St. Barbara, born in Greece in the 3rd century, held onto her Christian faith despite being beaten and starved by her family and community who wanted her to renounce Christianity. She was beheaded on December 4. Her father and a local official were killed in a lightning strike, deemed punishment for their persecution of St. Barbara.
Because of the association with lightning and explosions, she has become the patron saint of armourers and artillerymen.
Assyrians from the recently liberated Iraqi town of Keramlis gathered in a Christian church in Erbil on Friday to celebrate Saint Barbara's day.
