St. Barbara

Barbara was the beautiful daughter of a rich pagan named Dioscorus, who shut her in a tower to keep her from the world. While he was away she became a Christian and had a third window cut in the bath-house he was building, in honour of the Holy Trinity. When she would not deny Christ, her father handed her over to be tortured, and then he beheaded her with his own hand. On his way home, the story says, he was struck dead by lightning. She is invoked against sudden death.

• Feast: December 4 (New Calendar)
• Lived: died c. 306
• Place: Heliopolis, Phoenicia