Grace and Space

St. Lucy, young and rich, was converted to Christianity and vowed her life to Christ. Her Roman father died when she was young. Her pagan 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 St. Agatha, and her mother’s long haemorrhagic illness was cured. Her mother then became a Christian.

Her rejected pagan bridegroom, Paschasius, denounced Lucy as a Christian. The governor planned to force her into prostitution, but when guards came 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 put out, she was surrounded by bundles of wood which were set afire. She prophesied against her persecutors, and was executed by being stabbed in the throat with a dagger. Legend says her eyesight was restored before her death; this and the meaning of her name led to her connection with eyes, the blind, eye trouble, etc. Her feast is celebrated on December 13.

 Novena to St. Lucy