December 13
Lucy of Syracuse (d. 304) martyr
Today the Eastern and Western churches commemorate the martyrdom of Lucy, a virgin of Syracuse, Sicily who was executed during the persecution of Diocletian.
Lucy lived at the end of the third century. According to tradition, she was from a noble family and was engaged to marry a man of Syracuse. When her mother became ill, Lucy accompanied her on a pilgrimage to St. Agatha's tomb in Catania, and heard the Gospel passage about the woman with a hemmorhage who touched the fringe of Jesus' cloak and was healed. She urged her mother to touch Agatha's tomb, and her mother recovered.
Upon returning to Syracuse, Lucy decided to give up marriage and donate everything she had to the poor. But her fiancé, feeling duped, informed the Roman authorities that Lucy was a Christian and that she refused to pay homage to the emperor. Sentenced to martyrdom, Lucy was first taken to a house of prostitution, but since no one was able to touch her, she was handed over to the torturers and died under the sword in the year 304.
Because her Latin name has the same root as the word "light," and because her memorial falls in December, Lucy has always been associated with the true "light for revelation to the gentiles" whom darkness cannot overcome, Christ, who came into the world to redeem every man and woman. For this same reason, Lucy became the patron saint of the blind. Her mortal remains are held in Venice.
2 Cor 10:17-11:2; Mt 10:28-33
THE CHURCHES REMEBER...
ANGLICANS:
Lucy, martyr of Syracuse; Samuel Johnson (d. 1784), moralist
WESTERN CATHOLICS:
Lucy, virgin and martyr (Roman and Ambrosian calendars)
COPTS AND ETHIOPIANS (4 kiyahk/tahsas):
Andrew, apostle
LUTHERANS:
Lucy, martyr of Syracuse
Odilia (d. ca. 720), abbess in Alsace
Christian Fürchtegott Gellert (d. 1769), poet in Saxony
MARONITES:
Lucy, martyr
ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS AND GREEK CATHOLICS:
Eustratius, Auxentius, Eugene, Mardarius and Orestes of Auraraka (3rd-4th cent.), martyrs
Lucy, virgin and martyr
Vachtang Gorgasali (d. 502; georgian Church)
OLD CATHOLICS:
Lucy, virgin and martyr