NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Saint Lucy

Saint Lucy of Syracuse, also known as Saint Lucia, Santa Lucia, or Saint Lukia, (traditional dates 283–304) was a rich young Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint by Catholic and Orthodox Christians. Her feast day in the West is December 13, by the unreformed Julian calendar the longest night of the year; she is the patron saint of those who are blind. Lucy is one of the very few saints celebrated by the Lutheran Swedes, Finland-Swedes, Danes, and Norwegians, in celebrations that retain many indigenous Germanic pagan pre-Christian midwinter light festivals.^[1] She is one of seven women, excluding the Blessed Virgin Mary, commemorated by name in the Roman Canon. Download high resolution version (720x1040, 77 KB)Saint Lucy, Domenico Beccafumi, The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... Domenico di Pace Beccafumi (1486 - 1551), Italian painter, of the school of Siena. ... Piazza del Campo Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. ... Catholic Church redirects here. ... Orthodox icon of Pentecost. ... The Lutheran movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity by the original definition. ... This box: Anglicanism most commonly refers to the beliefs and practices of the Anglican Communion, a world-wide affiliation of Christian Churches, most of which have historical connections with the Church of England. ... This article is about the process of declaring saints. ... Shrine is also used as a conventional translation of the Japanese Jinja. ... For other uses, see Venice (disambiguation). ... The calendar of saints is a traditional Christian method of organising a liturgical year on the level of days by associating each day with one or more saints, and referring to the day as that saints day. ... is the 347th day of the year (348th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Lucia by Swedish painter Carl Larsson, 1908 Saint Lucys Day (Sankta Lucia, also known as Saint Lucias Day etc) is the Church feast day holiday dedicated to St. ... Saint symbology was important to people who couldnt read because they can figure out what symbols mean. ... Image File history File links Gloriole. ... Events December 17 - Pope Gaius succeeds Pope Eutychian December - Numerian was proclaimed Roman emperor by his soldiers. ... For other uses, see 304 (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Christian (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Martyr (disambiguation). ... Saints redirects here. ... ... is the 347th day of the year (348th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Julian calendar was a reform of the Roman calendar which was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC and came into force in 45 BC (709 ab urbe condita). ... This article is about the visual condition. ... The Lutheran movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity by the original definition. ... Finland-Swedish is a variety of Swedish. ... Lucia by Swedish painter Carl Larsson, 1908 Saint Lucys Day (Sankta Lucia, also known as Saint Lucias Day etc) is the Church feast day holiday dedicated to St. ... ROSIE IS A GERMN LADYGermanic paganism refers to the religion of the Germanic nations preceding Christianization. ... Illumination of Earth by Sun on the day of the northern winter solstice In astronomy, the winter solstice is the moment when the earth is at a point in its orbit where one hemisphere is most inclined away from the sun. ... Our Lady redirects here. ... This article incorporates text from the public domain Catholic Encyclopedia Canon of the Mass (Canon MissÃ¦, Canon Actionis) is the name used in the Roman Missal of the Tridentine period for the part of the Mass that began after the Sanctus with the words Te igitur. ...

Her acta sanctorum tells that Lucy was a Christian while Diocletian was persecuting and martyring Christians. She consecrated her virginity to God,^[2] refused to marry a pagan, and had her dowry distributed to the poor. Her would-be husband denounced her as a Christian to the governor of Syracuse. Miraculously unable to move her or burn her, the guards stabbed her and killed her. Hagiography is the study of saints. ... Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus (c. ... The Diocletian Persecution was the last, and most severe, episode of persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. ...

The oldest record of her story comes from the fifth-century accounts of saints' lives.^[3] By the sixth century, her story was widespread. St. Aldhelm wrote an account of her life, and the Venerable Bede included her story in his Martyrology.^[4] In medieval accounts, St. Lucy's eyes are gouged out prior to her execution. In art, her eyes sometimes appear on a plate that she's holding. A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs, or, more exactly, of saints, arranged in the order of their anniversaries. ...

Until 1861 St. Lucy's remains were housed in a church with her name in Venice. After the latter's demolition, they were translated to the church of San Geremia, where they can still be seen. For other uses, see Venice (disambiguation). ...

