" Arrogant wish for awesome eyes." "The story of Saint Lucia"

" Arrogant wish for awesome eyes."   " The story of Saint Lucia"

   Most of the emperors who sat on the throne of Rome, Italy, had a deep hatred towards the Christians. But there were few exceptions to it. Few of the emperors were not much bothered about the religion that the people of their empire practiced, but were just keen on whether the citizens were loyal to the king and the government. So they gave the people the complete freedom to practice any religion that the people preferred. In 262 A.D. the emperor Paplino Luciano Kallino gave total freedom to his people to practice the religion of their choice. Because of this privilege many citizens of Rome, including government officials followed Christianity and accepted Jesus Christ as their God and savior. Hence there was peace in the country for some time. But peace is no the cup of tea preferred by Satan, right? So in order to fulfill the desire of Satan and to test the loyalty of the Christians, a cruel monarch came to the throne of Rome. His name was Diocletian. He was crowned as emperor on September 17, 284 A.D.

   This Diocletian who hated the Christians was a Christian by birth. He had a wife called Prisca and a daughter named as Valeria.  Though born as a Christian, his heart was filled with abundant lust for fame, name, wealth, money, authority etc., and hence none of the qualities of Christ was present in his heart. He became the handmaid of Satan and willfully opened his hearts for Satan to take control of. In his lust for more and more name and fame, he wanted to expand his empire and he set out to conquer up to Persia. 

  In all those places where he failed in war, he used to offer sacrifices to the evil demonic spirits which ruled those places and with their aid he won the battle. All the priests who worshiped the demons and evil forces added fuel to the fire of Diocletian’s heart by making him believe that the Christian God, Jesus Christ was the reason for all his failure in war. They also told him that Jesus Christ robbed the Roman gods of their powers and hence something should be done to wipe out Christianity from the entire empire.

   Without giving any second thought to the information given by those imposters, Diocletian decided to kill and torture all the Christians. His eyes were tied by the forces of darkness. Since the true light of this world, Jesus Christ was not present in his heart, he walked the way of darkness and from that day the torture and death of Christians began. Since he had expanded his empire far and wide, he was not able to exercise his direct control everywhere. So he divided his kingdom into four parts and four kings ruled each part at the same time under the control of Diocletian.

  Maximian was the right hand of Diocletian and helped him in all his evil plans. These two notorious heartless tyrants gave enough and more of torture to the Christians. He brought in a rule in this entire kingdom that, in order to be a Roman citizen, the people should accept the king as the descendants of the Roman gods, and worship the roman gods and the kings. If they fail to do this, they will be deprived of their rights as roman citizens, their wealth would be taken over by the government, and they will be tortured and killed.  Christianity was banned in the country and all the Christian monasteries were demolished. This was the royal command of Diocletian. This strict rule was enforced in the little island of Sicily also. 

The Sicily Island

   The beauty of this Sicily Island could be better explained by calling it as “The abode of nature”. This is one of the perfect creations of God in its natural beauty. The island is not only known for its natural beauty but also is the birth place of four important martyrs who gave their life to bear witness for Jesus Christ. The birth and death of these four martyrs namely, Saint Agatha, Saint Lucia, Saint Rosali and Saint Marciano adds to the beauty and importance of this island.

    During this time, there was a small kingdom in the northern part of Africa named as Carthage. The cannibals who travelled from this kingdom reached the Sicily Island and looted the island frequently. Hence the people had to depend on the roman government in order to protect them and also the roman government was near to their reach. The war that took place between the romans and the Carthaginians was called as the battle of Punic. After the repeated battle the romans won and hence the Sicily Islands as well as the Carthaginian kingdoms were slowly brought under the control of the Romans. Since the entire story is based on this small Sicily Island, it is very essential to understand the history and geography of this place. Sicily Islands are located near Italy. The Islands were initially occupied by the Greeks before the 8 century BC.    During the times of the Greek period the island was called as Ortigia. Even today there is a small city in the province of Syracuse called as Ortigia in the Sicily Island. This Persians took over the control of the Island from the Greeks.

     The famous Greek mathematician and scientist, Archimedes, who was unaware of the change in government, was killed in Ortigia when he was involved in an important research. Even today his grave is in this city of Ortigia.

