Agatha of Sicily

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{{Infobox saint

|honorific_prefix=Saint

|name=Agatha of Sicily

|birth_date={{circa|231}}D'Arrigo, Santo. Il Martirio di Santa Agata (Catania) 1985

|death_date={{circa|lk=no}} {{death date and age|251|231}}

|death_cause=Torture

|feast_day=5 February

|venerated_in={{plainlist|

Catholic Church
Eastern Orthodox Church{{cite web |title=Orthodox Calendar: Tuesday February 18, 2025 / February 5, 2025 |url=https://www.holytrinityorthodox.com/htc/orthodox-calendar/?year=2025&today=18&month=2&trp=0 |publisher=Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church |access-date= 2025-02-27}}
Oriental Orthodoxy
Anglican Communion}}

|image=Martirio de Santa Águeda, por Sebastiano del Piombo.jpg

|imagesize=

|caption=Depiction of Saint Agatha's martyrdom by Sebastiano del Piombo, 1520

|birth_place=Catania, Sicilia, Roman Empire

|death_place=Catania, Sicilia, Roman Empire

|titles=Virgin and martyr

|beatified_date=

|beatified_place=

|beatified_by=

|canonized_date=Pre-congregation

|canonized_place=

|canonized_by=tradition confirmed by Pope Gregory I

|attributes=pincers, breasts on a plate{{cite book |last=Delaney |first=John P. |title=Dictionary of Saints |edition=2nd |publisher=Doubleday |location=Garden City, New York |year=1980 |isbn=0-385-13594-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofsain00dela }}

|patronage= {{ubl|Catania (Sicily), Gallipoli (Apulia), Molise, Malta, San Marino, Zamarramala (Segovia, Spain), Escatrón, (Zaragoza, Spain)|

Bellfounders, breast cancer patients, bakers, nurses/wet nurses, jewelers, martyrs, rape victims, single laywomen, sufferers of sterility|Victims of torture, natural disasters, fire, earthquakes, eruptions of Mount Etna, and volcanic eruptions[http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?id=36 "Saint Agatha"], Catholic Culture}}

|major_shrine=

|suppressed_date=

}}

Agatha{{efn|'Agatha' is the Latinized form of the Greek {{lang|grc|Ἀγαθή}} ({{transliteration|grc|Agathe}}), derived from the Greek {{lang|grc|ἀγαθός}} ({{transliteration|grc|agathos}}, meaning "good";{{Cite web|url=https://www.behindthename.com/names/usage/ancient-greek|title=Ancient Greek Names - Behind the Name|website=www.behindthename.com}} Jacobus de Voragine, taking etymology in the Classical tradition, as a text for a creative excursus, made of 'Agatha' one symbolic origin in {{lang|grc|ἅγιος}} ({{transliteration|grc|agios}}), "sacred", and {{lang|grc|Θεός}} ({{transliteration|grc|Theos}}), "God", and another in {{transliteration|grc|a-geos}}, "without Earth", meaning virginally untainted by earthly desires.{{Cite web |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/goldenlegend/GoldenLegend-Volume3.htm#Agatha |title='Agatha', III.15 |access-date=2009-04-12 |archive-date=2014-11-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141103080154/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/goldenlegend/GoldenLegend-Volume3.htm#Agatha |url-status=dead }}}} of Sicily ({{circa|231|251 AD}}) is a Christian saint. Her feast is on 5 February. Agatha was born in Catania, part of the Roman Province of Sicily, and was martyred {{circa|251|lk=no}}. She is one of several virgin martyrs who are commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass.Vincent Lorne Kennedy (1938), The Saints of the Canon of the Mass, Vatican City: Pontifical Institute for Christian Archaeology. {{OCLC|25118979}}

Agatha is the patron saint of Catania, Molise, Malta, San Marino, Gallipoli in Apulia,{{efn|The relics of St. Agatha, in particular her breasts, were stolen, on orders of the saint herself, and brought to Gallipoli in 1126. She is the patron of the diocese of Gallipoli, the cathedral of Gallipoli, and of the city.{{cite book|last=Ravenna|first=Bartolomeo|title=Memorie istoriche della città di Gallipoli|url=https://archive.org/details/memorieistoriche00rave|year=1836|publisher=R. Miranda|location=Naples|language=it|pages=[https://archive.org/details/memorieistoriche00rave/page/316 316]-326}}}} and Zamarramala, a municipality of the Province of Segovia in Spain. She is also the patron saint of breast cancer patients, rape victims,

martyrs, wet nurses, bell-founders, and bakers, and is invoked against fire, earthquakes, and eruptions of Mount Etna.

