Today is the feast day of St. Lucy, who has a special place
in my heart. But it is also the feast saint of another woman saint, and one who
undoubtedly benefited from Lucy’s prayers.
Odilia of Alsace was born around 662 to the Duke of Alsace.
She was born blind. Her father did not want a handicapped daughter, so her
mother sent her to be raised by peasants. When she was 12, she was baptized at
a nearby monastery, and her eyesight was miraculously restored.
Her brother had her brought back to the household (she was
now useful to be married off). Her father became so enraged at his son that he
killed him. Odilia revived her brother and fled.
She crossed the Rhine, and a cavern opened up to her. She
hid there and when her father approached, he was injured by falling rocks and returned
home.
When her father later fell ill, she returned home to care
for him. He wound up founding an Augustine monastic community for her. She went
on to establish a second monastery and
hospital of Niedermünster. The buildings burned down during the Peasants’ War
in the sixteenth century, but the well is still said to cure eye diseases.
Odilia died in 720. She is the patron of good eyesight and
Alsace. She is often depicted with a book on which lie two eyes.
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