page_title: Saint Barbara
section_title: Veneration
hierarchical_section_title: Saint Barbara / Veneration
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Exposition "Le Beau XVIe siècle". Sainte Barbe Vers 1520-1530. Statue, calcaire polychromé. Villeloup (Aube) - Classé Monument historique le 15.09.1984
context_page_description: Saint Barbara, 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.
context_section_description: The name of Saint  Barbara was known in Rome in the 7th century; her cult can be traced to the 9th century, at first in the East. Since there is no mention of her in the earlier martyrologies, her historicity is considered doubtful.
  Her legend is included in Vincent of Beauvais' Speculum historiale (xii.64) and in later versions of the Golden Legend (and in William Caxton's version of it).
  Various versions, which include two surviving mystery plays, differ on the location of her martyrdom, which is variously given as Tuscany, Rome, Antioch, Baalbek, and Nicomedia.
  Saint Barbara is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. Her association with the lightning, which killed her father has caused her to be invoked against lightning and fire; by association with explosions, she is also the patron of artillery and mining.
  Her feast on December 4 was introduced in Rome in the 12th century and included in the Tridentine Calendar. In 1729, that date was assigned to the celebration of Saint Peter Chrysologus, reducing that of Saint Barbara to a commemoration in his Mass. In 1969, it was removed from that calendar, because the accounts of her life and martyrdom were judged to be entirely fabulous, lacking clarity even about the place of her martyrdom. But she is still mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, which, in addition, lists another ten martyr saints named Barbara.
  In the 12th century, the relics of Saint Barbara were brought from Constantinople to the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv, where they were kept until the 1930s, when they were transferred to St. Volodymyr's Cathedral in the same city. 
  In November 2012, Patriarch Filaret of The Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kiev Patriarchate brought a small part of St. Barbara's relics to St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Bloomingdale, Illinois.
  Her feast day for Roman Catholics,  and Anglicans is December 4.
caption: Saint Barbara and her tower, French, (Villeloup, Aube) ca 1520–30 polychromed limestone
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot A530", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Microsoft Windows Photo Gallery 6.0.6001.18000", "Image DateTime": "2009:10:14 13:38:14", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "246", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "1/96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "1/96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "3058", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2888", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "13/5", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "1980:01:01 00:26:10", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "1980:01:01 00:26:10", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "189/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "11/4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "11/4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "88", "EXIF FocalLength": "29/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1944", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2592", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "2592", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "1944", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2886", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "11520", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "81000/7", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "62"}