Saint of the Month - December 2022: Saint Barbara

St. Barbara, Virgin & Martyr

Towering in Faith

Feast: December 4th

Most frequently, this blog features modern Saints, but this month I felt inspired to write about an ancient one - a Virgin-Martyr, who today, has fallen into obscurity, but was, at one point in time, widely invoked by Catholics.  Her name is St. Barbara and during the Middle Ages she was very popular being that she was ranked amongst the "14 Holy Helpers"; Patron Saints who were frequently called upon by the Faithful against the various challenges and ills of daily life because of their efficacious intercession.  Besides St. Barbara, the list of Helpers included familiar names such as St. Blaise, St. Catherine of Alexandria, St. Christopher, and St. George the Dragon Slayer.

Like many other Virgin-Martyrs of the early Church, Barbara's biography is a tangled mix of facts and legend... but it is none the less fascinating and edifying, with slight variances depending on the source of the story.  This is the gist of her life, based on what I was able to gather from different online sources.

Barbara was the only child of a widower named Dioscorus, a wealthy pagan merchant, who was subject to the Roman Empire during the reign of the Emperor Maximinus.  After her mother died when she was still a young girl, her over-protective father put her in the care of slaves who were secretly Christians.  In raising her, these servants planted the seeds of Faith in Barbara, which under their careful guidance, inspired the girl to fall deeply in love with Christ; leading her to consecrate herself solely to Him, unbeknownest to Dioscorus.

At some point, her father decided to add a tower to his existing villa and had plans drawn up for its construction before leaving for an extended business trip.  Upon his return, Dioscorus was surprised to see the builders had deviated from the blueprint by including a ring of three windows in the tower rather than just the two he originally indicated.  When he angrily demanded an explanation, the workers replied that it was Barbara who had ordered them to do so.  The merchant then confronted his daughter about her meddling and it was then she confessed that she had done so to commemorate and honor the Holy Trinity, which effectively outed her as a Christian.

Infuriated by Barbara's conversion, Dioscorus had her imprisoned in the newly built tower in an effort to force her to abandon Christianity... but Barbara staunchly refused and, with the help of the servants, she managed to escape.  Her father quickly found her, though, after which he denounced her to the local prefect.  The official offered Barbara her freedom if only she would make sacrifices to the Roman gods but the pious maiden rebuked him instead.  What followed next was a round of unsuccessful bribes and intimidations, followed by a public flogging, which Barbara courageously endured to the edification of the crowd, including the hidden Christians.  The terrible ordeal would've killed Barbara, if not for Jesus, who cured her during a miraculous apparition in her prison cell.

When Barbara was next brought before the prefect, all were astounded to see her restored to health and beauty, which prompted many conversions among the pagans.  After bravely rebuking her oppressors, including Dioscorus, Barbara was sentenced to death by beheading.  Her own father reportedly carried out the sentence, likely to save face with his peers, but he was then struck and killed by lighting shortly after the wicked deed.

And so ended the life of Barbara, who was immediately venerated as a Martyr by early Christians.  As mentioned earlier, her once-popular cultus has waned amongst Catholics in these present times... but strong devotion to her endures in the Eastern/Orthodox churches where she is celebrated under the grand title of the "Great Martyr Barbara".  St. Barbara's Feast in the Catholic Church is observed on December 4th.

St. Barbara, Virgin & Martyr,

pray for us!