Barbara, a virgin of Nicomedia, the daughter of Dioscorus, a nobleman but a superstitious pagan, came readily, by the assistance of divine grace, from the contemplation of the visible things of creation to the knowledge of the invisible. Wherefore, she devoted herself to God alone and to the things of God. Her father, desirous to preserve her from all danger of insult to which he feared her great beauty might expose her, shut her up in a tower. There the pious virgin passed her days in meditation and prayer, studying to please God alone, whom she had chosen as her Spouse. She courageously rejected several offers of marriage which were made to her through her father by rich nobles.
But her father hoped that by separating himself by a long absence from his child, her intentions would easily change. He first ordered that a bath should be built for her in the tower so that she might want for nothing, and then he set out on a journey into distant countries. During her father’s absence, Barbara ordered that to the two windows already in the tower a third should be added, in honour of the Blessed Trinity, and that on the edge of the bath the sign of the most holy Cross should be drawn. When Dioscorus returned home and saw these changes, and was told their meaning, he became so incensed against Barbara that he went in search of her with a naked sword in his hand and, but for the protection of God, he would cruelly have murdered her.
Barbara had taken to flight: an immense rock opened before her, and she found a path by which she reached the top of a mountain, and there she hid herself in a cave. Not long after, however, she was discovered by her unnatural father, who savagely kicked and struck her, and dragging her by the hair over the sharp rocks, and rugged ways, he handed her over to the governor Marcian, that he might punish her. He, therefore, having used every means to shake her constancy, and finding that all was in vain, gave orders that she should he stripped and scourged with thongs, the wounds to be then scraped with potsherd, and so dragged to prison. There Christ, surrounded by an immense light, appearing to her, strengthened her in a divine manner for the sufferings she was yet to endure.
A matron named Juliana who witnessed this was converted to the faith and became her companion in the palm of martyrdom. At length Barbara had her body torn with iron hooks, her sides burnt with torches, and her head bruised with mallets. During these tortures she consoled her companion and exhorted her to fight manfully to the last. Both of them had their breasts cut off, were dragged naked through the streets and beheaded. The head of Barbara was cut off by her own father, who in his excessive wickedness had hardened his heart thus far. But his ferocious cruelty was not long left unpunished, for instantly and on the very spot, he was struck dead by lightning.
The Emperor Justinus had the body of this most holy virgin translated from Nicomedia to Constantinople. It was afterwards obtained by the Venetians from the Emperors Constantine and Basil, and having been translated from Constantinople to Venice, was deposited with great solemnity in the Basilica of Saint Mark. Lastly, at the earnest request of the Bishop of Torcello and his sister who was abbess, it was translated in 1009 to the Conventual Church of Saint John the Evangelist in the diocese of Torcello, where it was placed in a worthy sepulchre, and from that time has never ceased to be the object of most fervent veneration.
Dom Prosper Guéranger:
Although in the Roman Liturgy Saint Barbara is merely commemorated in the Office of Saint Peter Chrysologus, yet the Church has approved an entire Office for the use of those Churches which honour the memory of this illustrious Virgin in a special manner. The Legend although of considerable weight, has not consequently the authority of those which are promulgated for the use of the whole Church in the Roman Breviary. Let us not, on this account, be the less fervent in honouring this glorious Martyr, so celebrated in the East and whose feast has been for so many ages admitted, with more or less solemnity, into the Roman Church. The Acts of her martyrdom, though not of the highest antiquity, contain nothing in them but what redounds to the glory of God and the honour of the Saint. We have already shown the liturgical importance which attaches to Saint Barbara in the season of Advent. Let us admire the constancy with which this Virgin waited for her Lord, who came at the appointed hour, and was for her, as the Scripture speaks, a Spouse of blood, because He put the strength of her love of Him to the severest of all tests.
*****
The courageous Virgin of Nicomedia is invoked in the Church against lightning on account of the punishment inflicted by divine justice on her execrable father. This same incident of the Saint’s history has suggested several Catholic customs: thus, her name is sometimes given to the hold of men-of-war where the ammunition is stowed. She is the Patroness of artillery-men, miners, etc and she is invoked by the faithful against the danger of a sudden death.
*****
To the voice of so many Churches we join ours, O faithful Virgin! And though we are unworthy, yet do we offer you our praise and our prayers. Behold our Lord comes, and the darkness of the night is upon us. Give to our lamp both the light which will guide us, and the oil which will keep in the light. You know that He who came for love of you and with whom you are now united for all eternity, is coming to visit us too. Pray for us that nothing may keep us from receiving Him. May we go towards Him courageously and swiftly as you did, and being once with Him, may we never be separated from Him again, for He is the centre where we creatures find our only rest. Pray also, glorious Martyr, that the faith in the Blessed Trinity may be ever increasing in this world. May our enemy, Satan, be confounded by every tongue’s confessing the Threefold light and the triumphant Cross which sanctifies the waters of Baptism. Remember, O blessed Barbara, Spouse of Jesus, that He has put in your gentle hands the power not of burling but of staying and averting the thunderbolt. Protect our ships against the fires of heaven and of war. Shield by your protection the arsenals where are placed the defence of our country. Hear the prayers of them that invoke you, whether in the fierceness of the storm, or in the dark depths of the earth, and save us all from the awful chastisement of a sudden death.Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:
At Constantinople, the saints Theophanes and his companions.
In Pontus, blessed Meletius, bishop and confessor, who joined to an eminent gift of knowledge the more distinguished glory of fortitude and integrity of life.
At Bologna, St. Felix, bishop, who previously had been deacon of the church of Milan under St. Ambrose.
In England, St. Osmund, bishop and confessor.
At Cologne, St. Annan, bishop.
In Mesopotamia, St. Maruthas, bishop, who restored the churches of God that had been ruined in Persia by the persecution of king Isdegerdes. Being renowned for many miracles, he merited to be honoured even by his enemies.
At Parma, St. Bernard, cardinal and bishop of that city. He belonged to the Congregation of Vallumbrosa, of the Order of St. Benedict.
And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.
Thanks be to God.
