Tag Archives: St. Agatha

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Lucy, Feast Day December 13




St. Lucy
by Domenico di Pace Beccafumi

 

The feast day of St. Lucy is celebrated on December 13.  She is the patron saint of the blind and visually impaired.  She is also a martyr.

St. Lucy was born in 283 in Syracuse (Sicily). The name Lucy means “Light”. Her feast day is celebrated on Dec. 13, the day she was executed.

Lucy was born into a wealthy family of Greek ancestry. She vowed her life to Christ. Her Roman father died when she was young. Her mother tried against her will to arrange a marriage for her. After Lucy prayed at the tomb of St. Agatha, her mother’s illness (probably a hemorrhage), was cured. Her mother then agreed to let Lucy consecrate herself to Christ and to remain a virgin.

The rejected suitor of Lucy denounced her and reported her Christianity to the authorities. The magistrate Paschasius was known for his persecution and torture of Christians. He ordered her to burn a sacrifice to the emperor’s image. When she refused, she was ordered to be executed, in the year 304, at the age of 21. The attempt to burn her to death failed, so she was executed by a sword to the throat.    Before the execution, she was tortured, having her eyes gouged. This is why she is the patron of the blind and visually impaired. In art St. Lucy is frequently shown holding a golden plate with her eyes on it.

Legend concludes that God restored her sight before her death.

While some of the history of St. Lucy is legend, her name is mentioned in several different places, including the canon of St. Gregory, indicating that she is a real person. By the sixth century, devotion to St. Lucy was widespread.

 

“O Jesus, Divine Savior,

grant that I be no longer deaf

to your heavenly call.”

Quote of St. Katherine Drexel; Feast day March 3

St. Lucy

December is the Month of the Divine Infancy

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Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Agatha, Feast Day Feb. 5



St. Agatha Public Domain Image
St. Agatha
Public Domain Image

The Catholic Church will be celebrating the feast day of St. Agatha on Feb. 5She is the patron saint of breast cancer.

St. Agatha was born in Catania, Sicily.   She died a martyr in 251.  She is one of seven women memorialized in the cannon of the Mass.

Her legendary story tells us she was tortured for her faith. After being imprisoned in a brothel by Quintian, she was then sent to prison. When she persisted in the faith, she was tortured by having her breasts amputated. She was then martyred. During a vision she had of St. Peter, she was healed.

Because of this torture, she is considered the patron saint of breast cancer victims.

St. Agatha died while in prison. In art she is shown with her amputated breasts on a platter.

 

The following quotes are attributed to St. Agatha:

“My courage and my thought be so firmly founded upon the firm stone of Jesus Christ, that for no pain it may not be changed, your words be not wind, your promises be but rain, and your menaces be as rivers that pass, and how will that all these things hurtle at the fundament of my courage, yet for that it shall not move.”

Quote of St. Agatha

“Jesus Christ, Lord of all things! You see my heart, you know my desires. Possess all that I am — you alone.       I am your sheep; make me worthy to overcome the devil.”

Quote of St. Agatha

Lord Jesus Christ, you created me, you watched over me from infancy,
kept my body from defilement, preserved me from love of the world,
made me able to withstand torture, and granted me the virtue of patience
in the midst of torments.

   Quote of St. Agatha

Prayer to Saint Agatha

O St. Agatha,
who withstood the unwelcome advances
from unwanted suitors,
and suffered pain and torture
for your devotion to Our Lord,
we celebrate your faith, dignity, and martyrdom.

Protect us against rape and other violations,
guard us against breast cancer
and other afflictions of women,
and inspire us to overcome adversity.

O St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr,
mercifully grant that we who venerate your sacrifice,
may receive your intercession.

Amen

February is the Month of the Passion of the Lord


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