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Also known
as: Lucia of Syracuse; Lucia de Syracuse
Profile
Rich, young Christian who vowed her life to Christ. Her Roman father died
when she was young. Her mother, Eutychia, arranged a marriage for her. For
three years she managed to keep the marriage on hold. To change the
mother's mind about the girl's new faith, Lucy prayed at the tomb of Saint
Agatha, and her mother's long hemorrhagic illness was cured. Her mother
agreed with Lucy's desire to live for God, and Lucy became known as a
patron of those with maladies like her mother's.
Her rejected pagan bridegroom, Paschasius, denounced Lucy as a Christian.
The governor planned to force her into prostitution, but when guards went
to fetch her, they could not move her even when they hitched her to a team
of oxen. The governor ordered her killed instead. After torture that
included having her eyes torn out, she was surrounded by bundles of wood
which were set afire; they went out. She prophesied against her
persecutors, and was executed by being stabbed to death with a dagger.
Legend says her eyesight was restored before her death. This and the
meaning of her name led to her connection with eyes, the blind, eye
trouble, etc.
Born: c.283 at Syracuse, Sicily
Died: stabbed in the throat c.304 at Syracuse, Sicily; her relics
are honored in churches throughout Europe
Canonized: Pre-Congregation
Name Meaning: light; bringer of light (= Lucy)
Patronage: against hemorrhages, authors, blind people, blindness,
cutlers, dysentery, eye disease, eye problems, glaziers, hemorrhages,
laborers, martyrs, peasants, saddlers, salesmen, stained glass workers,
Syracuse Sicily, throat infections, writers
Representation
cord; eyes on a dish; lamp; swords; woman hitched to a yoke of oxen; woman
in the company of Saint Agatha, Saint Agnes of Rome, Barbara, Catherine of
Alexandria, and Saint Thecla; woman kneeling before the tomb of Saint
Agatha
Readings
Those whose hearts are pure are temples of the Holy Spirit.
- Saint Lucy
source:
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintl01.htm |