Early history

Agatha is buried at the Badia di Sant'Agata, Catania.{{efn|The present rebuilding of the ancient foundation was by Giovanni Battista Vaccarini (1767).D'Arrigo 1985, p. 15}} She is listed in the late-6th-century {{lang|la|Martyrologium Hieronymianum}} associated with Jerome, and the {{transliteration|grc|Synaxarion}}, the calendar of the church of Carthage, {{circa|530|lk=no}}.W.H. Frere, Studies in Roman Liturgy: 1. The Kalendar (London, 1930), p 94f. Agatha also appears in one of the {{lang|la|carmina}} of Venantius Fortunatus.Carmen VIII, 4, De Virginitate, noted by Liana De Girolami Cheney, "The Cult of Saint Agatha" Woman's Art Journal 17.1 (Spring – Summer 1996:3–9) p. 3.

Two early churches were dedicated in her honor in Rome, Sant'Agata in Trastevere and notably the Church of Sant'Agata dei Goti in Via Mazzarino,Touring Club Italiano, Roma e dintorni [Milan, 1965], pp 444, 315) a titular church with apse mosaics of {{circa|460|lk=no}} and traces of a fresco cycle,{{efn|The date of 460 appears in TCI, {{lang|it|Roma e dintorni}}; a letter from Pope Hadrian I (died 795) to Charlemagne remarks that Gregory (died 604) ordered the church adorned with mosaics and frescoes.(Cheney 1996 note 5)}} overpainted by Gismondo Cerrini in 1630. In the 6th century AD, the church was adapted to Arianism, hence its name "Saint Agatha of Goths", and later reconsecrated by Gregory the Great, who confirmed her traditional sainthood.

Agatha is also depicted in the mosaics of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, where she appears, richly dressed, in the procession of virgin martyrs along the north wall. Her image forms an initial 'I' in the Sacramentary of Gellone, which dates from the end of the 8th century.

Life

One of the most highly venerated virgin martyrs of Christian antiquity, Agatha was put to death during the Decian persecution (250–253) in Catania, Sicily, for her determined profession of faith.{{Cite web|url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01203c.htm|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Agatha|website=www.newadvent.org}}

Her written legendActa Sanctorum IV, February vol. I (new ed. Paris, 1863) pp. 599–662 comprises "straightforward accounts of interrogation, torture, resistance, and triumph which constitute some of the earliest hagiographic literature",Magdalena Elizabeth Carrasco, "The early illustrated manuscript of the Passion of Saint Agatha (Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS lat. 5594)", Gesta 24 (1985), p. 20. and are reflected in later recensions, the earliest surviving one being an illustrated late-10th-century passio.Carrasco 1985, pp. 19–32.

File:Saint-Lô Église Notre-Dame Vitrail Baie 17 Jugement de sainte Agathe 2019 08 19.jpg{{cite book |first1=Martine Callias |last1=Bey |first2=Véronique |last2=David |title=Les vitraux de Basse-Normandie |publisher=Presses universitaires de Rennes |location=Rennes |date=2006 |isbn=2-84706-240-8 |page=157}}]]

According to the 13th-century Golden Legend (III.15) by Jacobus de Voragine, 15-year-old Agatha, from a rich and noble family, made a vow of virginity and rejected the amorous advances of the Roman prefect Quintianus, who thought he could force her to turn away from her vow and marry him. His persistent proposals were consistently spurned by Agatha. This was during the persecutions of Decius, so Quintianus, knowing she was a Christian, reported her to the authorities. Quintianus himself was governor of the district.{{Cite web|url=http://saintsresource.com/agatha-of-sicily/|title=Agatha of Sicily | Saints Resource|website=saintsresource.com|access-date=2020-02-07|archive-date=2020-09-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927083310/http://saintsresource.com/agatha-of-sicily|url-status=dead}}