   During the reign of king Dionysian was the glorious period of the city of Syracuse. During his time many palaces were built and the marble stones which were used in the building of the palaces were taken from the mines in that city. This led to the formation of many caves which were located one within the other. There was no room for hygiene. In the later days these caves became very peculiar. There was a large cave and inside that was another cave and so on. Hence even a small noise which was made from one part of the cave was amplified at the entrance of the cave. The king changed this cave into his prison and tortured the prisoners and his enemies in this cave. He used to stand at the entrance of the cave and used to ensure that he hears the painful cries of the prisoners who are being tortured and up to the time he hears their cries the tortures used to continue. Hence this cave was called as the “Dionesien ear”. In the later days during the reign of Diocletian this cave became the place where the Christians were tortured. All the Christians who died in this cave were buried secretly in a grave called as the grave of St.John.. This grave is there in the city of Ortygia even today. Also the first bishop of this place, St. Marciano was also buried in this grave. During the time of persecution, holy mass used to take place secretly in this cave only. Now let us move on to our story.

Lucia of Syracuse

   The heroine of this story was about five years old when her father named her as Lucia. Her mother’s name was Eutechia. Lucia had lost her father at a very young age and was brought up under the care of her mother. She had a very good childhood and her mother took great care in bring up her only beautiful daughter. Her mother provided Lucia the best quality education through the best teachers in the city. In those days, women were considered as a thing of beauty only. The custom was ladies were expected to get them dressed up in the most fashionable way, be a delight to the well to do onlookers and participate in the official get-together or dinners. Because of this culture many young ladies lost their lives to the government officials and other remarkable personalities of the city. The worst thing was they considered it as a pride to live such a life. The feeling, that it was a sin to live with a man before marriage was not commonly in use among the people. But Christianity stood against such illegal marital acts… it gave strict commands of leading a proper and holy life. Since Christianity was against such worldly pleasures, many of the children (grown up men and woman) were against the religion.

  The way in which Jesus Christ was made known to Lucia is not known and there are no proper records for it. The possibilities could be through her teachers who could have told her about Jesus Christ. Being attracted by those teachings she could have accepted Christ. But the point to be noted here is that her neither her father nor her mother were Christians. The meaning of Lucy is Light. Lucia grew up to be a beautiful young lady with awesome beauty. Her mother was very much proud and happy of her daughter’s great beauty. Just like any other mother, Lucia’s mother wanted her to get married and hence started to look out for a good match for her. 

  So she discussed this with her daughter. But whenever Lucia’s mother opened this topic of marriage, Lucia would say, “Why are you in such a hurry to get me married off? There is enough time and let us see to it sometime later.” This conversation of the same question and same reply continued for some time and this troubled Lucia’s mother. She wanted to find out the reason behind her daughter postponing her marriage. She was confused and said to herself, “there will be so many young gentlemen who would want Lucia’s hand in marriage for her beauty and family background is so awesome. But then why is it that she is not interested in marriage. Or is she in love with someone? Oh my god it shouldn’t be like that ….” In this way Lucia’s mother was greatly troubled.

   One day Lucia’s mother decided to ask her the reason for her postponing her marriage. She said, “My dear child Lucia, why is that you postpone your marriage? Up to the time I get a convincing answer from you, my heart is greatly troubled. Do you know the troubled heart of a mother who has a daughter who is of marriage age at home? Do you fear that I am not capable of finding the right partner for you? Or are you in love with any one? Give me a frank and true answer my child. I will never do anything against your wish. Trust me and tell me the truth.” 

   On hearing this Lucia threw her arms around her mother’s shoulders and said, “Oh my God, why you are so much worried about this silly issue my mother. You are confused a lot. So far I never had the thought of getting married. Then how is it possible for me to fall in love my dear mother? When I feel like getting married I will surely let you know and then you can get me married to the person of your choice.”

      Lucia’s mother was temporarily satisfied at this answer and consoled her troubled heart.

Lucia’s mother was quiet old and in that old age she suffered of profuse bleeding. She had some problem in her uterus and suffered a lot. This loss of blood resulted in considerable weight loss and Eutechia became very thin and week. Eutechia now felt that she was nearing her death sooner or later and decided to get her daughter married to a good person so that she can rest in peace.  She did not want to prolong this marriage issue any longer. She started to look out for a good partner for her daughter and found a person also. 

