St. Christopher Ladies Guild Woman of the Month
St. Lucy
St. Lucy is one of the few saints invoked in the first Eucharistic prayer of the mass. Although the historical facts of her life are shrouded in the mist of time, the truth remains that she was a well-known and revered martyr of the early church. She was born to wealthy parents in Sicily, Italy and converted to Christianity as a young girl. She was said to have delivered food to the poor living in the tunnels of Sicily while lighting her way with a wreath of candles upon her head. Desiring to give her life to Christ, Lucy refused the offer of marriage from a wealthy pagan suitor. At this time, the Emperor Diocletian’s persecution of Christians was at its height. The spurned suitor denounced Lucy as a Christian to their governor and she was brought to trial around 304 A.D. when she refused to honor the pagan gods. There are many legends surrounding the torture that Lucy endured, the most well-known being that her eyes were gouged out before her death. Another legend holds that her eyes were restored to her before her execution and so she is often depicted in art as carrying her eyes upon a plate. Due to this legend, and the fact that her name is derived from the Latin word for “light”, St. Lucy is the patron saint of those who are blind or suffer from diseases that affect the eyes. St. Lucy’s feast day, December 13, was the Winter Solstice on the old Gregorian calendar. Thus, she became a symbol of the light of Christ breaking through the darkest time of the year. King Canute of Norway (11th century) established this day, Santa Lucia Day, as the beginning of the celebration of Christmas. It is a beloved tradition still in Scandinavia to mark the day with a procession of young girls dressed in white and bearing candlelit wreaths upon their crowns.
As we journey through this Advent toward our own darkest time of the year, let us ask the intercession of St. Lucy to remove our spiritual blindness that we may see the light of Christ breaking through in our lives. May we, like this courageous woman of faith, answer our baptismal call to bring the light of Christ to those in need. In the words of another Christian martyr, Alfred Delp, S.J.: “Light your candles quietly, such candles as you possess, wherever you are.”
You can find the The Christmas Novena here.