![[Saint Barbara holy card]](saintb01.jpg "20kb jpg holy card of Saint Barbara, artist unknown; if you have information on this image, please email me; please do not write to ask about the image")
4 December removed from revised Roman calendar and cultus suppressed in 1969
Her father denounced her to the local authorities for her faith, and they ordered him to kill her. She escaped, but he caught her, dragged her home by her hair, tortured her, and killed her. He was immediately struck by lightning, or according to some sources, fire from heaven.
Her imprisonment led to her association with towers, then the construction and maintenance of them, then to their military uses. The lightning that avenged her murder led to asking her protection against fire and lightning, and her patronage of firefighters, etc. Her association with things military and with death that falls from the sky led to her patronage of all things related to artillery, and her image graced powder magazines and arsenals for years. One of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.
While there were undoubtedly beautiful converts named Barbara, this saint is legend, and her cultus developed when pious fiction was mistaken for history.
against death by artillery against explosions against fire against impenitence against lightning against mine collapse against storms Amaroni, Italy ammunition magazines ammunition workers architects armourers artillery artillerymen Barbara, Italy boatmen bomb technicians brass workers brewers builders carpenters Colleferro, Italy construction workers dying people explosives workers fire prevention firefighters fireworks fireworks manufacturers fortifications founders geologists gravediggers gunners hatmakers hatters lightning mariners martyrs masons mathematicians military engineers milliners miners Montecatini Terme, Italy ordnance workers prisoners safety from storms sailors saltpetre workers Santa Barbara, California smelters stone masons stonecutters storms sudden death Syria tilers Toa Alto, Puerto Rico warehouses watermen
cannon chalice host princess in a tower with either the palm of martyrdom or chalice of happy death woman holding a tower or feather woman trampling a Saracen palm of martyrdom tower
Catholic Encyclopedia Catholics in the Military Google Directory New Catholic Dictionary Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints, by Matthew Bunson, Margaret Bunson, and Stephen Bunson