ODDS ‘N SODS — Legend of miners’ patron saint

Saint Barbara is the patron saint of miners, among other people. She has her special day on Dec. 4.

I first learned of Saint Barbara from Hans de Ruiter, a Dutch-born mining engineer living in Kirkland Lake, Ont. Just inside the de Ruiter home, there is a striking painted wooden statue about three feet high. The ornate Victorian-era figure is of a young woman with a demurely downcast face. The gilt and bright paint is common to those found in European churches. Meet Saint Barbara. She has a crown, carries a cup and is also distinguished by a sword and a tower in the background. Her story differs according to various references.

According to legend, Barbara lived in Asia Minor and was born in Heliopolis. She is sometimes seen carrying a peacock’s feather. Her birthplace is said to be where the phoenix rejuvenated itself and the peacock was adopted by that city to symbolize the mystic bird.

The story of Barbara was first told by Metaphrastes in the 10th century but has been embellished over the years. The main portions of her life were said to have taken place in Nicodemia under Maximus Thrax.

Barbara, as the legend goes, was a rich, devout girl who angered her father by refusing to marry. She became acquainted with Christianity while he was away on one of his many voyages.

He had built a tower with two windows as her residence. There was a bath house at the base of the tower, and the windows were constructed high enough from the ground level to prevent anyone from seeing his daughter. When the lord of the house was away, Barbara changed final construction plans and prevailed upon the masons to add a third window.

She was baptized shortly after by a Christian priest who visited her tower home for that purpose. Later the young girl traced the outline of a cross on the marble rim of her bath and the shape became permanently grooved in the stone.

When her father returned, he asked at once about the third window. His dutiful daughter told him that the three windows were to signify the Holy Trinity and she had been converted to Christianity. Her father flew into a rage upon learning of her new faith.

Accounts of Barbara vary most in what happened next. Some say she was tortured in a prison for her profession of faith. Others indicate that she was imprisoned by her father. Most accounts agree that she was put to the sword by her father for her conversion. His awful act was avenged at once when a bolt of lightning struck the pagan parent down.

Barbara was later elevated to sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church. Certain symbols are associated with her memory. The tower signifies her imprisonment, the sword the manner of her death, the palm her martyrdom and the peacock feather for the saint’s birth city. She often has a sacramental cup and wafer, the only female so honored.

Saint Barbara grew in popularity over the centuries, for she and the circumstances of her legend appealed to various groups. Stone masons and architects adopted her through the tower incident. The lightning which came as retribution to her murdering father by analogy endeared her as a protector of soldiers, gunsmiths and miners.

In the French navy, the ammunition storage lockers were always called St. Barbe. Common people took consolation in her piety in face of danger and thunderstorms. In countries like Mexico, it has not been uncommon to light candles in her honor at mine sites.

But for all the good will that came Barbara’s way, she was axed from the Canon of Sainthood in company with several other revered historical personages in January, 1970. It seems that the proof for her martyrdom was just too shaky. Even so, on Dec. 4, the anniversary of her death in 306, mining people and some other groups may pause to remember the one who was for so long their patron saint.

— Michael Barnes, resource industry writer, lives in Kirkland Lake, Ont.