Lucia

The Lives Of The Saints: Volume 10, September · SS. LUCIA AND GEMINIANUS, MM.

SS. LUCIA AND GEMINIANUS, MM.

(about a.d. 304.)

[Roman and many other later Martyrologies, Sarum and York Kalendars By the Greeks on Sept. 17. Authority : — The fabulous Acts. ]

The apocryphal Acts of these saints relate that Lucia was a widow at Rome who was accused as a Christian before Diocletian by her own son, Euprepius. She was thrown into prison, when an earthquake shook the temple of Jupiter, and swallowed it up, so that not a stone remained visible.

Diocletian ordered a pot of pitch to be boiled, and Lucia to be plunged in it. She was boiled in the pitch for three

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260 Lives of the Saints. [Sept. 1 6.

days, during all which time she sang hymns, and was quite unhurt. When Diocletian sent to make inquiries about her ashes, great was his amazement to hear that she was not dead.

He then ordered her out of the pot, and to be led through the streets laden with chains. As she passed a house inhabited by a pagan named Geminianus, who had three thousand two hundred idols in his house which he adored, they all fell down and broke their necks, and Geminianus saw a dove descend from heaven and make the sign of the cross on his brow. Then he hasted to S. Lucia, and declared himself ready to believe in her religion ; so he was com- mitted to prison with her ; and in the night S. Protasius, warned by an angel, came to the prison, and baptized him.

And a river burst out of the prison-cell in which was Lucia, and swept away part of the city, and with it the palace of Diocletian.

And when the martyrs were brought before Gebal, the Imperial assessor, and Pyropogon, Governor of Rome, a man who was ordered to strike Lucia was turned to stone, with the exception of one arm, which remained flesh. Fire also fell from heaven, and consumed the Emperor to a cinder ; but Lucia prayed over the cinder, and the Emperor got up, and recovered his rude health and activity, as if nothing had happened. But after he had ordered the martyrs to execution, as he was riding over a bridge, followed by an army, his horse jumped into the water, and he was drowned, as well as one thousand three hundred and forty -six soldiers, who jumped in after him to pick him out.

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Sept. 16.]

SS. Abundius, and Others.

Biographical overview

Saint Lucia (also written as St. Lucia) is an island country in the eastern and southern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. It covers a land area of 617 km2 (238 sq mi) with an officially estimated population of over 184,100 people as of mid 2023. The nation's capital and largest city is Castries. The first proven inhabitants of the island, the Arawaks, are believed to have been the first to settle on the island in 200–400 AD. In 800 AD, the island was taken over by the Kalinago. The French were the first European colonists to settle on the island, and they signed a treaty with the native Caribs in 1660. The English took control of the island in 1663. In ensuing years, England and France fought 14 times for control of the island; consequently control over this immensely valuable geopolitical position changed frequently. Eventually, the British took complete control in 1814, shortly after the victory over French Emperor Napoleon I. Because the island switched so often between British and French control, Saint Lucia was also known as the "Helen of the West" after the Greek mythological character, Helen of Troy. Representative government was introduced in 1924 with universal suffrage being established in 1951. From 1958 to 1962, the island was a member of the West Indies Federation. On 22 February 1979, Saint Lucia became an independent state, while remaining as a Commonwealth realm. Saint Lucia is a member of the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the World Trade Organization, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). It is also a member of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.