Betrothed to a pagan
Very little is known about St Lucy. She was a virgin and martyr, born in the year 283 or thereabouts and she lived in Sicily. She is patron saint of the blind and people with eye problems.
Lucy was born to rich, noble parents. She lost her father at an early age, leaving her with her sick mother, Eutychia.
Lucy, like many women of her time, chose to consecrate her virginity to God and live a life of poverty, but her mother had other ambitions for her and wanted her to marry a man who happened to be a pagan.
Providentially, the relics of St Agatha were visiting the city of Catania, which was less than 50 miles from Syracuse, where Lucy lived. Agatha had been martyred 50 years before during the Decian persecution, and her remains were attracting crowds who had heard of the saint’s miraculous intercession. Lucy persuaded her sick mother to make the journey to the relics and she was cured of the haemorrhage which had afflicted her.
A cruel death
Lucy managed to persuade her mother to release her from her betrothal and to give many of their family riches to the poor.
Lucy’s fiancé was furious that her fortune had been given away. He decided to denounce Lucy to the governor of Sicily, who was called Paschasius. The year was 303, when the Church was being persecuted by Diocletian, and so it was decided that Lucy should be sent to a brothel to endure the shame of prostitution. But miraculously no human or animal found the strength to drag her there.
It was then decided to burn her to death, but legend has it that the wood surrounding her would not catch light. In the end her eyes were gouged out and she was executed. It is said that her eyes had healed miraculously by the time she was buried.
Although scholars say it is difficult to separate fact from fiction in the story of St Lucy, the timing and place of her death seems certain. Her martyr’s death is typical of those of many courageous saints in that period.
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