St. Lucia

First published in the December 11, 2022 Bulletin of St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, Delray Beach, FL

At this time of year, we don’t have many hours of sunshine. In places further north, days are even shorter. In Sweden, at this time of year, sunrise is after 8:00 am—and sunset is before 3:00 pm! If you lived there, you would go to school in the dark, and it would be dark again by the time school got out for the day. Those very long hours of winter darkness is part of the reason why Sweden has a tradition of celebrating the feast day of St. Lucia.

St. Lucia (also called St. Lucy) was born about 283 AD in Syracuse, Sicily, which was then part of the Roman Empire. When she was about twenty years old, the Diocletianic Persecution began, restricting the rights of Christians.

Christians were required to turn away from God and worship the Roman idols. St. Lucia did not turn away from Jesus, and was among those persecuted. Many tales are told about her. When she took food to persecuted Christians who were hiding from the Roman soldiers, she wore a wreath of candles in her hair to light her way, freeing her hands to carry more food.

In Sweden and other Scandinavian countries, the Christmas season begins with St. Lucia processions on her feast day, December 13. A young girl is chosen to dress as St. Lucia and lead a procession. St. Lucia and her companions in the procession all dress in white, wear wreaths of candles on their heads, and give out treats. It must be a very pretty thing to see, especially in those short, dark days of mid-December.

One year, my friend Carol was chosen to be St. Lucia. She said it was very scary to have lit candles on her head. She asked all of us to promise to carry bottles of water just in case anything happened! If you want to have a St. Lucia procession, Carol says to use battery operated candles. It would be much safer than walking around with flames on your head!