Quintianus expected Agatha to give in to his demands when faced with torture and possible death, but Agatha simply reaffirmed her belief in God by praying: "Jesus Christ, Lord of all, you see my heart, you know my desires. Possess all that I am. I am your sheep: make me worthy to overcome the devil." To force her to change her mind, Quintianus sent Agatha to Aphrodisia, the keeper of a brothel, and had her imprisoned there; however, the punishment failed, with Agatha remaining a Christian.{{Cite web |url=http://www.italymag.co.uk/italy-featured/guarda/feast-saint-agatha-catania-sicily |title=Fabio, Michelle. "Feast of Saint Agatha in Catania, Sicily", Italy magazine, 2 February 2009 |access-date=25 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121230201816/http://www.italymag.co.uk/italy-featured/guarda/feast-saint-agatha-catania-sicily |archive-date=30 December 2012 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}

Quintianus sent for Agatha again, arguing with her and threatening her, before finally having her imprisoned and tortured. She was stretched on a rack to be torn with iron hooks, burned with torches, and whipped. Her breasts were removed by tongs. File:AgatheRouenCathedral.jpg]] After further dramatic confrontations with Quintianus, represented in a sequence of dialogues in her passio that document her fortitude and steadfast devotion, Agatha was then sentenced to be burnt at the stake; however, an earthquake prevented this from happening, and she was instead sent to prison, where St. Peter the Apostle appeared to her and healed her wounds.{{Cite web|url=http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/agatha.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090813115448/http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/agatha.html|url-status=dead|title=St. Agatha - Iconography|first=Dick|last=Stracke|archivedate=August 13, 2009|website=www.aug.edu}}

Agatha died in prison, probably in the year 251 according to the {{lang|la|Legenda Aurea}}. Although the martyrdom of Agatha is authenticated, and her veneration as a saint had spread beyond her native place even in antiquity, there is no reliable information concerning the details of her death.

Osbern Bokenam, A Legend of Holy Women, written in the 1440s, offers some further detail.Osbern Bokenham, (Sheila Delany, tr.) A Legend of Holy Women (University of Notre Dame) 1992, pp. 157–167.

Veneration

According to Maltese tradition, during the persecution of Roman Emperor Decius (AD 249–251), Agatha, together with some of her friends, fled from Sicily and took refuge in Malta. Some historians believe that her stay on the island was rather short, and she spent her days in a rock-hewn crypt at Rabat, praying and teaching Christianity to children. After some time, Agatha returned to Sicily, where she faced martyrdom. Agatha was arrested and brought before Quintianus, praetor of Catania, who condemned her to torture and imprisonment.

The crypt of St. Agatha is an underground basilica, which from early ages was venerated by the Maltese. At the time of St. Agatha's stay, the crypt was a small natural cave, which, later on, during the 4th or 5th century, was enlarged and embellished.

After the Reformation era, Agatha was retained in the calendar of the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer with her feast on 5 February. Several Church of England parish churches are dedicated in her honor.

A feast day to honor Agatha on 5 February was given final authorization in the Episcopal Church in 2022.{{Cite web |title=General Convention Virtual Binder |url=https://www.vbinder.net/resolutions/24?house=HD&lang=en |access-date=2022-07-20 |website=www.vbinder.net |archive-date=2022-09-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220913143652/https://www.vbinder.net/resolutions/24?house=HD&lang=en |url-status=dead }}

The translation of her relics is commemorated on 10 March and 17 August.{{Cite web |title=Confermati i festeggiamenti agatini del 17 agosto: la Santa torna tra la gente |url=https://www.cataniatoday.it/cronaca/festa-sant-agata-agosto-confermata-catania-21-luglio-2022.html |access-date=2022-08-09 |website=CataniaToday |language=it}}

=Festival of Saint Agatha in Catania=

The Festival of Saint Agatha in Catania is a major festival in the region, it takes place during the first five days of February. The Catania Cathedral (also known as {{lang|it|Cattedrale di Sant'Agata}}) is dedicated in her honor.

