Vigils Reading – St Lucy

ST LUCY

From Butler’s Lives of the Saints

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St Lucy is said to have been a Sicilian, born in the city of Syracuse of noble

and wealthy parents and brought up a Christian. She wished to devote her life to

God and to give her fortune to the poor, but during the Diocletian persecutions

a man, usually represented as a Roman soldier, tried to rape her, and she

resisted. He denounced her as a Christian, and she was arrested, tortured and

killed.

Though these traditions have no ascertainable historical basis, her

connection with Syracuse and the existence of an early cult connected with her

name are well established. A fourth-century inscription mentioning that a girl

called Euskia died on Lucy’s feast-day survives at Syracuse. Lucy was honoured

at Rome in the sixth century as one of the most illustrious virgin martyrs whose

lives the Church celebrates. Her name is included in the Canons of the Roman

and Ambrosian rites and occurs in the oldest Roman sacramentaries, in Greek

liturgical books, and in the marble calendar of Naples. Churches were dedicated

to her in Rome, Naples, and eventually Venice. In England two ancient

churches were dedicated to her, and she has certainly been known since the

end of the seventh century. St Aldhelm, bishop of Sherborne (23 May),

celebrated her in both prose and verse, though he unfortunately relied on

spurious sources.

Possibly on account of her name,which has connotations of light and

purity (Latin lux/Lucia), legends have long gathered around St Lucy. Some of

the legends and many paintings relate to her eyes. One gruesome story is that

she tore her eyes out rather than surrender to her attacker, and she is sometimes

shown offering them to him. Oddly, she is the patron saint of those with eye

trouble, and a gentler interpretation is that this is because the eyes are the

source of our awareness of light. Her feast-day had long been the occasion for

special ceremonies connected with virginity. It occurs near the shortest day of

the year and is especially celebrated in Sweden as a festival of light, with a

procession of young girls dressed in white and crowned with lighted candles.

The song “Santa Lucia” celebrates her memory.