Thinking about Katherine the Weal led me to the topic of Maxentius ...
I think the question of Maxentius' historical identity remains open. Several threads in the Urth archives talk about the Roman emperor Maxentius who persecuted St. Katherine of Alexandria, and the tie-in with the Torturers' feast is obvious, with the wheel, the beheading etc.
But I think the other Maxentius is hovering in the background here - this would be Saint Maxentius of France, ca. 500 AD. The Catholic Online entry has some interesting tidbits, some
of which maybe relevant - and apologies if this is already common knowledge:
- Maxentius was trained by Saint Severus
- He is credited with relieving a drought
- He once confronted a group
of soldiers who were threatening his monastery - one of them raised
his arm to strike Maxentius but his arm froze, and required holy water to move again - interesting because Severian has difficulty wielding the fake sword during the ritual.
This mashup of contexts and references is very much in keeping with Wolfe's methods ...