The Lives of the Saints through 100 Masterpieces

Lucy

The Lives of the Saints 148 Lucy December 13 At times, the desire to give testimony to one’s faith can lead to regrettable excesses. This is demonstrated by the dramatic stories surrounding Lucy, a young woman of the Syracuse nobility who had consecrated herself to Christ and distributed her wealth among the poor. She was denounced by her abandoned fiancé. To show that she did not fear martyrdom, she gouged herself and sent her eyes to her accuser. An angel—no doubt finding it a useless mutilation—restored her eyes. Therefore, it was with full eyesight that Lucy presented herself before the Consul Paschasius, who condemned her to be confined in a brothel until she should die. The young woman replied that she did not fear this torment: “The body,” said Lucy, “is not defiled when the heart does not consent.” In any event, when the guards attempted to take her away, they found her to be so heavy that she could not be moved. A thousand men were made to try, and then a thousand yoke of oxen, without her even quivering. In an attempt to break what he judged to be a spell, Paschasius had her drenched with urine, without any result. He decided to burn her alive on the spot and then have her throat slit. His punishment came quickly: a change of power in Rome brought about his disgrace, and he was executed for corruption. The young woman from Syracuse, whose eyes had been gouged, is said to have beseeched protection in her prayers from Agatha, the saint of Catania whose breasts had been severed. For that reason, they are occasionally portrayed together, each bearing the object of their torment on a platter. The story of this saint who once lost and then regained the light of day has elicited special devotion in Scandinavia at the winter solstice. Catalan School (fourteenthcentury) Saint Lucy before Paschasius, Sustained by Saint Agatha Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona ...