Virgin and Martyr in Catania (238–252)
Feast on February 5th.
The seventh general persecution, during which Saint Agatha was martyred, was, according to all historians, the bloodiest and cruelest of all. Saint Cyprian informs us that its purpose was not only the death of Christians: the cruelty was graduated through a series of refinements, so that the victim would survive the torments. They did not want to grant the crown too soon. They wearied her in the hope of breaking her courage, and if, by the mercy of God, she happened to die before the appointed time, the executioners believed themselves deceived. Saint Augustine gives the reason for these atrocities: "The persecutors," he says, "had realized that the more Christians they put to death, the more would arise from their blood." They feared depopulating the empire if they had to kill so many thousands of believers.
Saint Agatha is arrested as a Christian.
It was during this cruel persecution that the blessed Agatha, born in Catania around 238 to noble and wealthy parents, deserved to receive the crown of martyrdom. Quintianus, the governor of the province of Sicily, having noticed Agatha's beauty, which, according to the acts of her martyrdom, surpassed that of all the girls of her time, conceived a violent passion for her. He sought by all possible means to satisfy his criminal desires, and when the edict of Emperor Decius was issued, ordering that every Christian, regardless of rank or gender, must sacrifice in the temples, Quintianus hastened to take advantage of this decree to seize Agatha and ordered her arrest.
The soldiers went to the young girl's residence and said to her:
- An edict of death has just been issued by the emperor and the proconsul against anyone who refuses to worship the gods and render them the due cult. But we hope that you will offer incense to them in their temple so that, with all due honor, we can present you to the proconsul Quintianus.
As the virgin vehemently refused, the soldiers prepared to take her to the governor. Before they laid hands on her, Agatha entered her room and, kneeling with her eyes raised to the sky, she prayed:
- Lord Jesus, only You know the affections of my heart, only You know with what joy and eagerness I have given You my faith and love. And now, Lord, I implore You, do not allow a man, given to all vices, to rob my body of its virginity's flower; hasten to come to my aid: do not deliver me to the devil and his satellite, the proconsul, lest he say, "Where is her God?" But I offer myself to You as a victim, receive my sufferings as a pledge of my love, because only You are my God, and to You alone is due glory forever and ever.
After thus praying, she promptly and joyfully surrendered to the lictors. During the journey, meditating on the celestial beauties of virtue, she said:
- By the grace of Christ, to preserve my body's purity, I have struggled against Satan, the author of evil, who has sown in the human heart the seed of all shameful passions of voluptuousness; I have overcome him and trampled him underfoot. I have then entrusted my soul to Christ, and I hope that He will grant me the grace to lose this body in its virginal beauty.
She is delivered to a woman of ill repute.
Quintianus, faithful to the satanic orders of the emperor, refrained from delivering the virgin immediately to torture. Instead, he ordered Agatha to be taken to a woman of ill repute named Aphrodise, who had in her house seven daughters as corrupt as herself, so that, through the words and examples of these wretched women, Agatha would be led to sacrifice to the gods and yield to the proconsul's infamous desires.
For thirty days, the virgin was forced to live in this odious company. These demons of lust, with infernal perseverance, sought to corrupt the chaste spouse of Jesus Christ. She, with tears in her eyes but a valiant heart, told them:
- Know that nothing in the world can ever separate my soul and thoughts from the love of Christ. Your words are like the wind, your promises like a stormy rain, your threats like a river, but this impetuous river, you can unleash it against my house, and it will not be shaken because it is founded on the firm rock that is Christ, the Son of the living God.
She spoke thus because her soul, like the thirsty deer mentioned by the Psalmist, desired to quench itself with the living waters of suffering, bitter for those who do not love but sweet and delightful for those who bear in their hearts the true love of Jesus Christ.
