AKA: AKA: The Blind, Eyesight, Eye Problems, Vision, Eye Ailments, Eye Disorders, Visually Impaired
Being blind or having eye problems can be a challenging experience, since it impacts your ability to perform everyday tasks, communicate with others, and engage with the world around you. The experience can vary of course depending on the cause and severity of the condition.
For those who are completely blind, the world is perceived through other senses such as touch, sound, and smell. The ability to navigate and interact with the environment is often achieved using a cane, guide dog, or other mobility aids. Communication with others is also affected, as non-verbal cues and facial expressions is not able to be interpreted. For those with partial vision or other eye problems, the experience can range from mild inconvenience to significant impairment impacting daily activities like reading, driving, and recognizing faces. Eye problems can also impact mental health, as the frustration and anxiety of navigating the world with impaired vision can lead to feelings of isolation and depression.
Living with blindness or eye problems can be challenging, but it is important to remember that many people with visual impairments lead fulfilling lives and are able to adapt and thrive with the right support and resources. Advances in technology and assistive devices have also made it easier for people with visual impairments to access information and navigate their environment. Even with this help, it is always good to pray to the saints for help with any frustrations or depression and anxiety they may be feeling.
Who is the Patron Saint of Eyes
When you search for it, St. Lucy is the most often cited Patron Saint of Eyes. However, there are some lesser-mentioned saints for eyes that make good intercessors. They are St. Odilia, St. Clare of Assisi and St. Raphael the Archangel.
The story of St. Lucy is a mixture of facts and legend. Two things we know about her are that her name means light and that she was a young Christian woman who lived in Syracuse, Italy, during the 3rd century AD. Her mother was miraculously healed of a blood disease through the intercession of St. Agatha. After this, her mother allowed her to turn down a pagan suitor because Lucy had devoted her life to serving God and had made a vow of chastity. The suitor turned her into the local Governor for being Christian.
This is where the legends begin; and there are two versions of it. One was that she had overheard her suitor admiring the beauty of her eyes, so she gouged them out and sent them to him asking to be left alone. This legend likely leads to the common visual representation of Lucy holding a dish with her eyes on it. The second legend is that during her torture they tried to cut her eyes out but were not able to because she was filled with the Holy Spirit. The two legends converge with a story that her eyes were restored by God at the time of her martyred death.
Regardless of what is true or not, she has been a popular and strong intercessor for those who have eye problems from very early on. Her name alone makes her a good Patron Saint of Eyes.
St. Odilia was the daughter of a nobleman in the 7th century and was born blind. Her father, the Duke of Alsace, was ashamed of her blindness and confined her to a monastery.
One day, Odilia learned about the healing power of baptism and begged her father to allow her to be baptized. At the age of 12 and after much persuasion, he agreed, and Odilia was baptized by St. Erhard of Regensburg, the Bishop at the time. When the Bishop touched her eyes with the chrism, her sight was miraculously restored.
She later reconciled with her father and became a nun and founded a monastery in what is now known as the Alsace region of France. She is known for her piety and her ability to heal the sick and the blind. Her shrine became a popular place of pilgrimage for those suffering from eye problems. Even the Emperor Charlemagne visited her shrine to pay homage to her memory. She is now known as the Patron Saint of the Blind.
St. Clare of Assisi was a contemporary and follower of St. Francis of Assisi. She was born into a noble family and chose to dedicate her life to God after hearing St. Francis preach. The association with eyes may come from a story about how she was miraculously able to see the Mass from her bed when she was too ill to attend.
St. Raphael is one of the Archangels and his name means, “God heals”. He is mentioned in the Book of Tobit in the Old Testament, where he appears in the form of a human to accompany Tobit's son Tobias on a journey. Once Raphael returns from his journey with Tobias, he declares to Tobit that he was sent by the Lord to heal his blindness and deliver Sarah, Tobias' future wife, from the demon Asmodeus. It is then that his true healing powers are revealed and he makes himself known as "the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord"
Not only is he a Patron Saint of Eyes but he is also a Patron Saint of Doctors and so is a good saint to pray to for guiding the healing hands of any Ophthalmologist.
Click here for our list of Patron Saints.
Prayers for Eye Disorders
Prayer to St. Lucy for Eye Problems
Saint Lucy, your beautiful name signifies light. By the light of faith which God bestowed upon you, increase and preserve this light in my soul so that I may avoid evil, be zealous in the performance of good works, and abhor nothing so much as the blindness and the darkness of evil and of sin.
By your intercession with God, obtain for me perfect vision for my bodily eyes and the grace to use them for God’s greater honor and glory and the salvation of all men.
Saint Lucy, virgin and martyr, hear my prayers and obtain my petitions. Amen.
St. Odilia Prayer for Healing Eyes
Oh God, who in Your kindness gave us St. Odilia, virgin and martyr, as the protector of the Order of the Holy Cross, and the patroness of eyes and those who are afflicted with poor vision. Grant us, we humbly beseech Thee, to be protected through her intercession from the darkness of ignorance and sin, and to be cured from the afflictions of the eyes and other bodily infirmities. We ask this through Him who is the light and life of the world, Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord. Amen
St. Raphael Healing Prayer
Blessed Saint Raphael, Archangel, we beseech thee to help us in all our needs and trials of this life, as thou, through the power of God, didst restore sight and give guidance to young Tobit. We humbly seek thine aid and intercession, that our souls may be healed, our bodies protected from all ills, and that through divine grace we may be made fit to dwell in the eternal Glory of God in heaven. Amen.
Related Patron Saint Jewelry and Rosaries
Buy some beautiful St. Lucy, St. Odilia, St. Clare of Assisi and St. Raphael jewelry to keep you or your loved one close to the patron saint of eyes and be a symbol of your faith.