December 13th is the Feast Day of Santa Lucia, the patron saint of opticians and of people suffering from problems with their sight. St Lucy was a Virgin martyr of Syracuse, who died, circa 304, during the Emperor Diocletian's persecution of the Christians. In art her most common attribute is a pair of eyes, which lie on a dish or sprout like flowers from a stalk in her hand. According to legend, St Lucy, who wanted to dedicate her life to Christ, plucked out her eyes and sent them to a particularly importunate suitor, who would not cease from praising their beauty. God rewarded her with a new pair. There is a fine statue of St Lucy, the work of Innocenzo Spinazzi and Ferdinando Lisandroni, in the 18th century church of Santa Lucia del Gonfalone. On her head is a coronal of roses. She holds a palm frond (a symbol of martyrdom) in her right hand and in her left she has a metal dish bearing a pair of eyes. Comments are closed.
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My name is David Lown and I am an art historian from Cambridge, England. Since 2001 I have lived in Italy, where I run private walking tours of Rome.
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