Born in Caesarea, Cappadocia (now Armenia); died there, c. 300.
The story of Saint Dorothy as it has come to us is legendary.
When the young maiden, Dorothy, was imprisoned as a Christian
during the persecutions of Diocletian, she converted two apostate
women warders sent to convert her to paganism. This enraged
Fabricius, the governor of Caesarea, who sentenced her to death.
On the way to execution, Dorothy was cruelly baited by a lawyer named Theophilus for refusing to marry or to worship idols. He mockingly asked her to send him back some fruit and flowers from the garden she had joyously announced she would soon be in. As she knelt for her beheading and prayed, a child (or an angel) miraculously appeared with a basket of golden apples and roses, even though it was winter. She took a napkin and placed in it three roses and three apples. Then she begged a child to take them to Theophilus and tell him she would meet him in the garden. When he saw these gifts he himself was converted to Christianity and later he, too, suffered martyrdom. Before being killed, Dorothy was stretched on a rack. It is recorded that she was then still smiling, as she remembered the warders she had converted.
In art, Saint Dorothy is a maiden carrying a basket of fruit and flowers, especially roses, which are her special attribute. At times that angel attendant may carry the basket. Sometimes she may be shown:
(1) leading the Christ-child by the hand;
(2) with a basket of fruit and the Christ-child riding a hobby horse;
(3) in an orchard with the Christ-child in an apple tree;
(4) crowned with flowers and surrounded by stars as she kneels before the executioner;
(5) crowned, carrying a flower basket;
(6) crowned with palm and flower basket, surrounded by stars;
(7) veiled, holding apples from heaven on a branch;
(8) veiled with flowers in her lap.
She is sometimes confused with Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, who
usually has the poor near her.
Saint Dorothy is the patroness of brewers, brides, florists, gardeners, midwives, and newly wedded couples.