- Time Period: Pre-WW1
- Year of Institution: 24 November 1714
- Country: Russia & USSR
The Order of Saint Catherine (or Императорский Орден Святой Екатерины in Russian) is an award of Imperial Russia established on 24 November 1714 by Peter the Great on the occasion of his marriage to Catherine I of Russia. The Order was, for the majority of the time of Imperial Russia, the only award for women.
The order was under the patronage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, the patron saint of the Empress. Peter the Great personally bestowed the insignia of the Order upon Empress Catherine on the Empress’ name day, making her Grand Mistress of the Order. No further members were inducted until 1726 and Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna (who died in 1928) was the last Grand Mistress of the Order.
The award was bestowed in two classes:
- Dame Grand Cross, and
- Dame Lesser Cross.
Every Russian Grand Duchess was conferred the Grand Cross of the Order at her christening (or at her marriage into the Romanov family), and Princesses of the Imperial Blood were invested upon attaining their majority at 18. The 12 Dames Grand Cross were typically female members of foreign ruling houses, and the Dames Small Cross were all women of the highest nobility.
The Imperial Order of Saint Catherine Design
The badge of the Order is a cross with a large medallion set in the center of it.
On the obverse is depicted the order’s patron saint, Catherine of Alexandria, holding a large white cross, the symbol of her martyrdom. In the four quadrants formed by the cross are written the initials, “D.S.F.R.” (“Domine Salvum Fac Regem”, or “God Save the Tsar“). The Badge was attached to the riband, a sash of scarlet moiré with silver edges embroidered with the inscription: “За Любовь и Отечество” (“Za Lyubov’ i Otechestvo”, or “For Love and the Fatherland”).
The star is a medallion set on a silver, eight-pointed star with rays and encrusted with diamonds. On the obverse of the red medallion, in the center, is depicted the wheel of Saint Catherine (symbol of her martyrdom) surmounted by a cross. Encircling the medallion is the motto of the order.
On 24 December, the feast day of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, the members of the Order would wear the robes and the insignia and go in procession from the Imperial Chapel to a banqueting hall (usually the Hall of Saint Catherine in the Great Kremlin Palace in Moscow) specially prepared for the occasion. The coloring and decoration of the hall incorporate those of the Order.