   This person was from a good wealthy family background and looked handsome too. He fell in love with Lucia in the first sight, for Lucia’s beauty was so awesome that this person was no exception to fall for it. Lucia’s large blue eyes were so powerful that this man could not get himself rid of it. Lucia’s mother immediately gave her consent for marriage. She hoped and believed that her daughter would surely not refuse such a handsome young man to be her life partner. The proposed bridegroom returned home happily and his heart and mind were fully occupied with the thoughts and image of Lucia. He could not sleep and became restless because of love.

    But this was the worst thing that Lucia expected to happen in her life. Lucia was greatly troubled by this marriage proposal. She could not convince her mind and accept this marriage because she had already accepted Jesus Christ as her bridegroom in her heart. She had offered up herself, her youth, her beauty and all her love to Jesus Christ. She waited for the right opportunity to tell this to her mother but fate worked so fast that her mother arranged for her marriage before Lucia could reveal her heart to her mother. She felt hurt that her mother had given her consent for the marriage without consulting with her or waited for her opinion.      Still she waited for the right opportunity to tell about Jesus Christ who was dwelling in her heart. That night Lucia had a dream in which saint Agatha, (who was already dead) asked her to come and meet her. The very next day Lucia and her mother went on a pilgrimage to Catania which is fifty miles from their native place Syracuse. Saint Agatha died as a martyr in this city of Catania and her grave was in that city. Lucia and her mother prayed fervently beside the grave of Saint Agatha.. They attended the holy mass also. During mass, the passage where a lady with the issue of blood was healed when she believed and touched the edge of the garment of Jesus was read. Lucia and her mother believed that God has chosen this passage for them especially on that day.

             They did not leave the place after mass rather they fell asleep leaning on the grave of Saint Agatha. At midnight Saint Agatha  appeared to Lucia in a vision in a great light surrounded by many angels. Saint Agatha  said, “Dear sister Lucia, I appreciate you for having offered yourself as the bride of Jesus Christ. Why do you pray to me? God will surely give you sufficient grace if you plead on behalf of your mother. Jesus Christ loves you a lot. Even now Jesus had answered your prayer petition and has healed your mother. I have come to inform this to you. Check for yourself and see that your mother is healed.” So saying Saint Agatha disappeared. Immediately Lucia woke up her sleeping mother.
    When her mother woke up she found that she was completely healed and felt new strength and energy in her body. She thanked Jesus Christ for healing her and giving her new strength. She asked Lucia how she could pay back for this grace of God. Lucia replied, “Dear mother, Jesus Christ is the creator of this whole world, all that is in this world belongs to him including us. He expects nothing of this world but only our loving hearts. I have already offered up my heart and love to Him. I have offered up my virginity to Jesus Christ and accepted him as my bridegroom and hence I cannot marry anyone else in my life.  So please ask the person whom you chose to be my partner, to look out for some other nice girl and marry. Sell off all my property and give them to the poor. This is what God expects from us.”

    On reaching their native place Syracuse, Eutechia sold all her property and gave them to the poor and the needy. On hearing this, the proposed bridegroom of Lucia came in great haste and questioned Eutechia why she did such a stupid thing. He could not tolerate this act of her and tortured her with his questions. But Eutechia gave a calm reply, “Why you are so worried and tensed my boy. I have sold few of my property in order to buy some good land in another place. Why are you so much bothered and worried about this?” but Lucia who was hearing all this came out and said, “Dear sir, I beg your pardon. My mother had given her consent for the marriage without consulting me. But I am not at all interested in this marriage. So I would request you to you look out for some other girl and get married. Please do not wait for me. There is no change in my decision.” 
    On hearing this, the boy stood speechless. He did not expect this answer from her. He said, “Just a minute Lucia, from the day your mother gave her consent for marriage I have started to live with you. I had only one thought in my mind that I am going to marry you and have a happy and blessed life. I will never be able to bear the thought that you are not for me. Please do not betray me….. Do consider your decision and answer. I am ready to wait and you can take your own time to give me your consent. Why so you refuse my hand in marriage? Did you hear anything bad about me? Please tell me and if it is true I will surely correct myself. Please be free to tell me the correct reason for your refusal. You say whatever you want but please do not say that you do not want to marry me. I can never bear to hear it…..”
    Lucia saw this man mad in love with her and gave a short and stern reply, “Dear Sir, I find not fault in you. I am just not interested in marriage and so I can’t marry you. It is as simple as that. Please do not force me. Do not confuse yourself any further.”

