St. Lucy and the Light of Faith
When I think about the early Church, I catch myself bestowing a fanciful aura over the history and people who made up the first Christians. It can be challenging to not have a sense of awe for the many martyrs of the first, second, third, and fourth centuries. These men and women gave a witness that sustained the life of the Church through subsequent persecutions. Not only did they die and endure countless tortures, but they also helped spread the Christian faith to people from all backgrounds. Add to this mystique the legends so commonly shared about these men and women and it soon becomes quite easy to look at the Church and the saints of the Roman Empire with rose tinted lenses.
Perhaps it is with this distorted viewpoint that I chose Saint Lucia of Syracuse to be my patron saint for my Confirmation. With little historical fact available surrounding this woman whose name appears in the first Eucharistic prayer, it became easy for my adolescent brain to cling to the awe that surrounds a martyr. I created a daring image of Lucy sneaking into the catacombs to attend Mass and fearlessly facing the man who would expose her as a Christian. So often, it seems to me that the legends of saints are better known than the saints themselves, and after years of casually asking for St. Lucy’s intercession, I have come to have a clearer understanding of what kind of saint she really is.
The Madonna and Child with Saint James and Saint Lucy
Girolamo Denti
Historically, we have few facts about the actual life of St. Lucy. It is with the help of tradition and an understanding of the Roman Empire during the late third century that we can piece together her story. St. Lucy lived during a time of peace for Christians. Many years had passed in the Roman Empire since the last persecution took place, and as a result, Christians became more visible. People knew publicly who was a Christian. It is around this time that churches became established. You could find cities in the Roman Empire with a large population of Christians. In fact, much of the way Christians were treated during this time recalls a similar disinterest to our current society: Christians were left to their own devices. In time, however, the emperor Diocletian would begin yet another more devastating time of persecution, beginning in the year 303. This persecution would impact Lucy directly.
As a young noble woman, Lucy had a life of relative ease. She resided with her mother in Syracuse and removed from much of the larger political activity of the Roman Empire. The island of Sicily offered a barrier when civil dispute and war arose in the mainland. Tradition states that Lucy intended to give away much of her wealth and had made a vow of virginity. However, Lucy’s mother insisted that she marry another noble, a non-Christian. This marriage likely held economic value for the nobleman, and the wealth that Lucy intended to give away was quite an incentive. In response, some sources claim that Lucy devised a plan to sway her mother to uphold Lucy’s vow of chastity by visiting the tomb of St. Agatha. Lucy’s mother suffered from an illness, and by sharing stories of other miraculous healings associated with St. Agatha’s tomb, Lucy convinced her mother to make a pilgrimage and pray at the tomb of St. Agatha. There, Lucy’s mother received healing for her illness and released Lucy from the obligation of marrying her betrothed.
Around this time, what would be recognized as the Great Persecution had begun, and many Roman citizens who were non-Christian seized upon the opportunity to gain wealth and power by arresting Christians. Thus, when the noble betrothed to Lucy learned that he was rejected, he exposed Lucy as a Christian to the governor. Lucy’s torture and death followed.
Lucy’s story is certainly not without gruesome detail. Some accounts mention the loss of her eyes, amid other unsavory torments. Yet what I have encountered in the life of this martyr is not that she suffered a great deal, but that she was fairly ordinary. We are not all that different from the saints. Lucy lived a regular life, in a society given over to pleasure, wealth, and power. In the midst of all the temptations, she had faith and she shared her faith with her mother and those around her. The name ‘Lucy’ comes from the Latin for ‘light.’ Not only did St. Lucy have the light of Christ at the center of her life, her own faith served to light up the darkness of persecution.
In my own life, I have encountered times of darkness. During a year of service as a volunteer teacher in Buffalo, I saw firsthand some of the wounds of our present day society. Each day challenged me to keep faith, to face the injustice of systemic problems in the city. I witnessed young girls praising the idea of working as a drug dealer or prostitute. And that was just the edge of the darkness.
It was in that darkness that I came to understand how Jesus gives us light. Faith in God lights up our souls. Just as St. Lucy became a light in the darkness of the Roman Empire, so too can we be a light of faith in our own daily lives. Perhaps it is not always easy, but every opportunity, every moment we are faced with a choice to have faith. St. Lucy as an intercessor for us can help us see our choice so that we too might one day become saints.
Want to learn more about the saints? Check out the All Saints Club.
Resources and References:
Papandrea, James L. Reclaiming Catholic History: The Early Church (33-313). Ave Maria Press. 2019
Bridge, James. "St. Lucy." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 1 Mar. 2023 http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09414a.htm.
“St. Lucy.” Catholic Online. 2022. 1 Mar. 2023 https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=75.