Lucy and Cecilia
Posted by Janette K on February 28, 1998 at 01:30:29:
In response to I'd need to check, written by Janette K on February 27, 1998 at 13:27:37
] ] As far as I know,the patron saint of music is Saint Cecilia and Saint Lucia the patron saint of eyesight.
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] Oh, dear, am I in a muddle? Now I'll need to go do research. But I thought I remembered a poem about St. Lucy at least inventing the organ, and an angel appearing when she played it because from the music, he mistook the place for heaven. If it was St. Cecilia, then I'm all confused. (It's been known to happen.)
Well, Constanza. I did do research and you're right. Cecilia is the patron saint of music, her feast day is November 22, she is traditionally called the inventor of the organ, and the poem I remembered is by John Dryden, and here are the 3 lines I had in mind:
When to her organ vocal breath was given,
An angel heard, and straight appeared,
Mistaking earth for heaven.
So who was St. Lucy? I did research on that, too. She was martyred in the Third Century, for reasons that need not concern us. What is pertinent to the ARWAV discussion are the traditions that grew up around her feast day, December 13. Under the medieval calendar, that was winter solstice, and so was celebrated as the day when the days stopped growing shorter and started growing longer.
Therefore, a lot of festivals related to light -- and by association, sight -- grew up around St. Lucy's Day. In Scandinavian countries, a girl will dress in white and wear a crown with lit candles (!) in it while they sing some traditional song about her. Various celebrations involving candles and lights took place throughout Europe. That is why she's the patron saint of eyesight -- and lamplighters.
Now we can look through ARWAV for references to light and darkness, sight and blindness, day and night, and consider what was EMF's purpose in naming this protaganist "Lucy."
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