The famous poem in which Henry Wadsworth Longfellow coins the term "lady with the lamp." Saint Philomena is a patron of the sick.
SANTA FILOMENA
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And slow, as in a dream of bliss, The speechless sufferer turns to kiss Her shadow, as it falls Upon the darkening walls. As if a door in heaven should be opened and then closed suddenly, the vision came and went; the light shone and was spent. On England's annals, through the long Hereafter of her speech and song, That light its rays shall cast From portals of the past. A Lady with a Lamp shall stand In the great history of the land, A noble type of good, Heroic womanhood. Nor even shall be wanting here The palm, the lily, and the spear, The symbols that of yore Saint Filomena bore. |
Santa Filomena was first published in The Atlantic monthly magazine in the very first issue, November 1857.