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St. Barbara
Born: 3rd C. AD

Died: c.235

Canonized: pre-Congregation

Feast Day: December 4

Patron Saint of: architects, artillerymen, builders, fire prevention, miners, thunder-storms

Virgin and Martyr. There is no reference to St. Barbara contained in the authentic early historical authorities
for Christian antiquity, neither does her name appear in the original recension of St. Jerome's martyrology.
Veneration of the saint was common, however, from the seventh century. At about this date there were in
existence legendary Acts of her martyrdom which were inserted in the collection of Symeon Metaphrastes
and were used as well by the authors (Ado, Usuard, etc.) of the enlarged martyrologies composed during the
ninth century in Western Europe. According to these narratives, which are essentially the same, Barbara
was the daughter of a rich heathen named Dioscorus. She was carefully guarded by her father who kept her
shut up in a tower in order to preserve her from the outside world. An offer of marriage which was received
through him she rejected. Before going on a journey her father commanded that a bath-house be erected for
her use near her dwelling, and during his absence Barbara had three windows put in it, as a symbol of the
Holy Trinity, instead of the two originally intended. When her father returned she acknowledged herself to be
a Christian; upon this she was ill-treated by him and dragged before the prefect of the province, Martinianus,
who had her cruelly tortured and finally condemned her to death by beheading. The father himself carried
out the death-sentence, but in punishment for this he was struck by lightning on the way home and his body
consumed. Another Christian named Juliana suffered the death of a martyr along with Barbara. A pious man
called Valentinus buried the bodies of the saints; at this grave the sick were healed and the pilgrims who
came to pray received aid and consolation. The emperor in whose reign the martyrdom is placed is
sometimes called Maximinus and sometimes Maximianus; owing to the purely legendary character of the
accounts of the martyrdom, there is no good basis for the investigations made at an earlier date in order to
ascertain whether Maximinus Thrax (235-238) or Maximinus Daza (of the Diocletian persecutions), is meant.

The traditions vary as to the place of martyrdom, two different opinions being expressed: Symeon Metaphrastes and the Latin legend given by Mombritius
makes Heliopolis in Egypt the site of the martyrdom, while other accounts, to which Baronius ascribes more weight, give Nicomedia. In the "Martyrologium
Romanum parvum" (about 700), the oldest martyrology of the Latin Church in which her name occurs, it is said: "In Tuscia Barbarae virginis et martyris", a
statement repeated by Ado and others, while later additions ot the martyrologies of St. Jerome and Bede say "Romae Barbarae virginis" or "apud
Antiochiam passio S. Barbarae virg.". These various statement prove, however, only the local adaptation of the veneration of the saintly martyr concerning
whom there is no genuine historical tradition. It is certain that before the ninth century she was publicly venerated both in the East and in the West, and
that she was very popular with the Christian populace. The legend that her father was struck by lightning caused her, probably, to be regarded by the
common people as the patron saint in time of danger from thunder-storms and fire, and later by analogy, as the protector of artillerymen and miners. She
was also called upon as intercessor to assure the receiving of the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Eucharist at the hour of death. An occurrence of the
year 1448 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 at Gorkum; he called
on St. Barbara, to whom he had always shown great devotion. She aided him to escape from the burning house and kept him alive until he could receive
the last sacraments. A similar circumstance is related in an addition to the "Legenda aurea". In the Greek and present Roman calendars the feast of St.
Barbara falls on 4 December, while the martyrologies on the ninth century, with exception of Rabanus Maurus, place it on 16 December. St. Barbara has
often been depicted in art; she is represented standing in a tower with three windows, carrying the palm of a martyr in her hand; often also she holds a
chalice and sacramental wafer; sometimes cannon are displayed near her.

[ Source: The Catholic Encyclopedia ]

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