Saint Barbara is often portrayed with miniature chains and a tower to symbolize her father imprisoning her. As one of theFourteen Holy Helpers, Barbara is a popular saint, perhaps best known as thepatroness saint ofarmourers,artillerymen,military engineers, miners and others who work with explosives because of her legend's association withlightning.
She is also a patroness saint ofmathematicians. A 15th-century French version of her story credits her with thirteen miracles, many of which reflect the security she offered that her devotees would not die before getting to make confession and receivingextreme unction.[2]
Despite the legends detailing her story, the earliest references to her supposed 3rd-century life do not appear until the 7th century, and veneration of her was common, especially in the East, from the 9th century.[2] Because of doubts about the historicity of her legend,[3][4] she was removed from theGeneral Roman Calendar in the1969 revision, though not from the Catholic Church's list of saints.[5]
According to thehagiographies,[2][6] Barbara was born either inHeliopolis or inNicomedia,[7] the daughter of a richpagan named Dioscorus who carefully guarded her, keeping her locked up in a tower to preserve her from the outside world. After she secretly became a Christian, she rejected an offer of marriage that she received through her father.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13]
Before departing on a journey, Barbara's father commanded that a privatebath-house be erected for her use near her dwelling, and during his absence, she had three windows put in it as a symbol of theHoly Trinity, instead of the two originally intended. When her father returned, she acknowledged herself to be a Christian. Dragged before the prefect of the province, Martinianus, who had her cruelly tortured, Barbara held true to her Christian faith. During the night, the dark prison was bathed in light and new miracles occurred. Every morning, her wounds were healed. Torches that were to be used to burn her went out as soon as they came near her. Finally, she was condemned to death bybeheading. Her father himself carried out the death sentence; however, aspunishment, he was struck by lightning on the way home and his body was consumed by flame. Barbara was buried by a Christian, Valentinus, and her tomb became the site of miracles. Old French accounts include many additional colorful interpretations of these events.[2]
The name of Saint Barbara was known in Rome in the 7th century;[2] hercult can be traced to the 9th century, at first in the East. Since there is no mention of her in the earliermartyrologies, her historicity is considered doubtful.[14]
Saint Barbara is one of theFourteen Holy Helpers. Her association with the lightning that killed her father has caused her to be invoked against lightning and fire; by association with explosions, she is also the patroness ofartillery andmining.[17]
Her feast, 4 December, was introduced in Rome in the 12th century and included in theTridentine calendar. In 1729, that date was assigned to the celebration of SaintPeter Chrysologus, reducing that of Saint Barbara to a commemoration in hisMass.[6]: 98 In 1969, it was removed from that calendar, because the accounts of her life and martyrdom were judged to be entirely fabulous, lacking clarity even about the place of her martyrdom.[6]: 147 However, she is still mentioned in theRoman Martyrology,[18] which, in addition, lists another ten martyr saints named Barbara.
Saint Barbara is venerated by Catholics who face the danger of sudden and violent death at work. She is invoked against thunder and lightning and all accidents arising from explosions of gunpowder.[20][21] She became the patroness saint ofartillerymen, armourers, military engineers, gunsmiths, and anyone else who worked with cannon and explosives.[22][23] Following the widespread adoption of gunpowder in mining in the 1600s, she was adopted as the patroness of miners, tunnellers,[17] and other underground workers. As the geology and mine engineering developed in association with mining, she became patroness of these professions.
The Spanish wordsantabárbara, the corresponding Italian wordsantabarbara, and the obsolete FrenchSainte-Barbe, signify thepowder magazine of a ship or fortress.[24] It was customary to have a statue of Saint Barbara at the magazine to protect the ship or fortress from suddenly exploding.[24] Saint Barbara is the patroness of theItalian Navy.[20][23]
Within the tunneling industry, as a long-standing tradition, one of the first tasks for each new tunnelling project is to establish a small shrine to Santa Barbara at the tunnel portal or at the underground junction into long tunnel headings. This is often followed with a dedication and an invocation to Santa Barbara for protection of all who work on the project during the construction period.[25][26]
The church atHMS Excellent (also known as Whale Island) Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, the former Gunnery School of the Royal Navy, is called St. Barbara's.
Saint Barbara was also the Patroness saint of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps of the British Army, a church being dedicated to her, initially at Hilsea Barracks Portsmouth, and later being moved to Backdown in Surrey, when the Corps moved its training establishment there.Saint Barbara's Day, 4 December, is celebrated by the British (Royal Artillery, RAF Armourers, Royal Engineers), Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Armourers, Australian (Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery, RAAF Armourers), Canadian (Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technicians (EOD), Canadian Ammunition Technicians, Canadian Air Force Armourers,Royal Canadian Artillery, Canadian Military Field Engineers, Royal Canadian Navy Weapons Engineering Technicians), and New Zealand (RNZN Gunners Branch,RNZA,Royal New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps, RNZAF Armourers) armed forces.[citation needed]
Badge of the Irish Artillery Corps
TheIrish Army venerates her as the patroness saint of theArtillery Corps where she appears on the corps insignia, half dressed, holding a harp, sitting on a field cannon.