File:Catania I cannalori.jpg|alt=A sepia-toned black and white photograph of a crowd of people.|The Festival of Saint Agatha in 1915

File:Catania Festa S.Agata CANDELORA.jpg|The Festival of Saint Agatha in 2007

File:Folklore catania sant'agata la salita dei cappuccini (2247621233).jpg|The Festival of Saint Agatha in 2008

File:Catania's duomo and balloons.jpg|Catania's duomo during the festival

Patronage

File:Mons Ste Agathe 919.JPG in the south of France]]

Saint Agatha is the patron saint of rape victims, breast cancer patients, wet nurses, and bellfounders (due to the shape of her severed breasts). She is also considered to be a powerful intercessor when people suffer from fires. Her feast day is celebrated on 5 February.

She is also a patron saint of Malta, where in 1551 her intercession through a reported apparition to a Benedictine nun is said to have saved Malta from Turkish invasion.{{Cite web|url=http://stagathamalta.com/agatha.html|title=St. Agatha|website=stagathamalta.com}}

She became the patron saint of the Republic of San Marino after Pope Clement XII restored the independence of the state on her feast day of 5 February 1740.Nevio and Annio Maria Matteimi The Republic of San Marino: Historical and Artistic Guide to the City and the Castles, 2011, p. 23.

She is also the patron saint of Catania, Sorihuela del Guadalimar (Spain), Molise, San Marino and Kalsa, a historical quarter of Palermo.

She is claimed as the patroness of Palermo. The year after her death, the stilling of an eruption of Mount Etna was attributed to her intercession. As a result, apparently, people continued to ask her prayers for protection against fire.[http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1282 Foley O.F.M., Leonard. Saint of the Day, (revised by Pat McCloskey O.F.M.), Franciscan Media] {{ISBN|978-0-86716-887-7}}

In Switzerland, Agatha is considered the patron saint of fire services.

In the United Kingdom, Agatha is the patron saint of bell ringers in service of the Catholic Church.{{Cite web|title=The Guild of St Agatha|url=http://www.guildofstagatha.org.uk/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-05-31|website=www.guildofstagatha.org.uk|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010723052812/http://www.guildofstagatha.org.uk:80/ |archive-date=2001-07-23 }}

Iconography

File:Minnuzze di sant'aita.jpg

Saint Agatha is often depicted iconographically carrying her excised breasts on a platter, as in Bernardino Luini's Saint Agatha (1510–1515) in the Galleria Borghese, Rome, in which Agatha contemplates the breasts on a standing salver held in her hand.

The tradition of making shaped pastry on the feast of St. Agatha, such as Agatha bread or buns, or so-called {{lang|it|Minne di Sant'Agata}} ("Breasts of St. Agatha") or {{lang|it|Minni di Virgini}} ("Breasts of the virgin"), is found in many countries.

Legacy

The Basque people have a tradition of gathering on Saint Agatha's Eve ({{langx|eu|Santa Ageda bezpera}}) and going door-to-door through their village. Homeowners can then choose to hear a song about Agatha's life, which is accompanied by the beats of the choir's walking sticks on the ground or else a prayer for the household's deceased. After that, the homeowner donates food to the choir.J. Etxegoien, Orhipean, Gure Herria ezagutzen (Xamar) 1996 [in Basque]. The song's lyrics vary according to each local tradition and the Basque language dialect spoken locally. In 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, a version of the song in Spanish was composed. In the lyrics, this Spanish version praised the Soviet ship Komsomol, which had sunk while carrying Soviet weapons to the Second Spanish Republic.

