ST. LUCY, ADVENT SAINT OF LIGHT..........

My first Christmas record album as a child in the mid 1960's was a W.T. Grant's Department Store product with a variety of Christmas carols, sung by an array of celebrities of the day.  One of the songs was titled, Santa Lucia", and was sung by Patti Paige.  That Christmas carol refers to today's Advent Saint of the Day, St. Lucy, who lived from 283 - 304 A.D., in Syracuse, Sicily.  A virgin, who possessed the desire to serve God and the poor from an early age, Lucy suffered under the persections of Roman Emperor Diocletian, which resulted in her martyrdom, Tradition tells us she resisted the advances of a Roman soldier who attempted to rape her, and whose denunciation of her as a Christian led to Lucy's torturing and death.  She is also said to have tore out her eyes as an attempt to resist her attacker.  The Lucy is derived from the Latin word, Lux, meaning Light.  In many countries such as Sweden and Norway, she is commemorated on December 13, as a Light amidst the increasing Darkness, with a, 'Festival of Light', in which ytoung girls partake in a procession wearing white dresses, red sashes, and lit candles, worn around their heads.  As Advent People of God, may we also allow the light of St. Lucy's holy and consumately faith-filled Discipleship of the Coming Messiah, shine brightly in our lives today, as we penetrate the darkness of sin and selfishness and seek to follow in the Advent Light of Joyful Expectation..........St. Lucy Virgin And Martyr, Pray for Us,   Fr.  Troy