By Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing, OFM
Who is Luce? She is the cartoon character designed for the Jubilee Year! When I saw her make her debut at the Holy See’s launch event, I was instantly attracted to her look and admired the Holy See’s boldness in bringing the spirit of the Jubilee into popular culture.
Luce is a woman, so some people call her “Lucy”, but since the original Italian word means “light”, some people also call her “woman of light”.
Luce has blue hair and wears a yellow raincoat. The colour of the raincoat is a reference to the colour of the Vatican flag, and it also represents the light of the Holy Spirit. The raincoat symbolises the stormy journey she has to face, and the pilgrim’s cane she carries signifies the hardship of the journey and her determination.
Her boots are covered with mud, symbolising the long and difficult journey. Her eyes have a scallop-like glint, a traditional symbol of pilgrimage, and the glint in her eyes is a sign of hope for the road ahead. She wears rosary beads on her chest, which of course signifies that she uses prayer as her strength to move forward. Undoubtedly, her look embodies all the qualities of a pilgrim of hope.
Luce has friends! The little dog is a symbol of St. Roch, the patron saint of pilgrims and the patron against epidemics, representing friendship and favour from God. The guardian angel represents God’s constant presence, and the dove, of course, symbolises the Holy Spirit, who always encourages people to pursue purity, freedom and peace. Last but not least, Luce also has three friends named Fe, Xin and Sky, to show people that they are not alone in life, and there are always companions along the way.
Many media have called Luce a mascot. At first, I didn’t notice any problem and used this expression, but it was soon pointed out that the meaning of mascot is that the object will bring good luck to the owner, which is different from what we believe, and therefore, it would be better to call it a cartoon character.
After the launch of Luce, it was immediately welcomed by the parishioners, especially the young people and children. Parishes and church organisations were eager to produce all kinds of related items, such as bookmarks, keychains, muppets, prayer cards, stickers and so on.
Fortunately, everyone respected the Church’s original intention and did not commercialise Luce for trading, but preserved her original intention of being created for pastoral care and evangelisation.
Today, Luce and her friends can be found in many churches and Catholic schools. May we go beyond the superficial level of taking pictures, and go a step further, so that we can “shine like lights in the world” [Philippians 2:15], live out the spirit of the Jubilee Year that they represent, and become “children of the light” [1 Thessalonians 5:5] in this world. In this way, we are all Luce!
