Agatha of Sicily
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| Saint Agatha of Sicily | |
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 The Martyrdom of Agatha, by Sebastiano del Piombo |
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| Martyr | |
| Born | Catania or Palermo |
| Died | d. 251, Catania |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholicism Eastern Orthodox Christianity Oriental Orthodox Christianity |
| Feast | February 5 (Gregorian calendar), February 18 (Julian calendar) |
| Attributes | shears, tongs, breasts on a plate |
| Patronage | Ali, Sicily; bellfounders; breast cancer; bakers; Catania, Sicily; against fire; earthquakes; eruptions of Mount Etna; fire; jewelers; martyrs; natural disasters; nurses; Palermo, Sicily; rape victims; single laywomen; sterility; torture victims; volcanic eruptions; wetnurses; Zamarramala, Spain |
 Saints Portal |
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Saint Agatha of Sicily or Saint Agatha (d. 251) is a Christian saint. Her memorial day is on February 5 according to the Gregorian calendar and February 18 on the Julian calendar (still used by some Eastern Orthodox churches). Agatha was born at Catania and she was martyred in approximately AD 250. She is the patron saint of Catania. She is one of seven women, excluding the Blessed Virgin, commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass.
According to variations of her legend, having rejected the amorous advances of a Roman prefect, she was persecuted by him for her Christian faith. Among the tortures she underwent was the cutting off of her breasts. She is therefore often depicted iconographically carrying her excised breasts on a platter.
The shape of her amputated breasts, especially as depicted in artistic renderings, gave rise to her attribution as the patron saint of bell-founders and as the patron saint of bakers. More recently, she is venerated as patron saint of breast cancer patients.
Her scorned admirer eventually sentenced her to death by being burnt at the stake. However, she was saved from this fate by a mysterious earthquake. She later died in prison.
She is considered as patron saint of Malta since her intercession is reported to have saved Malta from Turkish invasion in 1551.
The memory of Agatha is upheld in particular by the Military Order of the Collar of Saint Agatha of Paternò.
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- A version of the Basque song from Ondarroa, 2001. Notice that it is sung by a single person and there are no stick beats.
Basques have a tradition of gathering on Saint Agatha's eve and going round the village. Homeowners can choose to hear a song about her life, accompanied by the beats of their walking sticks on the floor or a prayer for those deceased in the house. After that, the homeowner donates food to the chorus.
This song has varying lyrics according to the local tradition and the Basque language. An exceptional case was that of 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, when a version appeared that, in the Spanish language, praised the Soviet ship Komsomol, which had sunk while carrying Soviet weapons to the Second Spanish Republic.
An annual festival to commemmorate the life of Saint Agatha takes place in Catania, Sicily, from 3 to 5 February. The festival culminates in a great procession through the city for which hundreds of thousands of the city's resident turn out.
- Santa Gadea, a church of historical importance devoted to Agatha, located in Burgos.
- Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. The Penguin Dictionary of Saints. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-140-51312-4.
