Having refused to renounce her faith, Barabara was sentenced to be tortured. For several days she was whipped, her body ripped with metal tools and burned with flaming torches, but each night her wounds healed through divine intervention. When displayed naked on the streets she prayed to God who covered her with a luminous garment. Eventually, it was her own father who beheaded her, in the year 306. He was instantly struck dead by a thunderbolt and so Barbara became the patron saint of all things involving explosives and fire.