St. Lucy

St. Lucy was a young Christian virgin of Syracuse in Sicily, martyred during the persecution of the Emperor Diocletian, about the year 304. Her veneration is very ancient and spread rapidly through the whole Church, so that her name was enrolled among the martyrs commemorated in the Roman Canon of the Mass, a mark of the highest honor. Tradition holds that she had consecrated her virginity to Christ and given her dowry to the poor, and that when betrayed as a Christian she remained steadfast unto death.

Her name, Lucia, means "light," and this, together with a legend that her eyes were put out or that she plucked them out, made her the patron of the blind and of those who suffer ailments of the eyes. Because her feast fell near the winter solstice in the old calendar, she became associated with light in the darkness of winter, honored with festivals of lights especially in Scandinavia. She is celebrated on 13 December.