Saint Lucy

Virgin and Martyr
(died 304)

Saint Lucy is one of the most beloved martyrs of the early Church, venerated throughout both East and West, and her feast on December 13th is kept with special solemnity in Scandinavia, where she represents the return of light in the darkest season of the year. Her name, derived from the Latin lux, light, has always been associated with the imagery of divine illumination, and she is one of the saints commemorated in the ancient Roman Canon of the Mass.

According to her Acts, Lucy was a noble virgin of Syracuse in Sicily who had consecrated her virginity to God. Her mother, suffering from a haemorrhage, was cured through a visit to the tomb of Saint Agatha, and in gratitude Lucy persuaded her to allow her to distribute her dowry to the poor and to live a life of celibacy and Christian charity. A young man to whom she had been promised in marriage, infuriated by her refusal and by the loss of the wealth she was giving away, denounced her to the Roman governor of Sicily as a Christian.

She was brought before the governor and refused to sacrifice to the gods or to deny her faith. Various torments were attempted against her, all of which she survived miraculously. She was finally killed by a sword thrust to the throat. An ancient tradition holds that her eyes were torn out during her martyrdom and that she was then granted new and more beautiful eyes by God, giving her the patronage of those with eye diseases and making her the patron of the blind.

The feast of Lucy on December 13th falls near the winter solstice, and in Scandinavian countries she is honoured as the bringer of light in the darkest time of year, with processions in which young girls wearing white robes and crowns of candles represent the saint and her heavenly light. She is the patron of the blind, of those with eye diseases, and of all who work with light. Her feast is celebrated on December 13th.