St. Lucy's Day - December 13

Detail, St. Lucy Altarpiece, Veneziano

"This holy woman fought to the death for the law of her God, never cowed by the threats of the wicked; her house was built on solid rock."
--Entrance Antiphon, Mass for St. Lucy's Day, December 13

We haven't made a whole lot of St. Lucy's Day before, but this year, after reading Lucia, Saint of Light, by Katherine Bolger Hyde, the kids and I thought it would be fun to celebrate.


Last night, I baked some Lussekatter: cross-shaped, saffron buns. I had to adjust the recipe for my instant yeast and fresh-ground flour, and I used brown sugar instead of white. Then they didn't rise. Oops! I forgot that I should have dissolved half the sugar with the warm milk and butter. Baked the buns anyway, since I had all the dough. And they were tasty, if a little heavy.


The swirly cross shape fills the plate in a pleasing way.


Surprisingly, we had to wake the kids at 7:00. I was sure they would be up by then! We wanted to eat together before John went to work. He scrambled some eggs to compliment the Lussekatter. We had a little fruit salad left from yesterday's brunch, which made our breakfast complete. And yummy!

As the kids came downstairs, I lit the candles on their rolls.

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We don't have a St. Lucy crown, and Katie was not awake enough to wear a white gown with red sash at 7 a.m. She observed that in Sweden it is dark most of the day at this time of year, so if they get up in the dark, it doesn't necessarily mean it was early; it might be 10:30 in the morning. We'll work on her for next year. ; )

We prayed Morning Prayer for the feast of St. Lucy from my Magnificat. The readings and antiphons are all about eyes, sight, and light, like this antiphon before the Canticle of Mary.

"I shall deliver you from this people to open their eyes that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God."
(cf Acts 26:17-18)

Later in the morning, Matthew cut out a St. Lucy paper doll for Meghan,


and some of us colored in a line drawing of St. Lucy by Matthew Alderman that I found online and printed. Alderman is an architect in Chicago (an alumnus of Notre Dame) and also an artist and blogger.


The older children were only disappointed that she wasn't holding her eyeballs on a plate. It appears that our attempts to instill a Catholic artistic sensibility in them haven't been completely unsuccessful.

Or something.

Meghan's St. Lucy art (line drawing by Matthew Alderman)

Tonight, we are hoping the clouds will have cleared so that we can watch the Geminid meteor shower. Our day will have begun with candlelight and ended with starlight.

"May the eyes of our hearts be enlightened, that we may know what is the hope that belongs to God's call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones. Amen. (cf Eph 1:18)"
--Magnificat, Evening Prayer for December 13

St. Lucy, pray for us.