Tales of the courageous Lucia of Syracuse were first taken to then pagan land of Sweden by Christian missionaries.
She
became known in Sweden as the Lucia Bride and the tales told that the Lucia
Bride, dressed in white robes and her head adorned by a crown of light, would take
food and drink to the poor early in the morning.
When St. Lucia had her feast day on the shortest day of the year she was known as the queen of light and people believed that she lead the way for the sun to lengthen the days.
During the reign of King Canute, A thousand years ago decreed that Christmas should last for a month.
Beginning
on December 13th, the feast of St. Lucia and ending on January 13th, St. Canute's Day.
The Trent brothers, George and Robert (Ken Tremblett and Eric Close) have their own toy company and they are given just 12 days to make their presentation to toy superstore owner Lawrence Hennessey (Malcolm Stewart) followed by a meal for him and his wife Sheila (Beverley Breuer) at Roberts house.
The
problem is that toy inventor Robert, is a frazzled widower with two young
children, Amelia and Thomas (Trinity Rose Likins and Jesse Filkow), and is
chaotic and disorganised so the prospect of making the deadline are remote.
That
is until a chance encounter in a supermarket with Lydia (Catherine Bell), a
successful professional organizer, who is constantly trying to grow her
business and after he explains about the challenge he faces and only has 12
days to get his life and his business in order, she takes him on.
Lydia
shows Robert that this task goes way deeper than messy junk drawers and
encompasses every aspect of his life.
While
she's intent on helping him straighten out details he had long ignored, Robert teaches
the buttoned-up Lydia that messiness can be a delightful part of life and her ambition
to expand her business takes a back seat to love.
It is ironic that St Lucia of Syracuse revered St. Agatha so and prayed often at her tomb
as
there were many parallels in their lives.
Agatha
was born in Sicily and also belonged to a rich, important family and
dedicated her life to God as a young person, and resisted both marriage and
sex.
Agatha,
Young, beautiful and rich, lived a life consecrated to God and When Decius
announced the edicts against Christians she was brought before the magistrate
Quinctianus who tried to profit by Agatha's sanctity.
He
planned to blackmail her into sex in exchange for not charging her for her beliefs.
she
refused his advances and was imprisoned in a brothel but she refused to accept
customers so she was tortured and even had her breasts cut off then after
further torture she was then rolled on live coals she was later comforted by a
vision of St. Peter when she was near to death then an earthquake stuck and Agatha
thanked God for an end to her pain, and died.
In the cemetery of St. John in Syracuse, Sicily an early inscription to Lucia has recently been discovered.
St Lucia was a virgin martyr and one of the most illustrious figures in the Christian world she was honored in Rome during the 6th century and her relics are preserved in Venice.
