ST LUCIA OF SYRACUSE
Lucia was born to a noble and prosperous family in Syracuse on the island of Sicily.
It was in the days of Diocletian and his persecution of Christian's that Lucia carried food and drink to Christians hiding in dark underground tunnels.
In order To light her way she wore a wreath of candles on her head.
Lucia's father was long dead and her ailing widowed mother, Eutychia, planned to marry the beautiful young Lucia to a pagan bachelor.
Lucia however had no interest in marriage and spurned the suggestion of marriage and told her mother she had no want of worldly goods and she had vowed to remain a virgin in the tradition of St. Agatha, at whose tomb she regularly prayed for help and for three years she managed to keep the marriage on hold.
To change her mother Eutychia's mind about the girl's new faith, Lucy prayed long at the tomb of St Agatha.
Miraculously her mother's long hemorrhagic illness was cured and to show her gratitude to her devout daughter the grateful mother was ready to exceed to Lucia's wish to give herself to prayer and poverty and commit her life to god.
The young pagan suitor, Paschasius, was less understanding and was so angry that he denounced her as a Christian to the Roman authorities.
In keeping with the Emperor Diocletian's edict to eradicate Christianity the Roman governor sentenced her to be taken to a brothel and forced into prostitution.
The Romans were thwarted in their efforts after divine intervention as Lucia became rooted to the spot and was thus immovable and the Romans could not carry her away even when they hitched her to a team of oxen.
Not to be diverted after they tortured her and tore her eyes out the Romans next condemned her to death by fire, she was surrounded by bundles of wood which were set afirebut after another divine intervention she proved impervious to the flames.
In the end a roman soldier pierced her neck with a sword and she died.
Miraculously her eyesight was restored before her death which is why she is the patron saint of the blind.
THE STARVING OF SYRACUSE
A terrible famine struck Sicily and hunger had weakened the people greatly.
So in Syracuse a large group went to the church and prayed to Santa Lucia for deliverance from the famine.
While they prayed a ship loaded with grain sailed into the harbor and they were saved.
So to celebrate Santa Lucia day and to commemorate the miracle the Italians feast on a boiled wheat dish they call Cuccia or Cuccidata.
INSCRIBED
In the cemetery of St. John in Syracuse, Sicily an early inscription to Lucia has recently been discovered.
LUCIA BRIDE
Tales of the courageous Lucia of Syracuse were first taken to then pagan land of Sweden by Christian missionaries.
She became known in Sweden as the Lucia Bride and the tales told that the Lucia Bride, dressed in white robes and her head adorned by a crown of light, would take food and drink to the poor early in the morning.
FREYA
When Christianity reached Scandinavia St Lucia dethroned a pagan goddess to become the most revered female figure.
In Norse mythology the pagan goddess Freya was the most beautiful goddess of love and fertility to whom sacrifices were offered at Yule.
She was the daughter of the god Njord and the sister of Freyr and married to the mysterious god Od who disappeared, she mourned so much for the loss of her husband that she wept tears of gold.
Freya wore the bright necklace of the Brisings and a cloak of bird feathers which allowed her to change into a falcon, and her chariot was pulled by two cats.
ST AGATHA
It is ironic that St Lucia of Syracuse revered St. Agatha so and prayed often at her tomb
as there were many parallels in their lives.
Agatha was born in Sicily and also belonged to a rich, important family and dedicated her life to God as a young person, and resisted both marriage and sex.
Agatha, Young, beautiful and rich, lived a life consecrated to God and When Decius announced the edicts against Christians she was brought before the magistrate Quinctianus who tried to profit by Agatha's sanctity.
He planned to blackmail her into sex in exchange for not charging her for her beliefs.
she refused his advances and was imprisoned in a brothel but she refused to accept customers so she was tortured and even had her breasts cut off then after further torture she was then rolled on live coals she was later comforted by a vision of St. Peter when she was near to death then an earthquake stuck and Agatha thanked God for an end to her pain, and died.