Saint Barbara is recognized as the patroness saint of the field artillerymen of theMarine Corps 1st Marine Division, who commemorate Saint Barbara's Day with a dinner and the traditional preparation artillery punch.[27] Saint Barbara is the patroness saint of the United States Field Artillery Association. To recognize the vital roles spouses and families play in the lives of field artillery soldiers and marines, the units celebrate Saint Barbara's Day with military balls or dinners and other activities.[28] Although they do not celebrate her saint's day, she is also the patroness saint of US Navy and Marine Corps Aviation Ordnancemen.[citation needed] It is celebrated by theNorwich University Artillery Battery with a nighttime fire mission featuring multipleM116 howitzers.[citation needed]
Several mining institutions also celebrate it, such as some branches of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.[citation needed] The West Australian Mining Club celebrate Saint Barbara's Day and use it to remember those people who have died working in the mining industry during the year.[citation needed]
In the mining townKalgoorlie, Australia, as patroness saint ofminers she is venerated in the annual St. Barbara's Day parade.[29][30] In New Zealand the Moawhango Tunnel on theTongariro Power Scheme was built by Italian tunnellers and commissioned on 4 December 1979.[31][32]
In Germany,Barbarazweig is the custom of bringing branches into the house on December 4 to bloom on Christmas.[33] Saint Barbara is revered as a patroness saint of miners and in extension, the geosciences in general, including the tunneling industry.[34][35] This connection is particularly strong in the Catholic areas of Germany, as for exampleBavaria. Some university geology departments hold annual 'Barbarafests' if not on the 4th then the closest Friday,[36] or withinBaden-Württemberg, seeUniversity of Tübingen,[37]University of Freiburg[38] orUniversity of Bonn[39] or applied geosciences of theTechnische Universität Darmstadt inHesse.[40]
In theCzech Republic, a statue of Saint Barbara is placed near the future tunnel portal during the groundbreaking ceremony of most major tunneling projects, owing to her being the patroness saint of miners.[41] In the town ofKutná Hora, a former silver mining center, the cathedral is dedicated to Saint Barbara.[42]
Barbórka, Saint Barbara parade of miners inPiekary Śląskie, Silesia
In Poland, the salt mine atWieliczka honours Saint Barbara in Saint Kinga's chapel.[43]
In France, due to the historic link between the firefighters and the military sappers, Saint Barbara is also the patroness of firefighters and has thus been celebrated by fire services throughout the country on December 4 since theThird Republic.[44]
The Spanish military artillerymen, mining engineers and miners also venerate her as patroness saint. Parades, masses, dinners and other activities are held in her honour.[citation needed]
A portion of the coast ofCalifornia, now occupied by the city ofSanta Barbara, California and located approximately 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles, is named after her.[45] The City of Santa Barbara got its name from the early Spanish navigatorJuan Rodríguez Cabrillo. On December 4, the explorer stopped at a particular place on the California coast. He chose to name the spot after the patron of that day, Saint Barbara.[46] ACatholic missionary church, theMission Santa Barbara, was founded there on her feast day in 1786, and is one of the twenty-one such churches that were operated by the Franciscan Order and collectively known as theCalifornia missions. ThePresidio of Santa Barbara was built in 1782, with the mission of defending the Second Military District in Spanish California.Santa Barbara County was one of the twenty-seven original counties of California, formed in 1850 at the time of statehood.[47] The county's territory was later divided to createVentura County in 1873.[48]
InGeorgia, Saint Barbara's Day is celebrated asBarbaroba on December 17 (which is December 4 in theold style calendar).[56] The traditional festive food islobiani, bread baked with a bean stuffing.