An annual festival to commemorate the life of Saint Agatha takes place in Catania, Sicily, from 3 to 5 February. The festival culminates in an all-night procession through the city.{{Cite web|url=https://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/feast-saint-agatha-catania-sicily|title=Feast of Saint Agatha in Catania, Sicily|website=ITALY Magazine}}

St. Agatha's Tower is a former Knight's stronghold located in the north west of Malta. The seventeenth-century tower served as a military base during both World Wars and was used as a radar station by the Maltese army.

St. Agatha is also commemorated in literature. The Italian poet Martha Marchina wrote an epigram in {{lang|la|Musa Posthuma}} that commemorates her martyrdom. In it, Marchina characterizes Agatha as powerful and she reclaims that power because she has become more beautiful through her wounds.{{Cite book|last=Marchina|first=Martha|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kaP6VenzAf8C&q=Agatha|title=Musa Posthuma|publisher=|year=1662|isbn=|location=Rome|pages=76}}

Agatha of Sicily is honored with a Lesser Feast on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America{{Cite web|title=Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018|url=https://extranet.generalconvention.org/staff/files/download/21034|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214121324/https://extranet.generalconvention.org/staff/files/download/21034 |archive-date=2019-02-14 }} on 5 February.{{Cite web|title=Agatha of Sicily|url=http://satucket.com/lectionary/Agatha_Sicily.html|access-date=2021-04-23|website=satucket.com}}

=In art=

Agatha is a featured figure on Judy Chicago's 1979 installation piece The Dinner Party, being represented as one of the 999 names on the Heritage Floor.{{cite web | year=2007 | title=Agatha | work=Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art: The Dinner Party: Heritage Floor: Agatha| publisher=Brooklyn Museum | url=http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/agatha.php | access-date=17 December 2011}}

File:Alessandro Turchi - Saint Agatha Attended by Saint Peter and an Angel in Prison - Walters 37552.jpg|Alessandro Turchi, Saint Agatha Attended by Saint Peter and an Angel in Prison, The Walters Art Museum

File:Sant'Agata - Guarini.jpg|Sant'Agata, Francesco Guarini

Martirio di sant'Agata (taglio dei seni) - Guarino.jpg|''Martirio di sant'Agata (taglio dei seni) - Church of Sant'Agata Irpina

File:Santa Agueda - Zurbarán (detalle).png|Saint Agatha, detail from a painting of Francisco de Zurbarán

File:Piero, sant'agata.jpg|Saint Agatha bearing her severed breasts on a platter, by Piero della Francesca ({{c.|1460–1470|lk=no}})

File:Giulio Campi Entierro de Santa Agata.jpg|Burial of St Agatha, by Giulio Campi, 1537

File:Lanfranco, Giovanni - St Peter Healing St Agatha - c. 1614.jpg|Saint Peter Healing Agatha, by the Caravaggio-follower Giovanni Lanfranco, {{c.|1614|lk=no}}

Notes

References

External links

{{wikisource|1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Agatha, Saint|EB1911:Saint Agatha}}

[http://www.stpetersbasilica.info/Exterior/Colonnades/Saints/St%20Agatha-8/StAgatha.htm "St Agatha - St Peter's Square Colonnades"]
[http://www.christianiconography.info/goldenLegend/agatha.htm "Here Followeth the Life of St. Agatha,"] from Jacobus Voragine, The Golden Legend, tr. William Caxton.
[http://www.christianiconography.info/agatha.html "Saint Agatha of Sicily"] at the [http://www.christianiconography.info Christian Iconography] website
[http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/AGATHA.HTM Butler, Alban. The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints, Vol. I, D. & J. Sadlier, & Company, 1864]
[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6182078/ "Saint Agatha Movie"] at the [http://delusionmfg.com Delusion] website
[http://krypta.i24.cc/Agatha/movies/index.html The Crypt: movies] [Movies about Saint Agatha]
The Saint Agatha Virgin and Martyr Catholic Church" at the Nova Crnja municipality.
[https://gabrielediegobonsangue.netsons.org/en/projects/le-edicole-votive-dedicate-a-santagata-nella-citta-di-catania-the-votive-aedicules-in-honour-of-saint-agata-in-catania/ The Votive Aedicules in honour of Saint Agata in Catania ]