Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr

Agatha was a young Christian of Catania in Sicily, martyred probably in the persecution of Decius about 251. Her cult is very ancient: her name is in the Roman Canon of the Mass, and churches were dedicated to her in Rome in the 6th century.

Her Acts, written later, tell that the governor Quintianus wanted her and, when she refused him, had her handed over to a brothel and then tortured, cutting off her breasts. They tell that the apostle Peter appeared to her in prison and healed her wounds, and that she died after being rolled on burning coals. The people of Catania hold that a year after her death her veil stopped a stream of lava from Etna, and she is the patron of the city.