The Roman Catholic calendar of saints formerly had a commemoration of Saints Lucy and Geminianus on 16 September. This was removed in 1969, as a duplication of the feast of her dies natalis (birth to heaven) on 13 December and because the Geminianus in question, mentioned in the Passio of Saint Lucy, seems to be a merely fictitious figure,^[5] unrelated to the Saint Geminianus whose feast is on 31 January. For the General Roman Calendar as it was in 1955, see Traditional Catholic Calendar. ... is the 259th day of the year (260th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 347th day of the year (348th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Saint Geminianus, from pentaptych by Simone Martini (c. ... is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Life

Lucy's Latin name Lucia shares a root (luc) with the Latin word for light, lux. In 'Lucy' is said, the way of light" Jacobus de Voragine stated at the beginning of his vita of the Blessed Virgin Lucy, in Legenda Aurea, the most widely-read version of the Lucy legend in the Middle Ages. Ironically, St Lucy's history is shrouded in darkness: all that is really known for certain is that she was a martyr in Syracuse in Diocletian's persecutions of 304 AD. Her veneration spread to Rome, so that by the 6th century the whole Church recognized her courage in defense of the faith. Jacobus de Voragine (c. ... For the Arthur Sullivan oratorio, see The Golden Legend (oratorio). ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Syracuse (Italian, Siracusa, ancient Syracusa - see also List of traditional Greek place names) is a city on the eastern coast of Sicily and the capital of the province of Syracuse, Italy. ... Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus (c. ... For other uses, see Rome (disambiguation). ... The 6th century is the period from 501 - 600 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ...

Because people wanted to shed light on Lucy's bravery, legends grew up, reported in the acta that are associated with her name. All the details are conventional ones also associated with other female martyrs of the early 4th century. Her Roman father died when she was young, leaving her and her mother without a protecting guardian. Her mother, Eutychia, had suffered four years with a "bloody flux" but Lucy had heard the renown of Saint Agatha, the patroness of Catania, "and when they were at a Mass, one read a gospel that made mention of a woman who was healed of the bloody flux by touching of the hem of the coat of Jesus Christ," which, according to the Legenda Aurea, convinced her mother to pray together at Saint Agatha's tomb. They stayed up all night praying, until they fell asleep, exhausted. Saint Agatha appeared in a vision to Lucy and said, "Soon you shall be the glory of Syracuse, as I am of Catania." At that instant Eutychia was cured. Look up Acta in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Saint Agatha (died AD 251) is a Christian saint. ... The Roman Odeon. ... Dysentery (formerly known as flux or the bloody flux) is frequent, small-volume, severe diarrhea that shows blood in the feces along with intestinal cramping and tenesmus (painful straining to pass stool). ...

Eutychia had arranged a marriage for Lucy with a pagan bridegroom, but Lucy urged that the dowry be spent on alms so that she might retain her virginity. Euthychia suggested that the sums would make a good bequest, but Lucy countered, "...whatever you give away at death for the Lord's sake you give because you cannot take it with you. Give now to the true Savior, while you are healthy, whatever you intended to give away at your death." ^[6] News that the patrimony and jewels were being distributed came to the ears of Lucy's betrothed, who heard from a chattering nurse that Lucy had found a nobler Bridegroom. Alms Bag taken from some Tapestry in Orleans, Fifteenth Century. ... Virgin redirects here. ... Betrothal is a formal state of engagement to be married. ...

Her rejected pagan bridegroom denounced Lucy as a Christian to the magistrate Paschasius, who ordered her to burn a sacrifice to the emperor's image. Lucy replied that she had given all that she had: "I offer to Him myself, let Him do with His offering as it pleases Him." Sentenced to be defiled in a brothel, Lucy asserted:

The Christian tradition states that when the guards came to take her away they found her so filled with the Holy Spirit that she was stiff and heavy as a mountain; they could not move her even when they hitched her to a team of oxen. Even with a dagger through her throat she prophesied against her persecutor. As final torture, her eyes were gouged out. She was miraculously still able to see without her eyes. In paintings and statues, St. Lucy is frequently shown holding her eyes on a golden plate. Topics in Christianity Movements Â· Denominations Â· Other religions Ecumenism Â· Preaching Â· Prayer Music Â· Liturgy Â· Calendar Symbols Â· Art Â· Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul Â· Church Fathers Constantine Â· Athanasius Â· Augustine Anselm Â· Aquinas Â· Palamas Â· Luther Calvin Â· Wesley Arius Â· Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury Â· Catholic Pope Coptic Pope Â· Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box: In mainstream...

