Saint Barbara

Saint Barbara
Fifteenth century portrait of Saint Barabara
Virgin and Martyr
Born	third century (?) in Nicomedia (in one version of her legend)
Died	c. 306 (?) in Nicomedia (in one version of her legend)
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy
Feast	4 December
Attributes	Three-windowed tower, palm, chalice, lightning, a crown of martyrdom
Patronage	Artillery gunners, masons, mathematicians, miners, military engineers, stonecutters, against lightning, anyone who works at risk of sudden and violent death

Saint Barbara (d. c. 306 C.E.), known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Great Martyr Barbara, was a Christian saint and martyr who died at Nicodia in today's Turkey c. 306 C.E. Barabara won particular fame for the fact that her death sentence was carried out by her own father, who had denounced her to the Roman authorities in the hopes that she would turn back to her family's pagan tradition.

Veneration of Saint Barabara was common from the seventh century until modern times. However, more recently her historicity has faced major challenges. There is no reference to her in the authentic early Christian writings, nor in the original editions of Saint Jerome's martyrology (fifth century). Doubts about the historicity of her legend resulted in her removal from the official Catholic calendar of saints in 1969. However, she continues to be a popular figure among the faithful.

She is perhaps best known as the patron saint of artillerymen, miners and others who work with explosives because of her association with lightning, which killed her father after he executed her. Among the many places named for her is Santa Barbara, California.

Life

Barabara and her three-windowed tower

Saint Barbara in her tower

According to the accounts of her life that circulated from the seventh century, Barbara's father was a wealthy pagan named Dioscorus. Because of her great beauty, he father carefully guarded her virginity and kept her shut up in a tower in order to preserve her from the outside world.

Although her father's love for her was extremely possessive, he lavished symbols of his affection upon her. Before going on a journey, he commanded that a private luxurious private bath-house be erected for her use near her dwelling. Having heard the teachings of the Gospel, she contemplated life's meaning from her tower, meditating on the beauties of the natural world outside her tower window and decided that the teachings of the church about God and Jesus must indeed be true. During his absence Barbara altered her father's design for the bath-house had three windows put in it, as a symbol of the Trinity, instead of the two originally intended.

When her father returned, she acknowledged herself to be a Christian. Her father was outraged by this, treating her badly and ultimately denouncing her her the prefect of the province. This governor, Martinianus by name, had Barbar cruelly tortured and finally condemned to death by beheading. She held to her faith despite cruel tortures. During the night, the dark prison was bathed in light. Every morning the wounds from her tortures were healed. Torches that were to be used to burn her went out as soon as they came near her her skin.

Most shockingly, Barbara's father, preferring her to die rather than remain a Christian, then carried out the death sentence himself. In punishment for this sin he was struck by lightning on the way home and his body was entirely consumed.

In some versions of her acts, other dramatic details are included. In one, having become a Christian and determined to devote her love to Christ alone, she rejected an offer of marriage that she received through father. In another, when her father discovered that she was a Christian, he immediately intended to kill her, but her prayers created an opening in the tower wall, and she escaped. Pursued by her father and guards, she hid in a mountain gorge. There, she stayed hidden here until a shepherd betrayed her. One legend holds that the shepherd was transformed into a marble statue, and his herd into locusts.

According to one tradition, she died on December 4, 306 in her native Nicomedia, Bithynia, Asia Minor.

Historicity

File:Saint Barbara 2 Zarnowiec.jpg

Saint Barbara being tortured

The legendary character of Barabara's story, coupled with the lack of early evidence for her in the historical record has led both Catholic and secular scholars doubt to doubt the veracity of Barbara's life story and even her existence. There is no mention of her in the earlier martyrologies, and her legend appeared in Christian writings no earlier than the seventh century, a full three centuries after her supposed martyrdom. Her cult did not spread until the ninth cenetury, and versions differ on the location of her martyrdom, which is variously given as Tuscany, Rome, Antioch, Heliopolis, and Nicomedia.

The name "Barbara" literally means "a barbarian woman," a name which no respectable Roman citizen would give to his daughter. Scholars speculate that the name must have been already in use as a given name at the time when the story came into circulation.

