View source for Saint Celestine

{{QuoteBox
|quote = '''''"She was an angel, pure as righteous destruction. She laid low the twisted and lifted the hearts of the righteous. At her passing, a million voices cried out her name. Shall we ever again see her like? No, not now, nor ever again..."''''' [[Saint|Saint Patricia]] on the disappearance of St. Celestine{{Fn|1a}}
|}}
{{Character
|Portal              ={{AdeptaSororitasPortal}}
|Name                =Saint Celestine
|Image               =CelestineArtNew.png
|Caption             =
|Title               =
|Homeworld           =[[Terra]]<br><small>(Original){{Fn|6a}}</small>
|Birth               =c. [[M30]]{{Fn|6a}}
|Active Period       =[[M31]] - Present
|Death               =Many deaths over the millennia<br><small>(Reincarnated)</small>
|Cause of Death      =
|Species             =[[Human]]
|Type                =[[Living Saint]]
|Gender              =Female
|Relatives           =
|Occupation          =''
*[[Living Saint]] of the [[Adepta Sororitas]]
|Preceded by         =
|Succeeded by        =
|Faction             =''
*[[Imperium of Man]]
**[[Adepta Sororitas]]
|Notes               =
}}
'''Saint Celestine''' is a legendary member of the [[Adepta Sororitas]]. Now a [[Living Saint]], she has been described as a grand design of the [[Emperor]] unfulfilled.{{Fn|3}} She has lived multiple lives in the Emperor's service, and each time she is slain is reborn once more.{{Fn|6a}}

== History ==
Little is known of her life and battles before she was proclaimed a [[Living Saint]] — presumably they were suppressed. In her earliest known form she was a citizen of [[Terra]] during the [[Horus Heresy]]. She was killed during the orbital bombardment of Terra during the [[Siege of Terra|Siege of the Emperor's Palace]].{{Fn|6a}}

In a later life she was a [[Sister Repentia]] of the [[Order of Our Martyred Lady]] and that she was but one warrior fighting at the prolonged [[Palatine Schism]], against thousands of [[heretic]]s. Celestine was thought to have been killed in battle before the capital city of the planet [[Eurytion]], and was said to have killed over one hundred schismatics before she fell. Her body was retrieved by her sisters, and was found to have life still in it. Believing her touched by the [[Emperor]] himself, the Sisters cleansed her body and found her to be free of wounds. The next day, the assault resumed with Celestine at its head. The battle lasted mere hours. Celestine became the figurehead of the [[Palatine Crusade]], leading the forces of the [[Imperium]] to countless victories. At last, the Crusade's commander, Lord [[Ansgar]] wanted to assault the sector's capital world, but Celestine instead ventured to a backwater world called [[Sanctus Lys]], which was home to an ancient shrine once visited by [[Saint Katherine]]. There she entered a hidden crypt, alone, forbidding any present to follow.{{Fn|1a}}
[[Image:Celestine.jpg|right|thumb|220px|Saint Celestine]]
At the first light of dawn, Celestine rose from the crypt changed. Clad in the [[Armour of Saint Katherine]] and wielding [[The Ardent Blade]], she had become a vessel of the Emperor's divine radiance; she was declared a [[Living Saint]] by [[Lord Ansgar]] and his [[Thorian]] compatriots. Hailed as the 'Hieromartyr of the Palatine Crusade', Saint Celestine led the warriors of the Imperium to victory in a multitude of [[Wars of Faith]], dispatching tens of thousands of heretics and enemies of the Emperor. The [[Adepta Sororitas]] venerated her, and her sisters would have followed her into the [[Eye of Terror]], had she asked them to.{{Fn|1a}}

Saint Celestine was lost on [[Forrax]], as the treacherous [[Warmaster]] detonated an atomic failsafe in his fortress, annihilating everything for miles across. When news of her death reached Holy [[Terra]], the [[Tower of Heroes]] tolled once to mourn her loss, but the Sororitas in their halls in [[Convent Prioris]] were comforted with the thought that Celestine would be at the side of the [[Emperor]].{{Fn|1b}}

She appeared unexpectedly in 980.[[M41]] at a crucial moment of the [[Promethean War]] on [[Heletine]], where the [[Order of the Ebon Chalice]] and the [[Salamanders]] [[Space Marines]] were engaged with forces of the [[Black Legion]]. There she turned the tide against the [[Chaos Space Marines]] and drove a spearhead directly to the [[Daemon Prince]] [[Lord Gralastyx]], and ultimately slew him. When the dust of the victory had settled, however, there was no sign of her. It remains unclear if this happened during her life or after she had been declared dead on Forrax.{{Fn|2}}

During the [[13th Black Crusade]], Saint Celestine once again manifested at the host of thousands of Sisters of Battle which had been thought lost in the [[Warp]] for centuries. She proved decisive in the battle and became one of the key Imperial commanders, personally battling [[Abaddon the Despoiler]]. She resurrected two faithful Canoness' during the war, [[Eleanor]] and [[Genevieve]], who became her champions known as the [[Geminae Superia]]. However despite her best efforts Cadia ultimately fell and Celestine guided many of the survivors including [[Belisarius Cawl]], [[Inquisitor]] [[Greyfax]], and [[Marshal (Black Templars)|Marshal]] [[Marius Amalrich]] to [[Kalisus]] at the behest of a psychic vision. There, they found a [[Webway Portal]] and [[Eldar]] allies who saved them from the pursuing [[Black Legion]].{{Fn|3}}
[[Image:Mtg-celestine.jpg|right|thumb|Celestine in battle{{fn|9}}]]
Saint Celestine continued to lead her survivors, now known simply as the Celestin, on a Crusade to [[Macragge]]. There Cawl was able to resurrect [[Roboute Guilliman]] as [[Ultramar Campaign|Ultramar was invaded by Chaos forces]]. Afterwards Celestine accompanied the reborn [[Primarch]] on the [[Terran Crusade]], and was one of the few to successfully reach [[Terra]].{{Fn|4}}

