Dear Friends,
As we celebrate the Santa Lucia festival this weekend, it is good that we remember the story of her life and her heroic witness (which also explains her statue’s images):
According to tradition, Lucy was born of rich and noble parents about the year 283 in Syracuse, Sicily. Her father was a Christian of Roman origin, but died when she was five years old,leaving Lucy and her mother, a Greek pagan, without a protective guardian.
Like many of the early martyrs, Lucy had dedicated her life to God, and she hoped to distribute her dowry to the poor. However, her mother not knowing of Lucy’s promise, and suffering from a bleeding disorder, feared for Lucy’s future. She arranged Lucy’s marriage to a young man of a wealthy pagan family.
Saint Agatha had been martyred 52 years before. Her shrine at Catania, less than 50 miles from Syracuse attracted a number of pilgrims; many miracles were reported to have happened through her intercession. Lucy persuaded her mother to make a pilgrimage to Catania, in hopes of a cure. While there, St. Agatha appeared to Lucy in a dream and told her that because of her faith her mother would be cured and that Lucy herself would be the glory of Syracuse, as Agatha was of Catania. With her mother cured, her mother began to believe and became a Christian. Lucy took the opportunity to persuade her mother to allow her to distribute a great part of her riches among the poor. This was especially needed among Christians who were being persecuted by the Emperor Diocletian.
News that the money and jewels were being distributed came to Lucy’s betrothed. He asked her to stop this and marry him. When she said no, he denounced her to Paschasius, the Governor of Syracuse. Paschasius ordered her to offer a sacrifice to the emperor’s image. When she refused, Paschasius sentenced her to work in a brothel.
The tradition states that when the guards came to take her away, they could not move her even when they hitched her to a team of oxen. Bundles of wood were then heaped about her and set on fire, but they would not burn. Finally, she met her death by a sword thrust into her throat. The year was 304.
Absent in the early narratives, at least until the 15th century, is the story of Lucy being tortured by the gouging out of her eyes. According to these later accounts, before she died she foretold the punishment of Paschasius and the speedy end of the persecution, adding that Emperor Diocletian would reign no more. This so angered Paschasius that he ordered the guards to remove her eyes. When her body was prepared for burial in the family mausoleum, it was discovered that her eyes had been miraculously restored.
Lucy’s feast day is December 13th and is especially celebrated in Sicily, Italy, and Sweden. Many of the Italian immigrants in Omaha came from Lentini and Carlentini; which are located thirty miles from Syracuse. Lucy’s name is associated with “light” and so the celebrations usually involve candles or bringing light to the darkness. If you attended the Santa Lucia festivities on the riverfront, then you will have noticed the importance of the lighting ceremonies and the number of lights on the arch.
May Lucy’s witness inspire us in our commitment to our faith and in our love especially for those in need.
Peace,
Fr. Damian