Saint Lucy
Virgin and Martyr
- Feast Day
- December 13
- Life
- 283–304
- Born
- Syracuse, Sicily
Lucy of Syracuse is one of the most ancient of the venerated virgin martyrs, named in the Roman Canon (Eucharistic Prayer I) of the Mass. The historical evidence for her martyrdom is firmly established: a fourth-century Greek inscription discovered in the catacombs of San Giovanni at Syracuse - a generation or so after her death - records a woman named Euskia who died and was buried on the feast of my lady Lucy, demonstrating that her cult was already established at Syracuse by the middle of the fourth century.
The traditional Acts, while embellished, transmit the core narrative: Lucy was born around 283 to a noble Syracusan family, was secretly consecrated to Christ by a private vow of virginity, and refused her mother's plan of marriage to a pagan suitor. After her mother's healing at the tomb of Saint Agatha at Catania (which Lucy attributed to Agatha's intercession), Lucy distributed her dowry to the poor; the rejected suitor denounced her as a Christian to the prefect Paschasius during the Great Persecution under Diocletian. After torture - in the legend her eyes were torn out, the basis of her patronage of those with eye trouble - she was executed by sword on December 13, 304. Her name (from Latin lux, light) connected her with light and the December feast, especially at the winter solstice (which under the Julian calendar fell on or near December 13); from this comes the Scandinavian Saint Lucy's Day customs of candle-crowns and lighted processions in the dark of winter.
Lucy is the patroness of those with eye disease (Saint Agatha, with whom she is paired in tradition, is patroness of breast cancer), and more broadly of the inner light of faith. Her name is a perpetual reminder, in the dark week before Christmas, that the Christian faith is the light shining in the darkness which the darkness has not overcome.
Patronages
the blind · those with eye problems · Syracuse · writers · Sweden (folk patronage)
Catholic Churches Named After Saint Lucy
20 parishes on Catholic Church Times share Saint Lucy's name. Find their Mass times, confession schedules, and adoration hours:
- St. Lucy Parish — Aringay, LA UNION
- St. Lucy Parish — Sta. Lucia, ILOCOS SUR
- St. Lucy Catholic Church — Arborfield, SK
- St. Lucy's (Cumbernauld) — Cumbernauld, SCT
- St. Lucy — Middletown, RI
- St. Lucy — Houma, LA
- St. Lucy — Middlefield, OH
- St. Lucy — Racine, WI
- Saint Lucys Catholic Church — Fowler, CA
- Saint Lucy Roman Catholic Church — Campbell, OH
- San Lucy Catholic Mission Church — Gila Bend, AZ
- Saint Lucy Catholic Church — Saint Clair Shores, MI
- Diocesan Shrine of Jesus the Black Nazarene of Capalonga and Parish of St. Lucy, Virgin and Martyr
- Saint Lucy Chapel
- Saint Lucy Catholic Church — Lucedale, MS
- Saint Lucy — Highland Beach, FL
- St. Lucy, Syracuse — Syracuse, NY
- Saint Lucy Catholic Church — Hodge, LA
- St. Lucy — Fowler, CA
- St. Joan of Arc, St. Lucy Parish — Saint Louis, MO
Sources