Legend

Jacobus de Voragine did not include the episode of Lucy's passion that has been most vivid to her devotés ever since the Middle Ages: having her eyes torn out. It should be noted that another account dates this loss of eyes to before her martyrdom, claiming that in response to a suitor who admired her beautiful eyes, "she cut them out and sent them to him, asking to be left in peace thereafter."^[7] Lucy was represented in Gothic art holding a dish with two eyes on it (illustration above). The legend concludes with God restoring Lucy's eyes.

Dante also mentions Lucia in Inferno Canto II as the messenger "of all cruelty the foe" sent to Beatrice from "The blessed Dame" (Divine Mercy), to rouse Beatrice to send Virgil to Dante's aid. She has instructed Virgil to guide Dante through Hell and Purgatory. Lucia is only referenced indirectly in Virgil's discourse within the narrative and doesn't appear; the reasons for her appearing in this intermediary role are still somewhat unclear to scholars, although doubtless Dante had some allegorical end in mind, perhaps having Lucy as a figure of Illuminating Grace or Mercy or even Justice.^[8] Nonetheless Dante obviously regarded Lucia with great reverence, placing her opposite Adam within the Mystic Rose in Canto XXXII of the Paradiso. DANTE is also a digital audio network. ... For other uses see The Divine Comedy (disambiguation), Dantes Inferno (disambiguation), and The Inferno (disambiguation) Dante shown holding a copy of The Divine Comedy, next to the entrance to Hell, the seven terraces of Mount Purgatory and the city of Florence, with the spheres of Heaven above, in Michelino... Although the details surrounding the life of Beatrice Portinari, pronounced bay-a-treech-eh, (1266-1290) are subject to much dispute, there is little doubt she was a major influence in Dante Alighieris life, influencing particularly his works of La Vita Nuova and La Divina Commedia. ...

In Mark Musa's translation of Dante's Purgatorio, it is noted that Lucy was admired by an undesirable suitor for her beautiful eyes. To stay chaste she plucked out her own eyes, a great sacrifice for which God gave her a pair of even more beautiful eyes.

Lucy's name also played a large part in naming Lucy as a patron saint of the blind and those with eye-trouble. She was the patroness of Syracuse.

As her brief day brings the longest night of the year by the old reckoning, John Donne's poem, "A Nocturnal upon St. Lucie's Day, being the shortest day", begins with: "'Tis the year's midnight, and it is the day's," and expresses, in a mourning piece, the withdrawal of the world-spirit into sterility and darkness, where "The world's whole sap is sunk." [2]. For the Welsh courtier and diplomat, see Sir John Donne. ...

This timing, and her name meaning light, is a factor in the particular devotion in Scandinavian countries to St. Lucy, where young girls dress as the saint in honor of the feast.

References

^ The other notable saints still venerated by Scandinavian Lutherans are St. John the Baptist at midsummer, and St. Olaf, the patron Saint of Norway, at Olsok.
^ St. Lucy in the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)
^ [1] The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913): "St. Lucy"
^ Catholic Encyclopedia; supplementing the fourteenth-century synthesis of legendary material in Legenda Aurea, Sigebert of Gembloux's mid-eleventh century passio, written to support a local cult of Lucy at Metz, is edited by Tino Licht, Acta Sanctae Luciae (Universitätsverlag Winter) 2007 ISBN: 3-8253-5368-0 along with a historicising tractate and a sermon.
^ Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 139
^ ^a ^b Ælfric's Lives of Saints. (Walter W. Skeat, ed., Early English Text Society, original series, vols. 76, 82, 94, 114 [London, 1881-1900], revised; as found at the University of Virginia's Old English resource pages). Retrieved on 20 June, 2007.
^ "St. Lucy's Day" article. At the "School of the Seasons" website. Retrieved on 20 June, 2007.
^ See David H. Higgins' commentary in Dante, The Divine Comedy, trans. C.H. Sisson. NY: Oxford University Press, 1993. ISBN 019920960X. P. 506.

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Contents

Life

Legend

References

External links

Contents

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Legend

References

External links

Life