IT MAKES SENSE TO ME
By Larry Peterson  |
| St. Barabara; Martyr: One of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. Aleteia.org |
St. Barbara was born sometime in the middle of the 3rd century in a place called Heliopolis, a city which today would be located somewhere in Lebanon. Barbara’s pagan father was a rich and influential man, and his name was Dioscorus.
As Barbara grew,
she became more and more beautiful. When her mother passed away, her father became fixated on Barbara and began devoting
himself to her in an ever-increasing and overbearing manner. He decided to hide
her from anyone who did not know her.
Dioscorus built a tower for his daughter, and only her pagan teachers and servants were
allowed to see her. Barbara did have a
view of the surrounding woodlands and would stare at the flowers in the meadows and the running streams. She began to
wonder where they came from. Her reasoning helped her to realize that there must be a First
Cause for such order and beauty.
It followed that
Barbara’s reasoning would take her to
realize that the idols her father and the pagans worshipped were soulless and possessed no power. She knew these ‘things’
could not have created the world she could see. A desire swelled within her to know the real Creator of the world. She
decided to spend her life in a state of virginity and to find this Creator.
Word of the beautiful young woman spread throughout
the city, and many came to ask for her
hand in marriage. Her father wanted her to marry
someone he chose. She begged him to let her live her own life and told him that his persistence would drive them apart.
Dioscorus did not listen. But he did
decide that his keeping her locked in a tower may have caused her to reject a
different lifestyle. He proceeded to give her permission to leave the tower
giving her freedom to choose her friends. Barbara headed into the city and met
some young maidens. These ladies taught her about God and creation and the
Blessed Trinity.
Soon after (and, many believe it was
God’s grace) a priest from Alexandria, disguised as a merchant, arrived in
Heliopolis. He spent time with Barbara instructing her in the Christian faith. Soon
she was baptized, and after that, the priest returned to his own country.
Dioscorus wanted his daughter back
home, so he decided to build her a beautiful house of her own with a huge bathhouse
within. He ordered the bathhouse to have
two windows, but Barbara asked the workers to put in three. She wanted them to
represent the Blessed Trinity. She also carved a cross into the marble wall
near the windows.
Her father was angry at the window being
added, and when Barbara explained why she had done it and how she had become a
Christian believing in the Triune God, Dioscorus was enraged. He grabbed his
sword and was about to strike her with it, but she managed to run away.
He chased after her but she managed
to reach a hill that had a small cave in the side of it, and she hid inside. Her
father, unrelenting, tracked her down, found her, and dragged her from the cave. He handed her
over to Matrianus, who was the head of the local authorities. Barbara was
beaten again and again and during her torment prayed continually for courage
and strength.
Finally, after being beaten and tortured
and still refusing to give in to her father’s demands, Dioscorus took his daughter
out to a field, and with his sword, beheaded his own child. On the way back to
the compound he was struck by a bolt of lightning, and his body was devoured by
flames.
St. Barbara died in the late third
century. Much of what we know about her comes from the book called the Golden Legend (Legenda Sanctorum) written
and compiled by Jacobus de
Varagine. His work was the primary source for acquiring information about
many saints and was used up until the Protestant Reformation when the “new
learning” took hold in theology.
St. Barbara is among those who are
called the Fourteen
Holy Helpers (Aleteia; July 2017) and her protection is
sought against lightning, fire, and
explosions. Her feast day, shared with
others, (including St, Peter Chrysologus and St. John Damascene) is December 4th.
St. Barbara, please
pray for us.
©Larry Peterson 2018
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