December 13 - Saint Lucy of Syracuse
Quick Facts- Rich, young Christian of Greek ancestry.
- Raised in a pious family, she vowed her life to Christ.
- Her Roman father died when she was young.
- Her mother, Eutychia, arranged a marriage for her.
- For three years she managed to keep the marriage on hold.
- To change the mother's mind about the girl's new faith, Lucy prayed at the tomb of Saint Agatha, and her mother's long haemorrhagic illness was cured.
- Her mother agreed with Lucy's desire to live for God, and Lucy became known as a patron of those with maladies like her mother's.
- Her rejected pagan bridegroom, Paschasius, denounced Lucy as a Christian to the governor of Sicily.
- The governor sentenced her to forced prostitution, but when guards went to fetch her, they could not move her even when they hitched her to a team of oxen.
- The governor ordered her killed instead.
- After torture that included having her eyes torn out, she was surrounded by bundles of wood which were set afire; they went out.
- She prophesied against her persecutors, and was executed by being stabbed to death with a dagger.
- Her name is listed in the prayer ""Nobis quoque peccatoribus"" in the Canon of the Mass.
- Legend says her eyesight was restored before her death.This and the meaning of her name led to her connection with eyes.
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