In Greece and Cyprus, the day is celebrated by the Artillery Corps of theGreek Army and theCypriot National Guard. Artillery camps throughout the two countries host celebrations in honor of the saint, whereloukoumades, a traditional sweet, are offered to soldiers and visitors, supposedly because they resemble cannonballs.[57] Saint Barbara is also the patroness saint of the northern Greek city ofDrama, where a sweet calledvarvara, which resembles a more liquid form ofkoliva, is prepared and consumed on her feast day.[citation needed]
InNorth Macedonia Saint Barbara's day is celebrated by theEastern Orthodox, asВарвара(Varvara) on 17 December. Some Macedonians celebrate with their closest family and friends at home, while others refrain, believing that people who step in their house on Saint Barbara's day will give them either good or bad luck for the rest of the year.[citation needed]
The United States Army Field Artillery Association and the United States Army Air Defense Artillery Association maintain theOrder of Saint Barbara as an honorary military society of the United States Army Field Artillery and the United States Army Air Defense Artillery. Members of both the United States Army and United States Marine Corps, along with their military and civilian supporters, are eligible for membership.[28]
In many mining communities, families follow the custom of the "Barbara branch". On December 4 cherry tree sprigs are cut and placed in a vase filled with water close to the light. After about 21 days, these branches blossom. In theWesterwald, the Barbara sprigs were regarded as a symbol of Christmas.[59]
The feast of Santa Barbara is the main religious feast ofPaternò, in the province of Catania, dedicated to Santa Barbara, the patroness saint of the city, originally from Nicomedia, in Bithynia (current İzmit in Turkey) and martyred according to tradition in 306 by father Dioscuro.
The event takes place annually on 3, 4, 5 and 11 December, 27 May and 27 July. 4 December represents the date of the martyrdom of the saint, 27 May is the feast of the patronage of Santa Barbara during which the miracle of the stopping of the eruption ofEtna in 1780 is remembered, while 27 July is the feast of the arrival of the relics that were brought to Paternò in 1576.[60][61]
The Feast of Saint Barbara, is celebrated amongst Middle Eastern Christians in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, and Turkey (Hatay Province).[62]
Eid il-Burbara orSaint Barbara's day is celebrated inLebanon,Syria,Jordan,Palestine,Israel, andHatay Province amongArab Christians annually on December 4, in a feast day similar to that of North American Halloween.[63][64] The traditional food for the occasion isBurbara, a bowl of boiledwheat,barley,pomegranate seeds, raisins,anise and sugar. ShreddedCoconut,Walnuts oralmonds can be added.[65][66] The general belief amongLebanese Christians is that Saint Barbara disguised herself in numerous characters to elude the Romans who were persecuting her, and the tradition states that when the saint was escaping from the army of the pagan king inBaalbek, she passed in a field of wheat, and the wheat grew miraculously in order to hide her footprints from the soldiers, and this is the reason of serving the traditional wheat dessert on the feast day. In the Christian village ofAboud in theWest Bank, there is a shrine in a cave that the saint reportedly took refuge in.[67] It may also be celebrated on December 17 (which is December 4 in theJulian Calendar).
Major Barbara,The Court Theatre 1904–1907 (1907)Painting depicting SaintClare of Assisi, theVirgin Mary as the Madonna of Ears and Saint Barbara
The name of thebarbiturate family of pharmaceutical drugs is believed to derive from the suggestion by an artilleryman commemorating the feast of Saint Barbara in 1864, whom the chemistAdolf von Baeyer encountered at a local tavern whilst celebrating his recent discovery of the parent compound.[68]
St. Faustina wrote that St. Barbara appeared to her on 22 August 1937. "This morning, Saint Barbara, Virgin, visited me and recommended that I offer Holy Communion for 9 days on behalf of my country and thus appease God's anger. This virgin was wearing a crown made of stars and was holding a sword in her hand...With her white dress and her flowing hair, she was so beautiful that if I had not already known the Virgin Mary I would have thought that it was she. Now I understand that each virgin has a special beauty all her own; a distinct beauty radiates from each of them."[69]
Saint Barbara is mentioned in Thomas Pynchon's novelAgainst the Day. The December fourth holiday is compared to the Fourth of July, as being more celebrated by the Dynamiters.[citation needed] She is also mentioned inFederico García Lorca's playLa Casa de Bernarda Alba (1936). According to this drama, a popular Spanish phrase regarding this saint in the early 20th century was:"Blessed Santa Barbara, your story is written in the sky, with paper and holy water."
The first Spanish-languagetelenovela filmed in colour for TV in the US was the 1973 production ofSanta Bárbara, Virgen y Mártir, filmed entirely on location inHialeah, Florida.[citation needed]
G. K. Chesterton wrote the Ballad of Saint Barbara,[70] interweaving the Legend of the Saint with the contemporary account of the huge artillery barrages that turned theFirst Battle of the Marne.
Major Barbara is a play byGeorge Bernard Shaw in which the title character, an officer in theSalvation Army, grapples with the moral dilemma of whether this Christian denomination should accept donations from her father, who is an armaments manufacturer.[71]
In "Time Bomb", an episode ofThe Closer, the LAPD deploy a bomb-squad robot named Babs, after St. Barbara in her role as patroness saint of artillery and explosives personnel.[citation needed]
Saint Barbara's story is mentioned in a live version of The Hold Steady's song "Don't Let Me Explode" from Lollapalooza.
