Dorothy called me down to the antique mart.
"We have a statue for you, but we don't know who it is," she said.
They were holding one for me again.
With one glance, I knew it was St. Barbara,
always pictured with a castle.
She is missing a hand, and a sword from the other, I believe, but that's okay.
She is a giant antique chalkware piece. They let me have her for $20.
She came home with me that day,
and I'll tell you a bit about her. I had to refresh my own memory with
my saints' book.
(My abridged notes)
taken from Novena, The Power of Prayer,
By Barbara Calamari and Sandra DiPasqua
Barbara was believed to have lived sometime around the 3rd-4th century.
She was born near Persia and her parents were wealthy. She was their only child. Because it was
a time of social and political unrest, they had a tower built and Barbara lived there...protected from the world, instructed in school, and with much time to think about everything since she was isolated.
(Kind of like a real Rapunzel).
She developed an interest in Christianity, and,
while her parents were away, sent for a new teacher to educate her.
He father had been constructing a bathhouse as a gift for her,
and while he was away,
she had the decorative pagan statues detroyed and three windows installed instead
to represent the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Her father returned and was furious that his daughter converted
to Christianity. He ordered her to be tortured
and then he himself beheaded her with a sword.
Immediately afterward, he was struck by lightening
and returned to the earth in a pile of ashes.
St. Barbara is know as the patron saint of
sudden death,
invoked for protection against lightening,
artillerymen and bombardments or explosions,
and- for her work on the bathhouse- ahe is also known as the patron saint of architects.
She is a popular saint in the
Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church
and her statue guards many homes and businesses
in regions of the world where Christianity tends to be persecuted.
She is a reminder of justice.
Her remains are housed in a church in Egypt.
St. Barbara now stands at our front door, too.
Sharing my St. Barbara with:
