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Saint Barbara
Popular devotion December 4Virgin and martyr

Saint Barbara

The young martyr locked in a tower by her father, patron of firefighters, artillery and miners.

Jan van Eyck, Saint Barbara, 1437 · Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) (public domain)

Who was Saint Barbara?

An ancient legend says Barbara lived in the 3rd century in the Eastern Roman Empire. Her pagan father locked her in a tower, where she became a Christian and had a third window built to honor the Holy Trinity. Her father put her to death himself and was then struck by lightning. She is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. Saint John Damascene is also remembered today.

Feast day and traditions

A lovely custom is to cut cherry or fruit-tree branches on her feast and keep them in water so that they bloom by Christmas. She is the patron of US Army and Marine artillery, whose Order of Saint Barbara honors soldiers, and London's Crossrail tunnelers kept her statue at every dig.

Prayer

St. Barbara, protect us from storms and sudden danger, and keep watch over those whose work puts them at risk. Amen.

Novena

To pray a novena that ends on the eve of the feast, begin on November 25 and finish on December 3.

Mass readings

Read the Mass readings for December 4 from the US bishops (USCCB).

Open readings →

Celebrate as a family

Cut a cherry or forsythia branch and put it in water so it blooms by Christmas.

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