Shortly after the Terran Crusade, Celestine became embroiled alongside [[Inquisitor]] [[Greyfax]] in the attempts by [[Ecclesiarch]] [[Decius XXIII]] to repeal the [[Decree Passive]]. Ultimately after fighting on [[Battle of San Leor|San Leor]] and [[Second Battle of Ophelia VII|Ophelia VII]], the [[Tyrant of Blueflame]] revealed himself and his plan to use Celestine as a vessel to manifest into reality. As she became possessed, [[Longinus]] was forced to kill her. However much to everyone's shock she was instantly reborn. Tracing the Tyrant of Blueflame's corruption back to the Ecclesiarch, Celestine later slew him.{{Fn|7}}

Sometime later on [[Tsadrekha]], Saint Celestine appeared to help the Imperial Fists and local army against a Chaos invasion. After a long battle against Chaos forces, the Saint entrusted the psyker who acted as an astropathic beacon on that planet to [[Kassar]] of the [[Alpha Legion]] and prepared to fight against [[Khârn]]. In the end, Celestine died at hands of the [[World Eater]].{{Fn|5}}

Celestine woke up in the dimension of the Warp, on top of a huge mountain made of skulls, bones and broken and rusted armors. All around her neck there was a deep scar that soon faded away. Celestine had lost her memory, but she soon realized who she was and that she was experiencing one of her many deaths. She walked in a nightmarish landscape full of daemons, and facing various trials, regaining her memory, armour and sword. She found two other ladies, who were revealed to be parts of her own soul: Faith and Duty,  and a young girl who was her Hope. After the trials she was able to return once more to life.{{Fn|6}}

She appeared on the planet of Kophyr, where she lead the few available Astra Militarum forces against War Engine, the leader of a Blood cult of Khorne that had taken control of the planet. However, while the campaign was successful, she was betrayed by an Inquisitor who fell under the sway of Khorne. The Inquisitor used his psychic powers to turn half the Imperial Guardsmen against Celestine. While the mutiny was defeated, Celestine was killed by a close range melta gun shot. Upon dying, she awoke once more a top the mountain of bones, with no memory of who she was.{{Fn|6}}

At [[Vigilus]] during the [[War of Nightmares]], Celestine appeared with her Battle Sisters to rally the defenders and help turn the tide. At Hive Mortwald, Celestine and her Sisters rallied the defenders and aided [[Inquisitor]] [[Cartavolnus]]. Facing them was the [[Black Legion]] [[Sorcerer]] [[Xagramothis]], who summoned a trio of giant [[Daemonhost]]s. In the ensuing battle Celestine led her Sisters as well as Space Marines battle the creatures and the hordes of lesser Daemons that accompany them. As Cartavolnus escapes via dropship he witnesses Celestine destroy all three Daemonhosts, but the battlefield is swept away in an empyric fire and the Living Saint went missing thereafter.{{Fn|10a}}

During the [[Nachmund Rift War]], Saint Celestine reappeared on [[Sangua Terra]] to rally the defenders and attempt to hold back the [[Chaos]] hordes under [[Haarken Worldclaimer]]. In the end the situation became hopeless, and a badly wounded Celestine helped initiate an evacuation from Urbanosprawl Alpha.{{Fn|10b}}

==Related Videos==
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==Images==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="250">
Celestine1.jpg|Saint Celestine (3rd Edition)
Celestine7th.jpg|Saint Celestine (7th Edition)
JoytoyCelestine.jpg|Saint Celestine Joytoy figure{{Fn|8}}
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[List of Imperial Saints]]
*[[Geminae Superia]]

==Sources==
{{Citation issues}}
*1: [[Codex: Witch Hunters (3rd Edition)]]
**{{Endn|1a}}: pg. 47
**{{Endn|1b}}: pg. 31
*{{Endn|2}}: [[White Dwarf 380 (UK)]], pg. 92
*{{Endn|3}}: [[Gathering Storm: Fall of Cadia]],{{Cite Marker End}}
*{{Endn|4}}: [[Gathering Storm: Rise of the Primarch]],{{Cite Marker End}}
*{{Endn|5}}: [[Shroud of Night (Novel)]],{{Cite Marker End}}
*{{Endn|6}}: [[Celestine: The Living Saint (Novel)]],{{Cite Marker End}}
**{{Endn|6a}}: Beyond
*{{Endn|7}}: [[Our Martyred Lady (Audio Drama)]]
*{{Endn|8}}: [https://www.joytoy.com/products/adepta-sororitas-celestine,-the-living-sain Joytoy Celestine] (last accessed 21/7/2024)
*{{Endn|9}}: [[Magic: The Gathering's Universes Beyond Warhammer 40,000]] - Celestine, the Living Saint card - for details see [[Saint Celestine/Sources]]

*{{Endn|10}}: [[Crusade: Nachmund Gauntlet]]
**{{Endn|10a}}: pg. 13
**{{Endn|10b}}: pgs. 43-45


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[[Category:Characters (Adepta Sororitas)]]
[[Category:Characters (Human)]]
[[Category:Imperial Saints]]
[[de:Celestine]]
[[fr:Sainte Célestine]]