The Birth of St. Lucia

The Lucian Priesthood claims that St. Lucia was born as "Imogen of Mesegña" at dusk during a harsh winter storm. During this time in the Empire's history, Mesegña was little more than a tin mine infested with plague-ridden exiles who were forced to work to provide for the Kadian Empire.   According to the church, Lucia's mother was a former healer and penitent who wept for the pains that the world suffered. Her father, whom is referred in the texts as "the Faceless One", was insinuated to be a Dium in mortal guise who seduced the penitent mother to produce an heir that could guide Humanity from its suffering.   One the eve of St. Lucia's birth, the storms riled through the colony. Fires, which had been lit to burn the plague-ridden corpses of Mesegña, had been whipped into a fervor and had begun spreading to various surrounding buildings. Panic swept through the plague colony, though few had the energy or means to stop it. While this was occurring, a penitent woman was giving birth in an abandoned shack of the recently deceased. As the fires spread through the colony, the roof of the shack where the birth was happening ignited. The vet for the local horses escaped from the burning building as it was quickly consumed despite the cold winds and snowfall which were recorded at the time.   At the moment of her immaculate birth, as she was held by her mother, Lucia raised her hands. The winds quieted, the fire became still, and the world froze in time for a brief moment which allowed her mother to escape unharmed. Witnessing this miracle, many of the people - including her mother - fell to their knees and prayed thankful words to the unseen forces which had granted them St. Lucia, knowing the great thing she would be capable of.

Despite the fanaticism of the early church records of this myth, much of the information has been disproven and is largely seen as myth by the highest members of the church. This myth was largely printed during a low period of the church faith, when many were questioning the church's importance in politics.   Some of the most notable falsities are that Imogen's mother was not a former healer or a penitent, but rather a local prostitute who worked with many of the local miners. Her father, unlike the story, was a miner who suffered from leprosy and wore thick facial bandages due to his work with chemicals as an launder. Another notable falsity is the tale of the fire. While there had been a fire recorded around the time of her birth, it happened two weeks after she was born, though records on her official birth are not easily found and prone to speculation due to her low-born status and is largely based around the information of Leokades I and his life.   Despite the enormity of this myth and its popularity, many modern church officials try to downplay her birth to focus on her later life which held much of her accomplishments and lean away from the mythologized birth - largely due to the lack of consistent or reliable information they have.