    But the boy replied, “I can’t Lucia….. I can’t live without you. I will never marry anyone else. I have already accepted you as my wife in my heart and started to live with you in my mind. It is not at all possible to change this thought of mine. My heart won’t accept any one else as my wife. I hope you will understand me…” Lucia could not bear to hear this conversation anymore and said, “Oh even I say the same thing. I have already accepted Lord Jesus Christ as my bridegroom in my heart and started to live with him. My heart won’t accept anyone else as my husband. It is not at all possible. I hope now you would have understood me better. Please do not trouble me anymore. Get married to someone else and kindly leave this place immediately.” 
    But the boy was shocked to hear this statement of Lucia. He could not express his fear and astonishment and he said, “Lucia! What did you say? Are you sure of what you said? Are you a Christian? How did you get caught in that pathetic religion? Do you know the punishment for being a Christian? It’s ok…. I am not worried about your past life. Let us think about the future…. I will never disclose this to anyone. We shall have this secret between us. I will ensure that no one knows this. I love you so much. If this is the only reason for your denial, please forget his issue and marry me. I will give you full freedom to practice this religion in secret. What do you say?” but Lucia never gave a second thought for her decision.
   She out rightly rejected the marriage proposal and stood firm that she will never marry anyone. But she soon had to face the consequences the very next day.

  The next day morning, Bascassio who was the representative of Diocletian who was the emperor and governor of Sicily Island, was seated on his throne of judgment. Lucia and her mother were made to stand in the accused place and they were the first for trial that day. The date was December 13, 304 A.D. The trial began and the proposed bridegroom put forward his accusations against Lucia and her mother.
    He said, “My Lord, these two ladies, Lucia and her mother have betrayed me. This woman had promised me to get her daughter married to me and now she refuses to do so. Her daughter had accepted Christianity and so she refuses to marry me. Moreover they have sold all their property and distributed the same to the poor. According to this country’s rule, all those property rightfully belonged to me after marriage. According to the command of our king Diocletian, (as per February 24, 303) Christianity is banned in our country. All the wealth of Christians belonged to the government and the Christians are to be tortured and killed. So I request you to give them the most worst punishment for betraying me by breaking the promise of marrying me.”

      The judge of Sicily Island Bascassio said, “Lucia, my child, is this true? All that we heard from this man, are those statements true? Are you a Christian? Since you are a young lady, I give you a chance and do make use of the same.  Will you deny your god Jesus Christ and marry this man? Answer me?” 
    Lucia replied, “I am never ashamed to say that I am a Christian, in fact I am proud to be a Christian. I have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior and bridegroom. My heart will not accept any one else as my husband. Moreover I have every right to give away my property to the person of my choice and this person who has accused me has no right to it before marriage.”
    This reply aggravated the temper of the judge and he said, “Lucia, are you aware of what you are speaking? Do not speak for the sake of saying something. Every single word you utter her will decide whether you will live or die. So there is no room for error. Now tell me, are you ready to deny Jesus and accept and worship our roman gods?”
   Lucia gave a bold reply, “I will never do as you say. I will never forsake my lord and savior Jesus Christ…. Whatever may be the consequence I am ready to face them.” The judge lost his patience and roared angrily, “Enough take away this young lady from my sight. Torture in the worst  way so that this will be a lesson for all the other ladies of this island who wish to accept and practice Christianity.”
   Thus the journey of Lucia to be tortured and die began. She was made to stand in the middle of the road. The proposed bridegroom of Lucia went up to the person who was in charge of torturing Lucia and gave something in his hand and gave a secret instruction in his ears. On receiving that the person gave a broad smile and said, “I will do according to your wish”.
    The proposed bridegroom looked at Lucia and said, “Lucia, I loved so madly and now I hate you to the core. You rejected me and by that you insulted me. Now I will repay you for this. know this young lady, all those who are standing here around you will not come and rape you in public…… what are you going to do dear……. What a perfect punishment….” So saying, he laughed at her heartlessly.

