Virgin and Martyr · Feast day December 13
St. Lucy
The feast day of St. Lucy is December 13, a memorial in the US Catholic calendar. Traditionally invoked as patron of the blind and those with eye trouble.
| Feast day | December 13 |
|---|---|
| In the US calendar | Memorial |
| Title | Virgin and Martyr |
| Died | c. 304 |
| Patron of | the blind, those with eye trouble |
| Next on Bless’s Today screen | None left in the published calendar (through December 31, 2028) |
Life
A young Christian of Syracuse in Sicily who secretly vowed her virginity to Christ and gave her dowry to the poor — enraging the suitor who denounced her under Diocletian’s persecution. Threats, fire, and force all failed strangely; a sword ended her life.
Her name means light, and her feast once fell on the year’s shortest days: from Sicily to Scandinavia she is celebrated with candles and crowns of light. Ancient tradition links her to the protection of eyesight, and her name, like Agnes’s and Agatha’s and Cecilia’s, stands in the Roman Canon.
Patron of
Tradition invokes St. Lucy as patron of the blind and those with eye trouble.
Patronages are traditional, not an official list. All patron saints in Bless, A to Z.
In the calendar
The upcoming dates, through December 31, 2028, when Bless’s Today screen shows St. Lucy. Where the US calendar keeps another celebration that day, it is named instead and no rank is given.
Readings
No dates are left in Bless’s published calendar, which runs through December 31, 2028. St. Lucy keeps December 13 in Bless’s calendar of saints: see the saints of December.
All the saints of December Born on December 13? A saint for every day
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