While still quite young, she was taken captive and carried off into a foreign land by Rexius, who had the title of Vicarius (a substitute for a dead or absent provincial governor).
Rexius at first tried to compel St Lucy to sacrifice to idols but, she remained firm in her faith and was ready to accept torture for the sake of Christ.
Rexius was inspired with profound respect for her and even permitted her and her servants the use of a separate house, where they lived in solitude, spending their time in unceasing prayer.
After 20 years St Lucy, having learned that the emperor Diocletian had begun a persecution against Christians, entreated Rexius to send her back to Italy.
According to the art-historian and mythographer Karl Lohmeyer, it was believed that after his death the persecutor could not rest in his tomb, and haunts the Varuswald forest near the town of Tholey as a Wild Huntsman, flying through the air with a ghostly band and threatening punishment to transgressors.