Saint Lucy and Saint Agatha. Oil painting.

On the left Saint Lucy holds a pair of eyes on a bowl, while on the right Saint Agatha holds breasts. Both of them were Christian martyrs who lived in Sicily before the adoption of Christianity by Constantine the Great in AD 313. Both are also identified with a particular part of the body. Saint Lucy lived in Syracuse, and was martyred in AD 304: her martyrdom included the gouging out of her eyes. As a result she became the patron saint of people suffering from eye infections, impaired sight, cataract, blindness etc. Saint Agatha lived in Catania, and as part of her martyrdom in around AD 250 her breasts were torn off by pagan torturers with pincers. She is the patron of all who are suffering from diseases of the breast, such as ulcers, cancers, abscesses etc., and also of mothers breast-feeding their infants. The role of the patron saint was to intercede: the supplicant prays to the patron saint, and the patron saint appeals to the Virgin and/or to Jesus Christ, to grant grace through which a miraculous cure might be accomplished. The two saints are connected by the fact that Saint Lucy went on a pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Agatha. The cult of both saints became widespread all over Europe, but especially Lucy, whose relics at Metz in Northern France became a famous place of pilgrimage. As a result the name "Lucy" has long been a popular one