    Many people gathered around her and tried to drag her and rape her. But none of them could even move her, an inch from the place where she stood. The grace of the Lord was with Lucia. So the men decided to take her aloof and rape her and so they tied her to four oxen and tried to drag her. But nothing happened. She stood rooted to the place where she was standing. 
   This irritated the person who was in charge of torturing her. He decided to burn her alive in the place where she was standing. So lot of wood was piled up all around her. Fuel, acid and oil were sprinkled on the wood so that it will be set on fire easily. But how much ever they tried, nothing was set on fire.
    As this process was going on, a cruel thought sprang up in the mind of the proposed bridegroom of Lucia. He went up to the captain responsible for torture and said, “I fell in love with her on seeing those two beautiful blue eyes of hers. So now I ask you to dig those eyes and bring them to me.”
    Lucia heard this statement very clearly. Accordingly her beautiful blue eyes were dug alive. The person who dug her eyes gave them in the hands of Lucia and said sarcastically, “you deceived my master with these two beautiful eyes. Your lover wants these eyes of yours…. Now let us see whether you could go and give these eyes to him.”

    At this point a great miracle happened. As she held her eyes in her hands, Lucia, who stood still in a place now moved towards her proposed bridegroom. The spectators were terrified and her lover was even more scared. Out of fear he tried to hide behind the people gathered there.
   But Lucia identified him among the crowd and handed over her eyes to him and said, “You wished for my eyes… and now I am handing them to you….. Why do you run…? Are you satisfied???? Are you happy now?”
      So saying she went back to her place where she was standing and stood there. Once again no one was able to move her. At this point Lucia said, “You are not torturing me, but you are torturing my Lord Jesus Christ. The people who are responsible for all these tortures, Diocletian and Maximian will soon be hated by the people and will lose their position. They will be driven out of this country and their death is not very far off…” the proposed bridegroom who received the eyes of Lucia felt very bad.
     The eyes in his hands soon lost their color, beauty and withered away and died. But soon the captain of torture caught hold of Lucia’s hair and thrust his sword through her throat which pierced her throat from the front to the back. Once he removed his sword, her head withered away. She knelt down and fell to the ground dead.

     Lucia’s boyfriend realized his mistake. He shouted in tears, “Oh my dear Lucia, I have made a great mistake….. I am a coward….. I lost my sense because of the disappointment I had to face when you rejected my marriage proposal….. But that has led to your death…. I killed you Lucia; I am the reason for your death…. I have killed an innocent poor girl….. Please forgive me my darling…. Please forgive me … I am not worthy to marry you… oh what a great mistake I have made….” So saying he cried bitterly and after that no one knows what happened to him. 
   They buried her secretly. Then they built a church in her name and buried her body, which was not decayed in it. All those who prayed in that church near her tomb received all that they prayed for. There is huge crowd round the year who come to visit this saint in her grave.  Then a huge cathedral was built in the name of Lucia and her un-decayed body was kept in that cathedral.
    This cathedral which is situated in the city of Syracuse is as beautiful as its patron saint Lucia. The Roman Catholic Church honored Lucia by giving her the title of Saint. Her body was taken to Constantine Naples and was kept there for some time. Then it was taken to Venice. According to historical information, someone who understood the power of this saint took off her head to France. For a long time Lucia’s body remained without its head. His Holiness The former Pope 23^rd John could not bear to see this pitiable state of Lucia’s body without its head and hence he made a head out of pure silver and fixed it with her body. This silver head perfectly matched the body of Lucia.

    Even today this un-decayed body of Lucia is kept in Jerome Church in the city of Venice. Saint Lucia’s feast day is celebrated on December 13. As foretold by Lucia before her death, Diocletian and Maximian lost their authority. According to a historical fact it is said the Diocletian committed suicide. But, another historical information states that being a Christian, he was given good counsel by his wife Prisca ( before her death by her husband as a martyr in Rome) and he became a Christian too. 
  Even today his palace and his grave are located in the city of Crotia. Many tourist and pilgrims visit this palace and grave of Diocletian. Being a Christian, he fell into the hands of Satan and became a pain in the neck for many Christians of his time. We do not know the exact punishment; the almighty god gave him for his cruel act.
    Considering the fact that Lucia’s mother was very old and she was not a Christian, she was released on the very same day Lucia was killed. But Lucia’s mother accepted Christ during her last days and took holy baptism. She sold out all her property and gave them to the poor. In the images of Saint Lucia, she is portrayed as having a pair of eyes in a plate holding them in her hands. Saint Lucia of light, give us the grace of the light of wisdom in our hearts. One of the Windward Islands,in the caribbean sea Saint Lucia was named after Saint Lucy of Syracuse.
     Saint Lucia pray for us.

Saint Lucia pray for us.