Aphrodise, seeing her unyielding in her resolution to die for the name of Christ rather than consent to sacrifice to idols, went to the proconsul:
- It would be easier, she said, to soften rocks or give iron the flexibility of lead than to remove from this young girl's soul the love of Jesus Christ. My daughters and I, day and night, have given her no moment of rest, and despite our persistence, we have achieved nothing other than making her more steadfast in her resolution. Neither supplications nor threats could make her hesitate even for a moment. I myself offered her precious pearls, magnificent adornments, houses in the city and the countryside, numerous slaves, but she valued none of these things more than the ground she tramples underfoot.
Before the proconsul's tribunal.
Quintianus, disappointed in his expectations, ordered the virgin to be secretly brought to his tribunal and said to her:
- What is your status?
- I am from a noble and illustrious family, and my parents possess immense wealth.
- If you are of noble and illustrious status, why do you want to lower yourself to the role of a servant?
- I am the servant of Christ, and that is why you see me acting as a servant.
- But you are truly free, Agatha; how can you call yourself a slave?
- Our nobility and our greatest glory lie in submitting to the law of Christ.
- So, do we not share in nobility, we who take pride in despising the service of your Christ?
- Truly, you have reached a degree of servitude where not only have you become slaves to your sins, but also worshippers of insensible matter. The honors due only to the true living God, you render to wood and stone.
- The blasphemous words you have just uttered will each receive the punishment they deserve. But why do you persist in refusing to give our gods the honors due to them?
- Do not call them gods, but demons, those whose images you fashion in bronze and whose marble figures you cover with gold.
- Cease to blaspheme, Agatha; come to your senses and sacrifice to the gods; otherwise, I will subject you to ignominious torments with common criminals, and you will be the cause of the eternal shame that will fall upon your family.
- I wish your wife to be like your goddess Venus, and you to resemble your great god Jupiter.
At these words, Quintianus, angered, ordered Agatha to be slapped. After that, he said to her:
- Do not dare, with your insolent words, to insult your judge.
- How! Agatha replied, do you then not want to be counted among those whom you have just called gods?
- Ah! You want, through your insults, to force me to inflict cruel torments upon yourself!
- I am amazed that such a wise man has come to the point of folly of not wanting to be like his gods and not wanting to conform his life to theirs! If these are your gods and you honor them as such, I have made you a good wish. Why then have you taken offense at the words by which I told you to conform your life to theirs? But if their likeness is abhorrent to you, then call them with me abominable and perverse beings.
- Each of your words is blasphemy; sacrifice to the gods, or prepare yourself for terrible punishments.
- The wild beasts to which you will deliver me will soften at the name of Jesus Christ. If you throw me into the fire, angels will come to spread a beneficial dew over me. If you strike me with rods, the Spirit of truth dwelling within me will know how to deliver me from your hands.
Shaking his head, the proconsul ordered Agatha to be led to a dark dungeon. As she was being taken away, Quintianus wanted to try one last time to bend her:
- Reflect, Agatha, and see how advantageous it is for you to avoid the torments I am preparing for you.
- It is rather you who should repent if you want to avoid eternal torments.
Angry, Quintianus then had the virgin taken to prison. She entered with the joy of one invited to a wedding feast, commending the outcome of the battle to God.
Unyielding constancy in torment.
The next day, Quintianus again brought Agatha before him:
- Well, what have you resolved regarding your salvation?
- My salvation is Christ.
- Until when, foolish one, will you persist in uttering guilty words? Renounce Christ and begin to honor our gods. Do not desire premature death.
- Renounce your own stone and wooden gods and serve the true God, your Creator; otherwise, you will undergo endless torments.
The enraged president ordered the martyr to be beaten with rods, and during this barbaric execution, he said to her:
- Change your resolution, and I will immediately stop the torture.
- Your torments are a source of delight to me, and I rejoice as one who has just received good news and discovered a rich treasure. These torments bring me joy because you can only make them last for a while. Wheat is carefully stored in granaries only after being separated from the straw. The same applies to my soul: it cannot enter paradise until your soldiers have subjected my body to various torments.