Legacy

Barbara as the patron saint of lightening storms

The legend that Barabar's father was struck by lightning caused her to be regarded as the patron saint in time of danger from thunderstorms and fire. To this day, it is to Saint Barabara than many faithful Christians pray to be protected from lightening. She was also called upon as intercessor to assure the receiving of the sacraments of penance and eucharist at the hour of death. Her cult is evidence from the seventh century and she was widely venerated from the ninth century onward.

In 1448 a seemingly miraculous occurrence did much to further the spread of the veneration of the saint. A man named Henry Kock was nearly burnt to death in a fire in the Dutch town of Gorkum. Although badly burned, when called on Saint Barbara for protection, she aided him to escape from the burning house and kept him alive until he could receive the last sacraments.

The legend of Saint Barbara is included in the Golden Legend a collection of dramatic stories of the saints that became a late medieval bestseller, especially after the invention of printing. In art, Saint Barbara is depicted in art as standing by a tower with three windows, carrying a palm branch and a chalice, sometimes with cannons depicted by her side.

Russian Orthodox icon of Saint Barabara

Because of her association with protection from thunder, lightening, and fires, Barbara became the patron saint of artillerymen, as well as armorers, military engineers, gunsmiths, miners and anyone else who worked with cannon and explosives. She may also be venerated by anyone who faces the danger of sudden and violent death in work.

The powder magazine of a ship or fortress is known in Spanish and Italian as a santabárbara. It was formerly customary to have a statue of Saint Barbara stationed at the magazine to protect a ship or fortress from suddenly exploding.

Saint Barbara’s Day, December 4, may be celebrated by many military units with roots in the British Commonwealth. In the US, the Order of Saint Barbara is a military honor society of the US Army and the US Marine Corps Artillery.

There were many churches dedicated to Saint Barabara throughout the world, including one in Moscow next to Saint Basil's Cathedral and in Yaroslavl. The city of Santa Barbara, California, located approximately 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles, is so called because of the Franciscan mission there that was dedicated to her.

Saint Barbara day is celebrated in Lebanon as a Christian Feast similar to the North American Halloween. Many Lebanese Christians believe that Saint Barbara disguised herself in numerous characters to elude the Romans who were persecuting her, giving rise to the Halloween-style tradition there. Although the legend may be contested, it serves as an inspiring story of courage and victory in martyrdom.The traditional food for the occasion is a bowl of boiled barley, pomegranate seeds, and sugar offered to masquerading children (Ref P66 Syria and Lebanon, by Terry Carter).

Caribbean practitioners of the Yoruba traditions from Africa after use Saint Barbara's icon to reprsent the deity known as Shango, a divinity associated with lightening, with great powers of determination and commitment.

Gallery

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  Saint Barbara flees from her father, by Peter Paul Rubens (c. 1620)

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  The Holy Family with Saint Barbara and young Saint John, by Paolo Veronese (c. 1565)

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  Saint Barbara, by Jan van Eyck (c. 1437)

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  Traditional holy card design for Saint Barbara

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  A Greek Orthodox ikon of Saint Barbara.

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  Saint Barbara by Corrado Parducci

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  Saint Barbara (Charles Bridge, Prague) by Jan and Ferdinand Brokoff, 1707

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  Raffael's Madonna and Child with Saint Barbara and Pope Sixtus II

See also

Saint Barbara Portal

Religious

• Fourteen Holy Helpers
• St. Barbara Church (in Bohemia)

Artillery

• Air Defense Artillery
• Artillery
• Oozlefinch
• Field Artillery
• Royal Artillery

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Saint Barbara

• Catholic Forum profile for Saint Barbara
• Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Barbara
• Saint Barbara in Orthodoxy
• Royal Artillery: St Barbara
• United States Field Artillery Association: Saint Barbara
• An image of a 16th century French sculpture of Saint Barbara, holding a tower
• Information on Saint Barbara as patron of Santa Barbara, California
• A Day to Honor Saint Barbara
• Where the tradition of the 'Barbarazweig' comes from

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