FEAST OF SAINT LUCY OF SYRACUSE
FEAST DAY – 13th DECEMBER
St. Lucy, Italian Santa Lucia, (died 304, Syracuse, Sicily; feast day December 13), virgin and martyr, was one of the earliest Christian saints to achieve popularity, having a widespread following before the 5th century.
She is the patron saint of the city of Syracuse (Sicily) and of virgins. Because of various traditions associating her name with light, she came to be thought of as the patron of sight and therefore, of the blind, and was depicted by medieval artists with a dish containing her eyes.
Lucy was probably a victim of the wave of persecution of Christians that occurred late in the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian. References to her are found in the very early Roman sacramentaries and, at Syracuse, in an inscription dating from 400 CE.
As evidence of her early fame, two churches are known to have been dedicated to her in Britain before the 8th century, at a time when the land was largely pagan.
Lucy is venerated on her feast day, December 13, by several ceremonies. In Sweden, St. Lucia’s Day marks the beginning of the Christmas celebration.
On that day the eldest daughter of the family traditionally dresses in a white robe and wears as a crown an evergreen wreath studded with candles.
The festival is meant to bring hope and light during the darkest time of the year.According to apocryphal texts, Lucy came from a wealthy Sicilian family. Spurning marriage and worldly goods, however, she vowed to remain a virgin in the tradition of St. Agatha.
An angry suitor reported her to the local Roman authorities, who sentenced her to be removed to a brothel. This order was thwarted, according to legend, by divine intervention, as Lucy became immovable and could not be carried away.
She was next condemned to death by fire, but she proved impervious to the flames. Finally, her neck was pierced by a sword and she died. Saint Lucy’s Day, is held as the Feast of Saint Lucy.
She brought food and aid to Christians hiding in the catacombs during the Diocletian persecution, using a candle-lit wreath to light her way and leave her hands free to carry as much food as possible.
Her feast once coincided with the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year before calendar reforms, so her feast day has become a Christian festival of light. Falling within the Advent season,
Saint Lucy’s Day is viewed as an event signaling the arrival of Christmastide, pointing to the arrival of the Light of Christ in the calendar, on Christmas Day.
PRAYER
Saint Lucy, you did not hide your light under a basket, but let it shine for the whole world, for all the centuries to see. We may not suffer torture in our lives the way you did, but we are still called to let the light of our Christianity illumine our daily lives.
Please help us to have the courage to bring our Christianity into every aspect of our day and spread Its light, which is the message of Truth, contained in the Holy Gospel, to all corners of the world, in the Name of the Light of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
