Saint Lucy is celebrated alongside all the Catholic saints in Mexico. She is the patron saint of the blind and the bearer of enlightenment. Her feast day is celebrated all over
the world on the shortest day of the year. She is invoked to usher light into the world, and the following days become longer. You will recognize her image as she is shown as tradition dictates, a young woman holding a palm leaf and, on a small dish, two eyes.
When saints are depicted with a palm leaf it is used as a symbol of martyrdom. While legend relates that she gouged out her eyes to relieve the suffering they caused a suitor of hers, and rather than have them be a cause of sin on the part of the man who loved her, she sent them to him on a plate. Miraculously new eyes reappeared in her head, even more beautiful than before.
Christian references say Saint Lucy originated in Italy. Santa Lucia (d.304, Syracuse, Sicily; feast day December 13) was a virgin and martyr who was one of the earliest Christian saints to achieve popularity, having a widespread following before the 5th century. She lived in Syracuse, a town on the Italian island of Sicily. She is the patron saint of the city of Syracuse. According to apocryphal texts, the beautiful Lucia came from a wealthy Sicilian family. In the days of early Christian persecution, Lucia is said to have carried food to Christians hiding in dark underground tunnels. To light the way she wore a wreath of candles on her head. Spurning marriage and worldly goods, she vowed to remain a virgin in the tradition of St. Agatha. An angry suitor reported her to the local Roman authorities, who sentenced her to be removed to a brothel and forced into prostitution. This order was thwarted, according to legend, by divine intervention, and Lucy became immovable and could not be carried away. She was next condemned to death by fire, but she proved impervious to the flames. Finally, her neck was pierced by a
sword and she died.
In actuality, Lucy was probably a victim of the wave of persecution of Christians that occurred late in the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian. References to her are found in early Roman sacramentaries and at Syracuse in an inscription dating from AD 400. As evidence of her early fame, 2 churches are known to have been dedicated to her in
Britain before the 8th century, at a time when the land was largely pagan.
Which leads to the version according to author Barbara G. Walker in her book titled “The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets” -St. Lucy was a “Christianization” of the goddess Juno Lucina or Lucetia, Mother of Light, the Sabine Goddess whose temple was built on the Esquiline in 735 BC There she appeared bearing her symbols, a lamp, and a patera an offering- dish. She bestowed gifts of light, enlightenment, and eyesight,
especially as the opener of eyes of the newborn children. Christianity co-opted, assimilated this pagan goddess and Lucy’s legend became the same “virgen-martyr” story told of dozens of of other mythical female saints. The gouging of her eyes became the same type of repressive themes in many fictitious female saints – rather than succumb to the temptations of love. This was how the Christians interpreted the Goddess’s patera with it’s offerings.
