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Carving kept in the chapel of Labarrieta. Sopuerta (Bizkaia). Juan Cordón.

Saint Lucy, or Saint Lucia, was born in Syracuse (Sicily-Italy). According to ancient legend, she was tortured during the Diocletianic persecution, c. AD 303. Lucy’s mother arranged her daughter’s marriage to a young man of a wealthy pagan family. One day both women left on pilgrimage to Saint Agatha’s shrine at Catania in hopes of a cure for the sick mother. While there they listened to the gospel account of Jesus healing a bleeding woman as she touched the edge of his cloak. In an act of faith, Lucy touched the martyr’s sepulchre and foresaw her mother’s recovery as well as her own future martyrdom. Back in Syracuse she renounced matrimony and distributed her riches among the poor. Lucy’s betrothed reported her to Paschasius, the Governor of Syracuse, for being a Christian. Paschasius arrested her and took her before the Tribunal, who sentenced her to death. Prior to her passing, she foretold she would be the guardian of Syracuse. A church was built above her tomb and soon became a Christian place of pilgrimage. (more…)