Saint Barbara and Things that Go Boom in the Night

(Title gratuitously stolen from here.)Sam over in the NLM combox brought to mind an old but favorite post of mine on the subject of today's explosive saint of the day, St. Barbara, which not only touches on her life, legends and lore, but includes possibly the most unusual image I have ever seen of her: lithe and velvet-draped, but wearing a steel trench helmet (with attached veil, naturally).