The people of Sicily and northern Europe especially remember Saint Lucy as their heavenly patron and friend. I have a particular fondness for her because Saint Lucy is an early martyr of the Church and because an aunt and uncle lived with physical blindness.
We pray at Mass with these words...
May the glorious intercession of the Virgin and Martyr Saint Lucy give heart, we pray, O Lord, so that we may celebrate her heavenly birthday in this present age and so behold things eternal.
Hermina Tharway, 12, prepares for exams at Santa Lucia, a home for blind people in Abou, Egypt (image by Holly Pickett).
The Santa Lucia Home -- named in honor of the patron saint of the blind -- was built with funds from CNEWA's donors and houses ten girls and eight boys from ages 8 to 18. The children do not attend school next door, which is not equipped to teach the blind. Rather, they are enrolled in public programs in other areas of the city. The boys attend El Nour School in Alexandria's Muharram Bey neighborhood, while the girls attend a similar school in the Zizina area.
Sister Souad and her colleague, Sister Hoda Chaker Assal, rouse the children every morning for breakfast, baths and a 7:45 date with the school bus.
"Here we wake them and prepare them for school, we feed them and do their laundry and we tuck them in at night and make sure they get a good rest," says Sister Souad. "It is just like at home."
For more from this story see, Blind to Limitations.
h/t to One to One, the blog of Catholic Near East Welfare Association
Leave a comment