St. Lucy

             Lucy was a virgin and martyr of Syracuse in Sicily. Latins and Greeks celebrate her feast day on December 13th. St. Lucy is the patron saint of blindness. She lived in the early fourth century, and was born around 283, to noble and wealthy parents. Her father was Roman, but his early death left her with her widowed mother, Eutychia, who was Greek. Her mother arranged for Lucy to be married to Paschasius, a pagan, not knowing of Lucy's devotion to celibacy. .
             Like many of the early martyrs, Lucy chose to remain a virgin, so she managed to keep the marriage on hold for three years. To change her mother's mind about her new faith, Lucy prayed at the tomb of Saint Agatha, and soon her mother's long haemorrhagic illness was cured. When Lucy told her mother that she was healed with the power of prayer, her mother realized how important and powerful faith could be. She finally agreed that Lucy could remain a virgin, and not marry. Lucy also wished to give all her fortune she inherited to the poor, and devote her life to God. Although that Lucy's mother agreed about Lucy's decision not to marry Paschasius, he was not. In anger and rage he went to the governor and told him that Lucy was a Christian. In this time, it was illegal to be and practice Christianity, and the consequences if caught was persecution. After the governor knew of Lucy's practices, he ordered his guards to fetch her, but they could not budge her. Even when they hitched her to a team of oxen, she stood as still as a mountain. God saved Lucy because of her strong faith in Him. After torture that included having her eyes torn out, they placed bundles of wood around her and set them afire. Again, God saved Lucy. The flames never touched her, and she was not burned. Finally a sword stabbed her through her throat in 304. Some stories say that her eyes were torn out by her judge, others say she tore them out herself to offer them to a suitor she did not like.