The fire of faith
Let us honor blessed Lawrence, who by his faith overcame the flames lit
by the persecutor, and thus showed us how the fire of faith can defeat the
fire
of hell. And
let us rejoice with spiritual joy and glory in the Lord at his happy
death,
confident that if we
celebrate his feast by worthy behavior and good deeds we shall always be
helped
by his
prayers and protection. Let us strengthen one another in the spirit of
love
so
that we may
overcome all temptations and escape every snare. Let us stand firm, and
being of
one mind
in every good work, protect ourselves with the shield of faith against all
temptations to sin,
through him who has overcome the devil and enabled us to overcome him:
Jesus
Christ our
Lord, to whom be praise and glory through endless ages. Amen.
-Rabanus Maurus
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December 13th - St. Lucy
A virgin and martyr of Syracuse in Sicily, whose feast is celebrated by
Latins
and Greeks alike on 13 Dec. According to the traditional story, she was
born
of
rich and noble parents about the year 283. Her father was of Roman origin,
but
his early death left her dependent upon her mother, whose name, Eutychia,
seems
to indicate that she came of Greek stock. Like so many of the early
martyrs,
Lucy had consecrated her virginity to God, and she hoped to devote all her
worldly goods to the service of the poor. Her mother was not so
single-minded,
but an occasion offered itself when Lucy could carry out her generous
resolutions. The fame of the virgin-martyr Agatha, who had been executed
fifty-two years before in the Decian persecution, was attracting numerous
visitors to her relics at Catania, not fifty miles from Syracuse, and many
miracles had been wrought through her intercession. Eutychia was therefore
persuaded to make a pilgrimage to Catania, in the hope of being cured of a
hemorrhage, from which she had been suffering for several years. There she
was
in fact cured, and Lucy, availing herself of the opportunity, persuaded
her
mother to allow her to distribute a great part of her riches among the
poor.
The
largess stirred the greed of the unworthy youth to whom Lucy had been
unwillingly betrothed, and he denounced her to Paschasius, the Governor of
Sicily. It was in the year 303, during the fierce persecution of
Diocletian.
She
was first of all condemned to suffer the shame of prostitution; but in the
strength of God she stood immovable, so that they could not drag her away
to
the
place of shame. Bundles of wood were then heaped about her and set on
fire,
and
again God saved her. Finally, she met her death by the sword. But before
she
died she foretold the punishment of Paschasius and the speedy termination
of
the
persecution, adding that Diocletian would reign no more, and Maximian
would
meet
his end. So, strengthened with the Bread of Life, she won her crown of
virginity
and martyrdom.
This beautiful story cannot unfortunately be accepted without criticism.
The
details may be only a repetition of similar accounts of a virgin martyr's
life
and death. Moreover, the prophecy was not realized, if it required that
Maximian
should die immediately after the termination of his reign. Paschasius,
also,
is
a strange name for a pagan to bear. However, since there is no other
evidence by
which the story may be tested, it can only be suggested that the facts
peculiar
to the saint's story deserve special notice. Among these, the place and
time
of
her death can hardly be questioned; for the rest, the most notable are her
connection with St. Agatha and the miraculous cure of Eutychia, and it is
to
be
hoped that these have not been introduced by the pious compiler of the
saint's
story or a popular instinct to link together two national saints. The
story,
such as we have given it, is to be traced back to the Acta, and these
probably
belong to the fifth century. Though they cannot be regarded as accurate,
there
can be no doubt of the great veneration that was shown to St. Lucy by the
early
church. She is one of those few female saints whose names occur in the
canon
of
St. Gregory, and there are special prayers and antiphons for her in his
"Sacramentary" and "Antiphonary". She is also commemorated in the ancient
Roman
Martyrology. St. Aldheim (d. 709) is the first writer who uses her Acts to
give
a full account of her life and death. This he does in prose in the
"Tractatus de
Laudibus Virginitatis" (Tract. xliii, P. L., LXXXIX, 142) and again, in
verse,
in the poem "De Laudibus Virginum" (P. L., LXXXIX, 266). Following him,
the
Venerable Bede inserts the story in his Martyrology.
With regard to her relics, Sigebert (1030-1112), a monk of Gembloux, in
his
"sermo de Sancta Lucia", says that the body lay undisturbed in Sicily for
400
years, before Faroald, Duke of Spoleto, captured the island and
transferred
the
saint's body to Corfinium in Italy. Thence it was removed by the Emperor
Otho I,
972, to Metz and deposited in the church of St. Vincent. And it was from
this
shrine that an arm of the saint was taken to the monastery of Luitburg in
the
Diocese of Spires-an incident celebrated by Sigebert himself in verse. The
subsequent history of the relics is not clear. On their capture of
Constantinople in 1204, the French found some of the relics in that city,
and
the Doge of Venice secured them for the monastery of St. George at Venice.
In
the year 1513 the Venetians presented to Louis XII of France the head of
the
saint, which he deposited in the cathedral church of Bourges. Another
account,
however, states that the head was brought to Bourges from Rome whither it
had
been transferred during the time when the relics rested in Corfinium.
Quote:
"Now on what ground does this person pray that he may not be 'rebuked in
indignation, nor chastened in hot displeasure"? (He speaks) as if he would
say
unto God, 'Since the things which I already suffer are many in number, I
pray
Thee let them suffice;' and he begins to enumerate them, by way of
satisfying
God; offering what he suffers now, that he may not have to suffer worse
evils
hereafter."
-Augustine,Exposition of the Psalms,38(37):3(A.D. 418),
Bible Quote
41 Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed
is
willing, but the flesh weak.
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A CHILD's PRAYER
O Almighty God,
who hast given unto me my father and mother,
and made them to be an image of Thine authority,
and love, and tender watchfulness;
and hast commanded me to love, and honour,
and obey them in all things:
give me grace cheerfully and with my whole heart
to keep this Thy law.
Help me to love them fervently,
to honour them truly,
to yield a ready obedience to their commands,
to comply with their wishes,
to study their happiness in everything,
and to bear their rebukes with patience and humility.
Deliver me O God, from pride,
rebellion and wilfulness,
from passion and stubbornness,
from sloth and carelessness.
Make me diligent in all my duties and studies,
and patient in all my trials;
that so living, I may deserve to be Thy child,
who art our Father in Heaven.
Amen.
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