ST. LUCY - ADVENT SAINT OF LIGHT............

On this Thursday of the 2nd Week of Advent, we commemorate St. Lucy, Virgin and Martyr; who is celebrated as a Saint of Light, symbolized as wearing a crown of lighted candles on her head.  She is especially venerated in Norway, and Sweden, and also in the countries of Bosnia, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Slovakia, and Spain, as well as in Bavaria in Germany, and the island of St. Lucia, in the West Indies.  It is one of the most, if not one of the only saints feast days celebrated in Scandanavian countries.  Scandanavians in countries around the World including in the United States celebrate St. Lucy's Day with church services and light processions, and the eating of cookies that are found on the fireplace mantle in their homes.  Her feast celebrated during Advent in the countdown to Christmas underscores the anticipation of greater light coming as the winter solistice nears and the anniversary of the Birth of the Savior approaches.  As a child in the 1960's I first remember hearing of St. Lucy, in a Christmas carol sung by Patti Paige on a W.T. Grant department store record album we had at home titled, "Santa Lucia".  St. Lucy, Patroness of Light, Pray For Us, as we await the Coming of the Greatest Light Humankind has ever knowm, Jesus The Christ - Our Messiah, Redeemer, and Lord............Fr.  Troy