SAINT FEAST DAY 13 DECEMBER: ST LUCY OF SYRACUSE

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN DECEMBER 

Saints celebrated on the 13th of December

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

SAINT LUCY, VIRGIN AND MARTYR

Saint Lucy, a virgin at Syracuse, illustrious by birth and because of her Christian faith, went to the tomb of Blessed Agatha at Catania and obtained the cure of her mother Eutychia, who had been suffering from an issue of blood. Soon she begged from her mother all the goods which she was to receive for her dowry and distributed them to the poor.

SHE DISTRIBUTED HER DOWRY TO THE POOR

When it was reported to Paschasius the prefect that she was a Christian, neither flattery nor threats could induce her to sacrifice to idols. Then Paschasius, inflamed with anger, ordered Lucy to be dragged to a place where her virginity would be violated; but by the power of God the virgin stood so firmly that no force was able to move her.

SHE STOOD SO FIRMLY THAT NO FORCE COULD MOVE HER

The prefect then commanded a fire to be kindled about her; but since no flame injured her, she was tortured by many torments, and her throat was pierced with a sword. After receiving this wound, she foretold the peace which the Church would enjoy after the death of Diocletian and Maximian. On the Ides of December, she yielded her soul to God. Her body was buried at Syracuse, then at Constantinople, and finally it was transferred to Venice.

PRAYER:

Hear us, O God, our Saviour, that, as we rejoice on the feast of blessed Lucy, your Virgin and Martyr, so we may grow in love and devotion. Through our Lord…

(From: An Approved English Translation of the Breviarium Romanum, Burns & Oates, London, 1964)