QUEEN OF LIGHT
When St. Lucia had her feast day on the shortest day of the year she was known as the queen of light and people believed that she lead the way for the sun to lengthen the days.
ST. LUCY'S FIRES
On the eve of her feast day People lit "St. Lucy's fires" they would throw incense into the flames and then bath in the smoke
This they believed would protect them against witchcraft, disease, and other evils.
LUCY BRIDE
Every year the Lucy bride in Stockholm's is crowned by the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
CROWNED LUCIA
In Scandinavia the Christmas celebrations begin on St. Lucia Day when each town and village crowns a Lucia on the first Sunday of Advent.
Apart from the religious duties the crowned Lucia must visit hospitals, community centers and nursing homes before Christmas.
ST LUCIA FACT
Before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar St. Lucia's Day fell on the winter solstice.
THE VIRGIN MARTYR
St Lucia was a virgin martyr and one of the most illustrious figures in the Christian world she was honored in Rome during the 6th century and her relics are preserved in Venice.
KING CANUTE
During the reign of King Canute, A thousand years ago decreed that Christmas should last for a month.
Beginning on December 13th, the feast of St. Lucia and ending on January 13th, St. Canute's Day.
STAR BOYS
The ancient tradition of "star boys who now often accompanied the Lucia dates back to the time when boys went from door to door playing tricks, singing and begging for money to celebrate the winter solstice.
A NOCTURNAL UPON ST LUCY'S DAY
"A Nocturnal upon St Lucy's Day was written by John Donne who lived between 1572 and 1631.
LUCY'S BREAKFAST
On the morning of December 13th, the eldest daughter in the household is dressed in a white dress with a red sash and a wreath with four lighted candles on her head.
She must carry a breakfast of coffee, gingerbread cookies and sun-colored saffron buns to her parents in their bedroom.
She is followed by her sisters also dressed in white carrying lighted candles and her brothers called "star boys" wearing tall pointed caps.
ST LUCIA'S DAY MIRACLES
It is believed that on the eve of St Lucia's day that miracles occur at the stroke of midnight.
Anyone awake at the midnight hour might hear animals speaking or observe running water turned into wine.
TASKING
Folklore surrounding St Lucia suggests that unfinished tasks should be completed by St Lucia's day such as the grain from the year's harvest should be threshed and all spinning, weaving, cleaning and decorating.
CHRISTMAS PIG
In preparation for Christmas farmers slaughter the Christmas pig on St. Lucy's Day.
TOMTEN
The Victor Rydberg poem, "Tomten," is always read at the Lucia Fest of the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis.
LUCIA PATRON SAINT OF
St Lucia of Syracuse is the patron saint of authors, blind people, blindness, cutlers, dysentery, eye disease, eye problems, fire, glaziers, hemorrhages, laborers, martyrs, notaries
Peasants, peddlers Perugia Italy, saddlers, salesmen, servant girls
Stained glass workers, scribes, Syracuse Sicily, tailors, throat infections, virgins
Weavers and writers.
LUCINA
Lucina is celebrated as the Sun goddess in Sweden but is in fact a combination of Norse goddess Freyr and the Christian martyr St Lucia. Young girls dress up to represent Lucina by wearing white gowns and on their heads evergreen wreaths with candles in them. The lighted candles, eight in all, supposedly represent the equinoxes, solstices and the points in between.
The young Lucina girls give out cookies on the streets at dawn to celebrate Lucina's
act of sharing food with the needy.
NO TURNING
On St. Lucy's Day any activity involving turning motions are forbidden, including spinning, stirring, and working a grindstone as these circular motions might interfere with the return of the sun.
REPRESENTING ST LUCY
St Lucy is represented by cord, eyes on a dish, lamp, swords, and as a woman hitched to a yoke of oxen
She is also represented as a woman in the company of Saint Agatha, or Saint Agnes of Rome, Barbara, Catherine of Alexandria, and Saint Thecla and finally as woman kneeling before the tomb of Saint Agatha.
