Orthodox · 3rd century
Martyr Agatha of Palermo in Sicily
Commemorated: February 18 (February 5, Old Style)
Life
Agatha was a young Christian woman of a noble and wealthy Sicilian family; her Greek Life, retold by St Dimitry of Rostov, names Palermo as her home. During the persecution of Decius (c. 251), Quintianus, the governor at Catania, who wanted both her and her property, had her brought before him. When she refused to sacrifice to the gods, she was beaten and tortured, and her breasts were cut off. Her Life tells that the apostle Peter appeared to her in prison and healed her wounds. After further tortures she died in prison, praying.
According to the Life, a year later the people of Catania held up her garment against a lava flow from Mount Etna, and the fire stopped.
Places
- Place of birth: Catania
- Place of death: Catania
- Place of burial: Catania Cathedral
Retold briefly in our own words from: the Lives of the Saints by St Dimitry of Rostov (1902–1916); the Roman Martyrology (1916).
The commemorations of the day: Ponomar (ponomar.net), CC BY-SA 3.0.
Places and years: Wikidata (CC0), each saint matched by hand.