St. Lucy
Feast day: Dec. 13
Virgin and martyr, St. Lucy is one of the mothers of the early Church known for her strong faith under persecution. Born to wealthy, noble parents in Syracuse, Sicily, in about A.D. 283, she chose to give her wedding dowry to the poor and keep her vow of virginity to Christ despite her mother’s disapproval. Although the precise details of her life are inconclusive, St. Lucy was clearly venerated by the early Church. She is mentioned in the Sacramentary, a liturgical book from the sixth century attributed to Pope Gregory I, and an account of her life and death was outlined by the English bishop St. Aldhelm in his “Tractatus de Laudibus Virginitatis” in the seventh century. St. Lucy was later noted in the Martyrology, a calendrical list of martyrs written by St. Bede the Venerable in the eighth century. Today St. Lucy is still listed in the first Eucharistic prayer at Mass.
The significance of these three major sources is twofold: They not only provide credence to the life of St. Lucy but also show how determined the early Church was to defend the dignity of women, something disregarded by the Romans in their paganism. What has been passed down to us about St. Lucy is the account of a young girl adamant to remain true to Christ despite the cruel hatred of her pagan suitor, who had her murdered during one of the persecutions of the Roman emperor Diocletian. The daughter of a Roman father and likely a Greek mother, St. Lucy was raised as a Christian but lost her father at a young age. She promised herself to Christ as his spouse, though her mother was unaware of this and promised her to a suitor. St. Lucy told her mother of her vow to remain a virgin when her mother was healed of hemorrhaging at the tomb of St. Agatha, a virgin and martyr in the early Church.
Although her mother, Eutychia, agreed that St. Lucy could give her dowry to the poor, the fact remained that her mother had chosen a suitor for her. He was furious when he found out about St. Lucy’s consecrated virginity and that she had given away her dowry. The suitor reported her to the governor of Syracuse, who had St. Lucy sentenced for being a Christian. She was arrested and interrogated, but she refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods. The judge then demanded that she be sent to a brothel for prostitution. When it was discovered that St. Lucy could not be moved, he ordered her to be burnt alive instead. Unharmed by the flames, she was finally decapitated with a sword. It is also believed that she was blinded by her torturers, and that is why she is the patron saint of eyesight.
Today St. Lucy is one of seven women, besides the Blessed Virgin Mary, commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass. Given that her name means “light” from the Latin word “lux,” her feast is celebrated during Advent, as the Church prepares for the coming of Christ, the light of the world. Pope Francis explained the significance of her feast day in 2014 in an address to members of the National Council of the Italian Union of Blind and Sight-Impaired Persons: “Lucy tells us that life is made to be given. She lived this out in the supreme form of martyrdom, but the value of the gift of self is universal; it is the secret to true happiness. … This can also be understood as the secret of the name ‘Lucy’: a person is ‘full of light’ to the extent that he or she is a gift to others.”
Reflection
Dear Jesus, may I share your light of love by living for the good of others, particularly in helping the poor. May I always be an instrument of your peace in rejecting violence as a solution and work to proclaim the dignity of the human person, especially in chastity.
Prayer
May the glorious intercession
of the Virgin and Martyr Saint Lucy
give us new heart, we pray, O Lord,
so that we may celebrate her heavenly birthday
in this present age
and so behold things eternal.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
