In late medieval hagiography, St. Barbara was locked into a tower by her father to discourage suitors. There she learned about Christianity, converted, and had three windows installed in the tower to honor the Trinity. Hoping to persuade her to deny the faith, her father had her tortured. When that failed, he beheaded her himself, whereupon he was struck by lightning and died (image).
Medieval Christians drew a lesson from these two deaths, one opening the gates of Heaven for the steadfast Christian and the other sweeping her surprised father away to perdition, and they prayed to Barbara for a "good death" -- if not through martyrdom then through the last rites of the Church, Extreme Unction and the reception of Viaticum. The latter is symbolized by the chalice Barbara holds in many portraits.
Another attribute of St. Barbara's is a tower with three windows (example). She is also sometimes portrayed with an open book and palm branch.
St. Barbara was scarcely known until the late Middle Ages, and contemporary scholarship casts some doubt on whether she even existed. Voragine does not include her in his 13th-century Golden Legend. However, her story does appear in Caxton's version of that work.
Feast day: December 4 (suppressed in the Roman Catholic Church in 1969)
At left, "St. Barbara" - Metropolitan Museum of Art
Other images:
Grouped with other female
saints 
Stories of St. Barbara 
Garzi's Barbara and Christ
Statue in Rome 
Her martyrdom 
Santo
in PamplonaHagiography:
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