How could a simple maiden be able to face public authorities and prefer death to breaking her vow of chastity?
Newsroom (December 13, 2021, 11:10 AM, Gaudium Press) It was within the borders of the Roman Empire that, by design of the Most High, the Holy Catholic Church was born. However, this immense temporal power, seeing the spiritual power flourishing with disconcerting rapidity, showed itself at first intrigued and fearful, and finally hostile to the point of the most extreme violence.
The sublime Christian teachings directly contradicted the prevailing customs among those hard-hearted men. Victim of all sorts of slanders, the nascent Church found itself the target of bloody persecutions unleashed by the Roman authorities with the aim of inexorably suffocating it. During the reign of Diocletian (284-305), this climate of horror reached its peak. By an edict of this emperor, all churches were to be demolished and all Christians who held public office were to be forced to abjure their faith in Christ.
It is in this last phase of the period of great persecutions that a soul of rare virtue emerges: the young Lucia.
Vow of virginity
Born in Syracuse to a noble and Christian family, she consecrated herself to Jesus in her adolescent years, offering Him the flower of her virginity.
Her father died when she was still very young. Her mother, Euticia, although a Christian, had not completely divested herself of the glories and attractions of this world. So, eager to give her daughter a future full of fame and honour, she urged her to marry a rich and well-placed, but pagan, young man.
Chaste Lucia – who kept her vow a secret – always tried to avoid this subject. She put all her trust in God and waited for a providential opportunity to reveal to her mother her firm and resolute resolution to belong to Christ alone.
In spite of the atrocious persecutions of Christians, every year the feast of Saint Agatha, the virgin from the city of Catania, martyred around 250, was celebrated in Sicily itself. The miracles she performed made her so well known that people flocked from everywhere to implore her intercession.
Now, for several years, Euticia had been suffering greatly from a flow of blood. So Lucia – who had a great devotion to this virgin martyr, her fellow countrywoman – persuaded her mother to go on pilgrimage to her tomb to ask for a cure for this ailment.
A celestial vision
Before the tomb of Saint Agatha, the mother and her daughter prayed for a long time, imploring God’s kindness through the intercession of this powerful advocate.
But the Lord wanted to manifest Himself to Lucia through a prophetic dream. Tired by the fatigue of the trip, the young girl fell into a deep sleep. While she was sleeping, Saint Agatha appeared to her, surrounded by a choir of angels. Her face, joyful and serene, shone like the sun as she said: “My dearest sister and virgin consecrated to God, why do you ask through the intercession of another what you yourself can obtain for your mother? Behold, she is already healed by the faith you have in Jesus Christ!”
Upon hearing these words, Lucia stood up even more convinced of her consecration to God. She then told her mother about the comforting vision and added that, by God’s grace, she was completely healed of her illness. And she said to her confidently: “Now, my mother, I ask only one thing of you: in the name of the One who gave you back your health, let me keep my virginity, belonging only to our Creator. Let us distribute among the poor the goods that you have prepared for my marriage, and we will have great treasure in Heaven!
Euticia was convinced and, returning to Syracuse, they both distributed their wealth among the needy, according to the instructions of the Christian community to which they belonged.
Now, this reached the ears of the young suitor. Filled with rage, he went to Euticia and witnessed, with his own eyes, the distribution of her jewels and precious objects to the poor. Out of his mind, he ran to Paschasius, then mayor of the city, to accuse Lucia of practicing the Christian religion. Thus began the process that would lead this Saint to shine in the highest heaven, together with the noble crowd of glorious martyrs!
Before the tribunal
The trial of the courageous young woman was edifying and overwhelming. She refuted all of Paschalion’s arguments and threats, and her simple look commanded respect. When the judge saw the serene safety of the prisoner, he first tried to persuade her with gentle words to offer sacrifices to the pagan gods. Then, faced with Lucia’s unyielding faith, he went from flattery to the most terrible ferocity.
He threatened to send her to a house of infamy to make her lose her virginity, to which she replied:
– Violence done to the body does not tear away the purity of the soul, if my will does not consent. On the contrary, this violence will give me two crowns: that of virginity and that of martyrdom.
After the prefect’s order, a mysterious divine force prevented the executioners from being able to move her, not even with the help of a yoke of oxen. Obstinate in his evil, Pascaso ordered a huge bonfire to be built around the Saint, but the flames did not touch her.
Defeated, Paschio finally ordered the virgin’s head to be cut off with a sword. A heavenly joy transpired on her countenance when she saw that the hour had come for the supreme encounter with her Redeemer. However, she did not die at that moment. Falling to her knees, she was welcomed into the arms of some Christians who were watching her martyrdom.
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The martyrdom of Saint Lucia represents the triumph of the spirit over matter, a triumph of chastity because it clearly shows that strength is a quality of the soul rather than of the body and that he who is chaste is strong since he has the courage not to give himself up to what nature tends to, in its more animal-like side.
Whoever surrenders to sin becomes a slave to sin. In the same way, whoever surrenders to ephemeral sensual pleasures becomes a slave to the flesh and loses the qualities proper to the spirit.
Many men would be more intelligent and brilliant if they were chaste.
In the same way that the best institute of beauty is virtue; the best intellectual center is chastity, because, with it, man becomes more and more spiritual, and begins to treat the body with due respect, giving it only what is necessary, thus becoming always stronger to strive for the true ideal: sanctity.
Text extracted, with adaptations, from the magazine Heralds of the Gospel n. 60, December 2006.
Compiled by Zephania Gangl
