St Lucy, a Saint of Both West and East

Today is St Lucy's Day. She is honoured in both the Latin and Byzantine Rites. It is a popular festive day in Sweden.

From the West:

Lucy, a virgin of Syracuse, illustrious by birth and by the Christian faith which she had professed from her infancy, went to Catania with her mother Eutychia who was suffering from a flax of blood, there to venerate the body of the blessed Agatha. Having prayed fervently at the tomb, she obtained her mother’s cure by the intercession of Agatha. Lucy then asked her mother that she would permit her to bestow upon the poor of Christ the fortune which she intended to leave her. No sooner, therefore, had she returned to Syracuse, than she sold all that was given to her and distributed the money among the poor. When he to whom her parents had, against her will, promised her in marriage came to know what Lucy had done, he went before the Prefect Paschasius and accused her of being a Christian.

Paschasius entreated and threatened, but could not induce her to worship the idols. The more he strove to shake her faith, the more inflamed were the praises which she uttered in professing its excellence. He said therefore to her: “We will have no more of your words when you feel the blows of my executioners.” To this the virgin replied: “Words can never be wanting to God’ servants, for Christ our Lord has said to them: When you will be brought before kings and governors, take no thought how or what to speak for it will be given to you in that hour what to speak. For it is not you that speaks, but the Holy Spirit that speaks in you.” Paschasius then asked her: “Is the Holy Spirit in you?” She answered: “They who live chastely and piously are the temple of the Holy Spirit.” He said: “I will order you to be taken to a brothel, that this Holy Spirit may leave you.” The Virgin said to him: “The violence with which you threat me would obtain for me a double crown of chastity.”

Paschasius being exceeding angry, ordered Lucy to be dragged to a place where her treasure might be violated but, by the power of God, so firmly was she fixed to the place where she stood that it was impossible to move her. Then the Prefect ordered her to be covered over with pitch, resin and boiling oil, and a fire to be kindled round her. But seeing that the flame was not permitted to hurt her, they tormented her in many cruel ways, and at length ran a sword through her neck. Thus wounded, Lucy foretold the Peace of the Church which would come after the deaths of Diocletian and Maximian, and then died. It was the Ides of December (Dec. 13) in 303 AD. Her body was buried at Syracuse, but was translated first to Constantinople, and afterwards to Venice.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

There comes to us today the fourth of our Wise Virgins, the valiant Martyr Lucy. Her glorious name shines on the sacred Dyptich of the Canon of the Mass together with those of Agatha, Agnes and Caecilia, and as often as we hear it pronounced during these days of Advent, it reminds us (for Lucy signifies Light), that He who consoles the Church, by enlightening her children, is soon to be with us. Lucy is one of the three glories of the Church of Sicily. As Catania is immortalised by Agatha, and Palermo by Rosaly, so is Syracuse by Lucy. Therefore, let us devoutly keep her feast. She will aid us by her prayers during this holy season, and will repay our love by obtaining for us a warmer love of that Jesus whose grace enabled her to conquer the world. Once more let us consider why our Lord has not only given us Apostles, Martyrs and Bishops as guides to us on our road to Bethlehem, but has willed also that we should be accompanied there by such virgins as Lucy. The children of the Church are forcibly reminded by this, that, in approaching the crib of their Sovereign Lord and God, they must bring with them, besides their faith, that purity of mind and body without which no one can come near to God.

*****

We present ourselves before you, Virgin Martyr, beseeching you to obtain for us that we may recognise in His lowliness that same Jesus whom you now see in His glory. Take us under your powerful patronage. Your name signifies Light. Guide us through the dark night of this life. O fair Light of Virginity! enlighten us. Evil concupiscence has wounded our eyes: pray for us, you bright Light of Virginity, that our blindness be healed, and that rising above created things, we may be able to see that true Light which shines in darkness but which darkness cannot comprehend. Pray for us that our eye may be purified, and may see, in the child who is to be born at Bethlehem, the new Man, the second Adam, the model on which the life of our regeneration must be formed. Pray, too, O holy Virgin, for the Church of Rome and for all those which adopt her form of the Holy Sacrifice, for they daily pronounce at the Altar of God your sweet name, and the Lamb, who is present, loves to hear it. Heap your choicest blessings on the fair Island which was your native land, and where grew the palm of your martyrdom. May your intercession secure to her inhabitants firmness of faith, purity of morals and temporal prosperity, and deliver them from the disorders which threaten her with destruction.

From the East:

Saint Lucy was born in Syracuse, Sicily during the reign of Diocletian. She distributed her wealth to the poor and made a vow of virginity. Since she refused to marry him, a rejected suitor denounced her to the prefect Paschasius as a Christian, and she was arrested. She was sentenced to be defiled in a brothel, but with God’s help, she preserved her purity.

Then the pagans attempted to burn her alive, but she was not harmed by the fire. Finally, she was killed by a sword thrust to the throat.

The name Lucy (Lucia) is derived from the Latin word for light (lux), and so she is often invoked for afflictions of the eyes. There is a tradition that she was blinded by her torturers, and the church of San Giovanni Maggiore in Naples even claims to possess her eyes.

Today’s saint should not be confused with Saint Lucy of Campania (July 6).

Troparion — Tone 5

(Podoben: “Come, let us worship the Word...”)
Wearing the radiant mantle of virginity, / and virginally betrothed to the Life-giver Christ, / you forsook the love of your earthly betrothed; / therefore, as a bridal gift, / you brought to Him the outpouring of your blood. / O Virgin Martyr Lucy, intercede with Him for us all!

Kontakion — Tone 3

We honor you, pure Virgin and trophy-bearer Lucy, / and we praise your illustrious contest; / for you desired only the beauty of Christ, / disdaining all corruptible things. / When you were beheaded, you received incorruptible glory.