St. Agatha

St. Agatha was a young Christian virgin of Sicily, most likely of Catania, martyred for her faith and her consecrated chastity during the persecution of the Emperor Decius, about the year 251. Her veneration is very ancient and spread swiftly through the whole Church, so that her name was enrolled among the martyrs commemorated in the Roman Canon of the Mass, a distinction shared by only a few of the early women saints.

According to tradition, she had vowed her virginity to Christ and rejected the advances of a Roman official named Quintianus, who denounced her as a Christian and subjected her to cruel torments, including the cutting off of her breasts, before she died in prison of her sufferings. For this reason she is invoked against diseases of the breast and is depicted bearing her severed breasts on a dish. She is also honored as a protectress of Catania against the eruptions of Mount Etna, and is celebrated on 5 February.