The original play "Hala and the King"هالة والملك (مسرحية) of theRahbani brothers starringFairuz is based on the traditional celebrations of the Saint Barbara Feast in Lebanon, the songs of the first act use the same musical rhyme used by the children until today during the feast, and the concept of costumes in the play is based on the local practices during the feast.
^abcdeHarry F. Williams, "Old French Lives of Saint Barbara"Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society119.2 (16 April 1975:156–185), with extensive bibliography.
^Medieval historian Norman F. Cantor referred to Barbara in passing as "entirely mythical', inIn the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World It Made 2002:84
^Kirsch, Johann Peter"St. Barbara."The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907
^abSigns and Symbols in Christian Art, Oxford University Press, G. Ferguson, 1959, p. 107.
^Ulysses Annotated: Notes for James Joyce's Ulysses, D. Gifford, Robert J. Seidman, University of California Press, 2008,ISBN0520253973, p. 527.
^A Cultural Encyclopedia of Lost Cities and Civilizations, ABC-CLIO, Michael Shally-Jensen, Anthony Vivian, 2022, p. 55.
^The Descent of the Soul and the Archaic Katábasis and Depth Psychology, Leslie Gardner, Paul Bishop, Terence Dawson, Taylor & Francis, 2022,ISBN9781000656619, p. 136.
^Alexander Joseph Denomy, "An old French life of Saint Barbara",Medieval Studies1 (1939:148–78) publishes a 13th- or 14th-century poem in octasyllabic couplets; Wilhelm Weyh,Die syrische Barbara-Legende (Schweinfurt, 1912), concludes that the firstlegenda was in Greek.
^B. de GaiffierAnalecta bollandiana77 (1959)5–41, suggests that theLegenda Aurea version was inspired by one from the late 15th-century Augustinian Jean de Wackerzeele, also known as Jean de Louvain (noted by Williams 1975:1758 note 17).
^Bulfinch, (2001).One Hundred Saints. Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Brown and Company.
^Martin, John E., ed. (1998).People, politics and power stations: electric power generation in New Zealand 1880–1998. Wellington, NZ: Electricity Corporation of New Zealand. p. 232.ISBN978-0-908912-98-8.OCLC931064862.
^Pfannkuch, H.O. (15 March 2013). "Medieval Saint Barbara Worship and Professional Traditions in Early Mining and Applied Earth Sciences".American Geophysical Union publication: Medieval Saint Barbara Worship and Professional Traditions in Early Mining and Applied Earth Science. History of Geophysics. American Geophysical Union. pp. 39–48.doi:10.1029/HG003p0039.ISBN978-1-118-66539-8.
^Institut für Angewandte Geowissenschaften der Technischen Universität Darmstadt. (7 December 2018)."Barbarafeier am 07.12.18 im Schlosskeller".dubistgeologie.wordpress.com. Retrieved3 December 2018.
^https://www.president.gov.ua/documents/8832019-30901 DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE №883/2019 "...1. To assign to the 19th missile brigade of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine the honorary title "Saint Barbara" and further to name it – the 19th missile brigade "Saint Barbara" of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine."
^Gervers, Michael; Bikhazi, Ramzi Jibran (1990).Conversion and Continuity: Indigenous Christian Communities in Islamic Lands Eighth to Eighteenth Centuries. Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies.ISBN9780888448095.
^Ruben, Don (1999).World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre Volume 4: The Arab World. Routledge.ISBN9780415865364.
^Kowalska, Saint Maria Faustina (2022).Divine Mercy in My Soul: Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska (3rd revised ed.). Stockbridge, Massachusetts:Marian Press. pp. 452, paragraph 1251.ISBN978-1-59614-110-0.
^Albert, Sidney P. (May 1968). ""In More Ways than One": "Major Barbara"'s Debt to Gilbert Murray".Educational Theatre Journal.20 (2):123–140.doi:10.2307/3204896.JSTOR3204896.
Drolet, Jean-Paul (1990).Sancta Barbara, Patron Saint of Miners: An Account Drawn from Popular Traditions. Québec: J.-P. Drolet.OCLC20756409.
Graffy de Garcia, Erin (1999).Saint Barbara: The Truth, Tales, Tidbits, and Trivia of Santa Barbara's Patron Saint. Santa Barbara, California: Kieran Pub. Co.ISBN9780963501813.
Haas, Capistran J. (1988).Saint Barbara, Her Story. Santa Barbara, California: Old Mission.OCLC183447944.
Holy Great Martyr Saint Barbara: Who Was Killed by Her Own Father for Her Faith in Christ. Lives of saints, v. 5. St Marys, N.S.W.: Holy Dormition Sisterhood. 2004.OCLC224359179.
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