How did saint agatha die

Virgin and Martyr (230-251)

According to very pious tradition and legend, St. Agatha was born in the island of Sicily on about the year 230 of noble parents and was martyred in Catania, in the year 251.

When the Roman emperor Decius issued a decree persecuting Christians, the local consul Quintian (governor of Sicily), who had long harbored lustful feelings for Agatha, tried to force his attentions on her and desired to obtain her inheritance, used the opportunity to bring her to trial on suspicion of being a Christian and force her to renounce her faith.

Quintian tried to break Agatha’s vow of purity by having her live for a month in a brothel. All efforts to dissuade Agatha failed.  Despite the pressures place upon her, Agatha survived this ordeal, placing all her trust in the power of God.

The consul then ordered that she be beaten and that her breasts be crushed an cut off. Afterward, Agatha was consigned to prison where Saint Peter appeared to her in a dazzling light and healed her wounds.

At finding her cured the next day Quintian asks her: “Who has


Paolo Veronese, via Wikimedia Commons

February 5: Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr—Memorial

(Optional Memorial if a Lenten weekday)

c. 231–c. 251
Patron Saint of breast cancer patients, martyrs, rape victims, bellfounders, and bakers
Invoked against earthquakes, natural disasters, and fires
Pre-Congregation canonization, later confirmed by Pope Saint Gregory the Great, 7th century
Liturgical Color: Red (Purple if Lenten Weekday)
Version: Full – Short

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Quote:
O Lord who made and created me, and have kept me from my infancy, … who took from me the love of the world, who have kept my body from pollution, who made me to overcome the executioner’s torments, iron, fire and chains, who gave me the virtue of patience in the midst of torments, I pray Thee to receive my spirit. ~1529 Roman Breviary

Reflection: As with many of the early and most revered martyrs in our Church, very little is known about the life and death of Saint Agatha. She was born in either Palermo or Catania, Sicily around the year 23

St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr

St. Agata, Giovanni di Paolo  (© MET)

In the Sicily of the 3rd century, the story of Agatha descends between Catania and Palermo, the two cities that contend the honor of being the martyr’s birthplace. Reading her Passio, it seems it can be inferred that the girl was born in AD 235 at the foot of Mt. Etna, to a wealthy noble family. She is still an adolescent when she manifests the will to consecrate herself to God, and with the ritual of velatio (the “taking of the veil”) receives from her bishop the flammeum, the red veil then worn by consecrated virgins. Tradition also describes her as a deaconess (an office), dedicated to service in the Christian community. In AD 250 the edict of Emperor Decius against Christians opened a long persecution, and in Catania, the ruthless proconsul Quintian, who was infatuated with Agatha, is given charge of the edict’s application.

Escape to Palermo and martyrdom

The young woman fled to Palermo, but was found and taken back to Catania, conducted by Quintian. She refuses to abjure her faith. The procons

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