MEMORIAL: DECEMBER 13
Little is known for certain about St. Lucy other than she lived in the fourth century and died in the Christian persecutions. Tradition has it that Lucy took a vow of virginity, but her mother gave her to a Roman pagan to be married. Lucy refused to marry and convinced her mother to give her dowry to the poor. Her mother was converted, but her betrothed was enraged.
When soldiers came to bring her to a brothel for her defilement, they could not move her, even with a team of oxen. She ended up being martyred by sword. St. Lucy’s refusal to go to the brothel resulted in her eyes being cut out (whether by the soldiers or her own volition). As a result, St. Lucy is the patron saint of blindness.
