Patron saint of armourers, fortifications, and artillery. In Spanish the word santabárbara means an explosives depository. St Barbara is invoked against thunder, lightning, and all accidents involving gunpowder. She is the armed Pallas or Bellona of mythology reproduced in the form of a Christian martyr. There is no mention of her in early Christian references and veneration of her was not common before the 7th century.
Tradition has it that she lived in Heliopolis, the daughter of Dioscorus who was rabidly hostile to Christianity and kept her locked in a tower to preserve her virtue. Contemplation caused her to reject pagan gods and she managed to communicate with the Christian teacher Origen. She refused to renounce her faith and in ad 303 was martyred when her father beheaded her for her conversion. He was consumed by fire for his actions.
Alternatively, she was the daughter of Alypius who had learned the secrets of naphtha and saltpetre from a fakir while on military service in the east. He devoted his life to study and with the help of Barbara invented an explosive mixture. Barbara rejected many suitors and entered the convent of St Perpetua in Hippo. In ad 430, the Vandals besieged Hippo. Barbara helped Alypius to position jars of their mixture in defence of the city, but he was killed and it fell to Barbara to direct the pyrotechnic defence of the city. Her mixture burned the pestilential corpses that threatened the defenders and her illuminations at night thwarted Vandal attacks. She also manufactured incandescent globes which were hurled from catapults. The city eventually fell, and as the attackers tried to capture her, she set off a subterranean explosion in which she and her foes perished.
It was said that those devoted to her might die safely without receiving holy sacraments and she is often depicted carrying a sacramental cup. Early gunners were at high risk from the sudden explosion of bursting gun barrels and she became their patron saint. The cannoneers of Lille recognized her as their saint in 1417, describing themselves as the ‘Confrères de Sainte Barbe’. In 1448 Henry Kock was nearly burned to death, but it was believed that her intervention kept him alive long enough to receive the last sacrament. This story did much to popularize her. The powder room of a French warship has traditionally been called ‘Sainte Barbe’.
The most famous painting of St Barbara is by Palma Vecchio over the altar of St Barbara in the church of Santa Maria Formosa in Venice. The feast of St Barbara is celebrated by the Greek and Roman calendars on 4 December; the 9th-century martyrologies cite 16 December which is the traditional English date for the festival. In May 1969 she was deleted from the liturgical calendar by Pope Paul VI. It was once suggested by a Major Hanson that the grounds for St Barbara being the patron saint of artillery are rather insubstantial and that St Joan, who used artillery very effectively in sieges of English fortresses, should replace her. The US artillery has an order of St Barbara, awarded to those who have performed conspicuous service as artillerymen. It is traditional among gunners of most western armies to celebrate St Barbara's Day with a dinner.
Bibliography
- Anon., ‘St Barbara’, Field Artillery Journal, 10/6 (Nov.-Dec. 1920).
- Anon., ‘Some Legends of St Barbara’, Field Artillery Journal, 35 (Dec. 1945).
- Fort Sill Home Page: usaa@sirinet.net
- Hanson, J. M., ‘A Candidate for the Position of Patron Saint of Artillery’, Field Artillery Journal, 11 (Jan. 1921)
— Jonathan B. A. Bailey
