Today (December 4th) is the Feast of St. Barabara, Virgin and Martyr. The Pictorial Lives of the Saints (Shea, J.G., 1887) recounts her story here:
"ST. BARBARA was brought up a heathen. A tyrannical father, Dioscorus, had kept her jealously secluded in a lonely tower which he had built for the purpose. Here, in her forced solitude, she gave herself to prayer and study, and contrived to receive instruction and baptism by stealth from a Christian priest. Dioscorus, on discovering his daughter’s conversion, was beside himself with rage. He himself denounced her before the civil tribunal. Barbara was horribly tortured, and at last was beheaded, her own father, merciless to the last, acting as her executioner. God, however, speedily punished her persecutors. While her soul was being borne by angels to Paradise, a flash of lightning struck Dioscorus, and he was hurried before the judgment-seat of God."
Tradition has it that while St. Barbara was captive in the tower she kept a branch of cherry tree which she watered and tended to. On the day of her martyrdom, it blossomed! A beautiful Advent tradition stemmed from this and is usually (but not necessarily) reserved for the unmarried members of a household:
"On the fourth of December, unmarried members of the household are supposed to go out into the orchard and cut twigs from the cherry trees and put them into water. There is an old belief that whoever's cherry twig blossoms on Christmas Day can expect to get married in the following year. As most of us are always on tour at this time of the year, someone at home will be commissioned to "cut the cherry twigs." These will be put in a vase in a dark corner, each one with a name tag, and on Christmas Day they will be eagerly examined; and even if they are good for nothing else, they provide a nice table decoration for the Christmas dinner." - ʻAround the Year with the TRAPP FAMILYʻ, Maria Augusta Trapp, 1955. Pantheon Books
image from the 'Public domain' {{PD-Art}} .San Clemente de Roma
image from The Pictorial Lives of the Saints (Shea, J.G., 1887). Public Domain
