Katerina of Novo Selo

The nun Katerina († 1876) was one of the nuns of the Holy Trinity convent at Novo Selo (today Apriltsi), killed by the Turks on 9 May 1876 in the massacre at the convent. She was canonized as a holy martyr by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church on 3 April 2011; she is commemorated on 26 April (9 May by the new calendar), together with the other martyrs of Novo Selo.

Her name stands in the list of the martyrs, among those of the nuns Susana Somleva, Sofia Pavkova, Elisaveta Zliyska, Efrosiniya Moftieva, Hristina and Kalista. No details of her life survive. The convent had been built about 1830; girls from devout families of Novo Selo and the neighbouring villages gave themselves there, to live in prayer and work. When the convent was attacked, on 9 May 1876, some of the nuns took refuge in the church. One of them, who did not manage to enter, was cut down with a yatagan on the threshold of the church. The others were killed in the church, among them the abbess Susana. It is told that when the Turks began to strip the bodies they saw a sister still alive, and blinded and smothered her, filling her eyes and mouth with mortar. The relics of the martyrs are today in the monastery church.