary, consecrating themselves and their virginity to him.
The story of Catherine of Alexandria’s vision appears first to be found in literature after 1337, over a thousand years after the traditional dating of her death, and ten years before Caterina di Jacopo di Benincasa was born. Caterina of Siena would have been familiar with this story, and she is recorded as praying as a child that she would have a similar experience, which she eventually did.
The Barna da Siena panel was painted within a few years of the first literary mention of Catherine of Alexandria’s divine marriage. Until recently, Barna da Siena was presumed to be a Sienese painter active from about 1330 to 1350. The painter was first referred to by Lorenzo Ghiberti in his “I Commentarii” (mid-15th-century) as a Sienese painter who painted several works in Tuscany, including many stories from the Old Testament in San Gimignano. Giorgio Vasari referred in the first edition of his “Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects” (1550) to the Sienese painter ‘Berna’ who was responsible for frescos of Old Testament scenes in the Collegiata di San Gimignano.
Barna has been credited by many art historians as the “Master” of the Collegiata di San Gimignano in Tuscany. It is believed that his pupil Giovanni d'Asciano assisted him on the frescoes and finished the left-over portions after Barna reportedly fell from a scaffolding and died supposedly at a young age. Within the last two decades, and due to all the problems with the identification of the artist including no signed works, a majority of scholars now believe that ‘Barna’ is a historical fiction, and that the gorgeous panel depicting the marriage of Christ and St. Catherine was actually executed by the Sienese artistic circle of Simone Martini.
I am grateful to whoever painted such a delicious work of Sienese art, bathed in radiant golds, burnt oranges and rich siennas –the scrumptious colors within my autumnal baking palate. All these thoughts converged into the creation of a new Bundt recipe combining the first clementines of the season with toasted almonds (Byzantine influence), Asian spices and a hint of pungent rosemary from my garden. Dear Andy, Inspector Gamache, Hot Rabbi or Mr. Darcy, I graciously accept your offer of a wedding ring and present you a freshly baked one from my baker’s soul in return.
Clementine Almond Cake
One 10” Bundt
4 (total 8) clementine oranges
2 tsp fresh rosemary leaves
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ almond flour (I prefer Bob’s Red Mill)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp Chinese Five-Spice
1 tsp fine sea salt
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
12 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 tsp vanilla paste
1 Tbsp almond slices
Sanding sugar to finish
Glaze:
¼ cup granulated sugar
Juice of 4 clementines
1) Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
2) Spray a 10-cup Bundt pan with cooking spray with flour and sprinkle the almond slices over the bottom of the pan.
3) In a food processor, process the unpeeled 4 clementines (cut into quarters) and the rosemary until almost pureed, about 30 seconds. Be sure to leave some small pieces for texture. Set aside.
4) In a standing mixer, whisk the 2 cups sugar and the eggs on medium-high until thick and pale. Reduce the mixer to medium and whisk in the melted butter and vanilla. Change to the paddle and mix in the clementine puree. Then add the dry ingredients and mix slowly until just combined. (I actually prefer removing the bowl and folding in the dry ingredients with a spatula.) Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan.
5) Bake the cake on the center rack for 45-50 minutes until a wooden stick comes out clean.
6) While the cake bakes, use a small saucepan to bring the ¼ cup sugar and clementine juice to a light boil, stirring initially to ensure the sugar properly melts. Pour the hot glaze into a small glass bowl and have at the ready.
7) Let the cake cook in the pan on a wire rack for ten minutes before inverting onto the wire rack. Brush the syrup all over the cake and let the cake cool completely on the wire rack. If desired, sprinkle the sanding sugar on the cake for a glittering finish.
