St. Lucy Day
By: Jessica Ang
Lucy is a Sicilian saint born in Syracuse, Sicily, of noble Greek parentage. Her father died while she was young and her mother raised her as a Christian. She vowed to remain a virgin, but her mother, Eutychia, not knowing this betrothed her to a young pagan. Her mother suffered from a blood flux, Lucy heard at Mass of a woman who was healed from a blood flux by touching the hem of Jesus’ coat. She convinced her mother to pray at the tomb of St. Agatha, the patroness of Catania. They spent the night praying and when fell into an exhausted sleep, St. Agatha appeared in a vision to Lucy, saying,”Soon you shall be the glory of Syracuse, as I am of Catania.” At that moment Eutychia was cured.
Lucy told her mother her wish to help the poor and dedicate her life toGod’s service, Eutychia was so grateful to be cured that she agreed. Lucy gave her dowry to the poor, but the pagan she was to marry denounced her as a Christian to the magistrate at a time when the persecutions of Christians issued by Emperor Diocletian were at their height. When Lucy clung to her faith instead of sacrificing to an image of the emperor, she was sentenced to become a prostitute in a brothel. When the guards came to take her away, God rendered her immovable and they found her so filled with the Holy Spirit that she was as immovable as a mountain. They then tried to burn her, but boiling oil and pitch could not harm her or break her spirit. In a last attempt they gouged out her eyes, but miraculously she was still able to. Another version of her story was Lucy’s beautiful eyes admired by a suitor in order to remain chaste she plucked out her own eyes; because of her sacrifice and faith God gave her a pair of more beautiful eyes. She died by the sword and the other wounds she received in prison in the year 304.
St. Lucy Day is celebrated on December 13 in Europe, especially in Scandinavia.On St. Lucy Day the eldest daughter fixes a breakfast of special pastries and coffee for her family. She appears in their bedrooms in a white dress belted with a red sash, wearing a wreath of greens and four, seven, or nine lighted candles. She served traditional pastries called lussekatter (Lucy cats) and x-shaped pastries flavored with saffron.
