St. Agatha

A Christian noblewoman of Catania in Sicily, Agatha rejected the advances of the Roman consul Quintianus and was tortured under the Decian persecution. Tradition records the cutting off of her breasts and her healing in prison by St. Peter. She died of her wounds and her veil is venerated at Catania, where she is invoked against the eruptions of Mount Etna.

Her courage made her one of the most venerated martyrs of the early Church, and her name was inscribed in the Roman Canon of the Mass alongside Agnes, Lucy, and Cecilia. Artists across the centuries depicted her holding a plate with her severed breasts, transforming the instrument of her suffering into a sign of resolute faith.

In Catania her feast on February 5 is celebrated with extraordinary fervor, drawing a million pilgrims who carry her jeweled reliquary through the streets. She remains a patron of breast cancer patients and of all who endure bodily suffering for the sake of purity and conscience.