Daily Reading for December 13 • Lucy (Lucia), Martyr at Syracuse, 304

Sun from the world has gone;
Cold is the night and still.
Night covers all the land;
Listen! the silence rings:
Fled is the light of dawn;
Now in each quiet room
Forests in darkness stand.
Whispers as if from wings
Then in our darkened home
Look! In her pure white gown,
Candlelight quickly shown:
Candles, her radiant crown,
Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia.
Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia.

Now must the darkness fly,
Light once again will live.
These are her tidings high,
This is the pledge she gives:
Day shall again arise
Out of the dawning skies,
Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia.

From the St. Lucia Liturgy of the Swedish Lutheran Church, translated and quoted in Stars in a Dark World: Stories of the Saints and Holy Days of the Liturgy by Fr. John-Julian, OJN (Denver: Outskirts Press, 2009).