In 1992, when I first moved to California, my new friends Gene and Anna Burkett invited my family to their annual St. Lucia Festival. What a treat! Dozens of families gathered on a Sunday afternoon at the Burketts' beautiful, Scandinavian-themed home. Girls in white dresses with red satin sashes carried baskets of ”cat“ buns, brothers in pointed hats made a corridor with their tinsel star poles, and the oldest girls led the procession with candle wreaths on their heads, while all the parents sang the Lucia carol and Christmas carols. I was enchanted. My oldest daughter was already too old to participate, but before long I had another daughter, and as soon as she could be trusted to toddle in the right direction, she joined in. Now that daughter is a Lucia bride emerita, and the family continues to look forward to the St. Lucia Festival each December.

Over the years I've grown to love this valiant, compassionate, gentle saint, so when Conciliar Press decided they needed more books about female saints, I knew she was just the one I had to write about. I was thrilled when we found Daria Fisher to illustrate the book—her warm, detailed colored-pencil illustrations perfectly capture the Scandinavian spirit of the festival in the context of an American home, while also doing justice to the third-century Sicilian context of Lucia's earthly life. I hope you will enjoy reading the book as much as we enjoyed creating it!

Icon by the hand of Fr. Luke Dingman, courtesy of Anna Burkett