She was so beautiful, her father was fearful that she be demanded in marriage and taken away from him, so he shut her up in a tower to protect her from the outside world. Shortly before embarking on a journey, he commissioned a sumptuous bathhouse to be built for her, approving the design before he departed. Barbara had heard of the teachings of Christ, and while her father was gone, she spent muc
h time in contemplation. From the windows of her tower, she looked out upon the surrounding countryside and marveled at the growing things; the trees, the animals and the people. She decided that all these must be part of a Master Plan, and that the idols of wood and stone worshiped by her parents must be condemned as false. Gradually she came to accept the Christian faith. As her belief became firm, she directed that the builders redesign the bathhouse her father had planned, adding a third window so that the three windows might symbolize the Holy Trinity. When her father returned, he was enraged at the changes and infuriated when Barbara acknowledged that she was a Christian. He dragged her before the prefect of the province, who decreed that she be tortured and put to death by beheading. Dioscorus dragged her behind a horse to the top of a mountain, and there he beheaded her with his sword. As he did the deed, there was an enormous clap of thunder, he was struck dead by lightning, and his body consumed. Saint Barbara lived and died about the year 300 A.D. She was venerated as early as the 7th Century, and the manner of her father's death caused her to be regarded as the patron saint in time of danger from thunderstorms, fires, and sudden death. When gunpowder made its appearance in the Western world, Saint Barbara was invoked for aid against accidents resulting from explosions, and since early artillery pieces had an unfortunate tendency to explode instead of actually firing the projectile, Saint Barbara became the Patroness of Artillerymen in all of Christendom. Saint Barbara is usually represented standing by a tower with three windows, carrying the palm of a martyr in her hand. Often, too, she holds a chalice and a sacramental wafer and sometimes cannon are displayed near her. In the present calendars, the Feast of Saint Barbara falls on December 4th, and is traditionally recognized by a formal Dining-In or military dinner, often involving presentation of the Order of Saint Barbara.
