Christian Men and Women

Saint Lucy

Lucy lived about the year 300 in Sicily and at an early age she promised herself to God. Lucy's father died when she was young, leaving her mother Eutychia to bring her up on her own. Eutychia had arranged a marriage for Lucy with a pagan bridegroom, but Lucy urged that the dowry be spent on the poor and she said that she would not marry the man.

The man who was supposed to marry Lucy was very angry and he accused her of being a Christian which was very dangerous at the time. She was taken to the governor of the city and put on trail. The governor tried to force Lucy to give up her faith but she refused. The governor was so frustrated that he ordered the guards to light a fire around her but she remained unharmed. 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.

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. Miraculously unable to move her or burn her, the guards stabbed her and killed her after a priest had given her Holy Communion.

Some of the virtues that Lucy displayed throughout her life were Restraint (Temperance), Courage (Fortitude), Faith and Hope.