St Lucy

Lucy was born into a rich and important family, but her father died when Lucy was young leaving her and her mother with no one to take care of them.  When Lucy was very young she promised Jesus that she would live her life only for Him and no one else.  Lucy’s mother became sick, and was sick for many years. This made their situation even harder.  Her mother wanted Lucy to get married, because if she got married then they would be taken care of again.  Her mother wanted Lucy to marry someone who did not believe in God and Lucy refused to marry him.  Lucy wanted to tell her mother that she had given her life to Jesus, but she was afraid that this would make her mother angry.  Since her mother was still sick, she asked God to heal her so that she would believe in Him and allow Lucy to save her life for Jesus.  She took her mother to the shrine of St. Agatha and together they prayed for her mother’s healing and God answered their prayers.  Her mother believed and when Lucy told her about her promise to Jesus, her mother agreed that she should not marry.  This made the man that Lucy was supposed to marry very angry.  He told the ruler of the land that Lucy was a Christian, which was against the law during this time.  Lucy was arrested and treated very badly, but she never gave up her faith in Jesus and never gave her life to anybody but Jesus.  She died a martyr for her faith in Jesus.  Since her name means light, and she lived her short life in the light of Christ, some celebrate her feast day with lighting a wreath of candles.  In Sweden, the oldest daughter in a family wears the wreath of lit candles on her head.