According to the legend in its best-known version, Saint Barbara was born in Nicomedia, daughter of a satrap named Dioscuri, who locked her in a tower with two windows in order to shield her from any attack by Christian propaganda.
Some argue that Saint Barbara is from Baalbeck and that the story of his martyrdom took place in this city; however, this information is not confirmed. Converted to Christianity despite her father’s precautions, she had a third window opened in her tower, to represent the Holy Trinity. Hearing the news of his conversion, his father, furious, demands his death, and makes him undergo all kinds of torture. Some traditions report that in trying to flee, a boulder miraculously splits in front of her, allowing her to flee from the hands of her torturers. She ends up dying beheaded by her father, who in turn dies struck by lightning.
Its cult spread to the East, then to the West in the 15th century. In the Churches of the East, it is also celebrated and represented with Saint Juliana where they are displayed together in the iconography. Saint Barbara is represented with a tower with three windows, often wearing the crown of martyrdom or holding a cross or palm also symbolizing his martyrdom, and carrying a ciborium.
The existence of Sainte Barbe is however subject to controversy, as to its historicity. Some claim that it is more of a fantasy, and others confirm its existence and its cult which dates back to the dawn of Christianity. Because of these hesitations, and the lack of precision in the various accounts reported on its history, and the inaccuracy in space and time of the unfolding of the facts, the Catholic Church no longer officially celebrates Saint Barbara.
On February 14, 1969, Pope Paul IV published his Motu proprio “Mysterii paschalis”, a sort of new calendar addressed to the universal Church, in which – among other things – he reduced the number of feasts of saints, including the historicity is not confirmed. Holy Beard is thus removed from the general Roman calendar, but appears there in the category of “Own” (special celebrations for a specific Christian community), the Saints celebrated in Lebanon.
By Marie-Josée Rizkallah
Bibliographical references
DUCHET-SUCHAUX Gaston, PASTOUREAU Michel, The Bible and the Saints , Flammarion, Paris, 1994.
HADJITHOMAS MEHANNA Tania, KASSATLY Houda, Lebanon & On, Tamyras, Beirut, 2010.
MOUBARAC Youakim, Antiochian Pentalogy, Domaine Maronite, v. 1, t. 2, Lebanese Cenacle, Beirut, 1984.
SAUMA Victor, In the footsteps of the Saints in Lebanon, t. 1., FMA, Lebanon, 1994.
