Saint Barbara -Santa Barbara dei Librai - Roma, Italy
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denben
N 41° 53.688 E 012° 28.422
33T E 290426 N 4641182
Santa Barbara dei Librai is a small 17th century confraternity church located at Largo dei Librari, 85 in Rome, near Campo de' Fiori.
Waymark Code: WM114NC
Location: Lazio, Italy
Date Posted: 08/15/2019
Views: 3
"The fine limestone statue of Santa Barbara by Ambrogio Parisi stands over the door of the church. She is shown holding the palm of martyrdom, and standing before a fortified tower which is her attribute. This delectable round-faced ragazza (girl) is certainly not according to Classical canons.
The saint's fictional legend alleges that her pagan father kept her locked up in a tower before having her martyred, as a result of which she was struck by lightning. The stucco device between the statue and the oculus is actually two little cannons back to back, shooting out fire and lightning bolts.
She is the patron saint of firefighters, and in fact her other church in Rome -Santa Barbara alle Capannelle- is the church of the city firefighters." (
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"Saint Barbara (Feast Day December 4) known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an early Christian Greek saint and martyr. Accounts place her in the 3rd century in Heliopolis Phoenicia, present-day Baalbek, Lebanon. There is no reference to her in the authentic early Christian writings nor in the original recension of Saint Jerome's martyrology. Despite the legends detailing her story, the earliest references to her supposed 3rd century life do not appear until the 7th century, and veneration of her was common, especially in the East, from the 9th century.
Because of doubts about the historicity of her legend, she was removed from the General Roman Calendar in the 1969 revision, though not from the Catholic Church's list of saints.
Saint Barbara is often portrayed with miniature chains and a tower. As one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, Barbara continues to be a popular saint in modern times, perhaps best known as the patron saint of armourers, artillerymen, military engineers, miners and others who work with explosives because of her legend's association with lightning, and also of mathematicians. A 15th-century French version of her story credits her with thirteen miracles, many turn on the security she offered that her devotees would not die before getting to make confession and receiving extreme unction." (
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