St. Lucia, December 13

Today is the feast day of St. Lucy of Syracuse, early Christian martyr. She's also popular in Scandinavian countries, although how many Scandinavians believe in holiness anymore? Or a real St. Lucy for that matter? And if she showed up in Stockholm, wouldn't take her to be a fruitcake? That might go for Chicago, too. I continue to read about these "saints," like Herman of Alaska, an Orthodox monk sent by the Russians to Alaska when it was Russian territory, whose feast day is also today. Herman had more trouble with the Russian businessmen in Alaska and their treatment of the Aleuts than he had with the Aleuts, who seemed happy to receive the good news of Christ. The businessmen, fur traders, that is, mostly, gave the missionaries such a hard time that most of them left, except Herman, who moved to little Spruce Island near Kodiak Island, and died in 1837, in his eighties.

Comments

[Kyralessa]

Why the scare quotes?

[Peter Gardner]

St. Herman is also very convenient for those of us Orthodox on the Julian calendar, especially in North America (where he's our patron saint): his feast day winds up falling on Gregorian December 25 (at least this century), so everyone always has the day off and can go to church, where he gives us an important feast day to celebrate there.

[labrialumn]

St. Lucy is also known for her sailing to the edge of the world aboard the Dawn Treader.

[Janet C.]

Nah, that's St. Lucy of Narni. Her feast day is Nov. 15.
1476 - 1544)
Born at Narni, Italy, the oldest of eleven children, she resisted one attempt to have her marry and then agreed to marry a Count Peter in 1491 on the advice of her confessor and a vision of our Lady she is said to have experienced. They lived together as brother and sister for three years when he released her and she became a Dominican regular tertiary at Rome. She later went to Viterbo and during the three years she was there experienced the stigmata and participated in the Passion every Wednesday and Friday. She was subjected to repeated examinations by skeptics who after thorough investigation were convinced her supernatural experiences were real. When twenty-three, Duke Ercole I of Ferrara built a convent for her at Ferrara and selected Lucrecia Borgia to staff it with novices, many unsuited to be nuns, with Lucy as superior. Unable to cope with the problems of that position, she was replaced by Sister Mary of Parma and after the death of the duke in 1505 was relegated to obscurity in the convent for the next thirty-nine years. She died there on November 15, almost forgotten, but miracles at her grave began a cult, which was confirmed in 1710.

(From John Delaney's DICTIONARY OF SAINTS)

AMDG,
Janet