Quintianus, in a fit of rage, ordered that, after tormenting her breast, it be torn off.
As this horrible torture could not overcome Agatha's steadfastness, the governor had her taken back to prison, strictly forbidding, under severe penalties, any doctor to approach her and ordering at the same time that she be given neither bread nor water.
Saint Peter appears to Saint Agatha and heals her.
Around midnight, a venerable old man, preceded by a child holding a torch, appeared before Agatha:
- This impious tyrant has subjected your body to cruel torments, but your steadfastness in suffering inflicts even more cruel ones on him; that's why he mutilated you and tore off your breast. But God reserves intolerable torments for him throughout eternity. I was present while you endured all these cruel torments, and I saw that it would be possible to heal you, which is why I have come.
- I have never, replied Agatha, used any medicine for my body, and it would be shameful for me to abandon this resolution made since my youth.
- I am also a Christian, said the old man again; trust in me, I can heal you, and my presence here has no other purpose. Virgin of Christ, fear nothing from me.
- And what could I fear? Agatha replied. You are very advanced in age, and I am a child whose entire body is nothing but a wound. Nevertheless, I prefer these wounds to take away my soul's last breath rather than show them to you. I thank you, venerable father, for being willing to come to relieve me, but know that no medicine made by human hands will ever touch my body.
- Why such a resolution?
- Because I have Our Lord Jesus Christ, who with a single sign can heal all ills, and whose word alone makes the paralyzed walk and the lame leap. It is He, if He wills, who will restore health to His unworthy servant.
Then, the old man said with a smile:
- It is He Himself who has sent me to you; I am His apostle Peter. Look at your body; it is healed.
At these words, Saint Peter disappeared.
Raising her eyes to heaven, Agatha gave thanks to God in these words:
- I thank you, O Jesus, my Lord, for remembering me and sending your apostle to support my soul and heal the wounds of my body.
After her prayer, Agatha saw that her wounds were healed, and her breast had been miraculously restored. Throughout the night, a bright light filled the prison. The frightened guards fled, leaving the doors open. Agatha's fellow captives advised her to escape, but the saint replied:
- I do not want to deprive myself of the crown of glory reserved for the battles I still have to endure. I do not want to be a cause of punishment for my guards. I have the help of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, on my side. Until the end, I will persevere in confessing the faith of the one who comforted and healed me.
Glorious death.
Four days later, the president had her brought before his tribunal:
- How long will you persist in contempt for the edicts of the emperors? Sacrifice to the gods; otherwise, I will make you endure torments more cruel than the previous ones.
- Your words are in vain, Agatha replied, and the edicts of your emperors are unjust. Tell me, miserable one devoid of reason, what help can I expect from your gods of stone and wood? Has not my Lord Jesus given me another breast in place of the one you tore off?
Quintianus, in a fit of rage, exclaimed:
- Who dared to heal you?
- It is Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.
- Again, you pronounce the name of your Christ, of whom I do not want to hear in any way!
- I am not allowed to silence the name of the one I invoke in the depths of my heart.
- We will soon see if your Lord Jesus will come to your aid.
At the same time, the judge ordered the hall to be scattered with broken pots, to spread burning coals, and to lay Agatha on them after stripping her of her clothes. But as soon as the holy martyr was laid on this bed of pain, an earthquake shook the walls, part of which crushed a counselor of the president named Sylvain and another of his friends named Theophile, who was encouraging Quintianus to have Agatha martyred. The entire city of Catania was also shaken by the earthquake. The frightened citizens went to the praetorium, but the proconsul, fearing a people's uprising, ordered Agatha to be taken to prison and withdrew himself into a secluded room.
Agatha, entering her cell, lifted her hands to heaven and said:
- I thank you, O Lord my God, for deeming me worthy to endure hard battles for your name. It is You, O Jesus, my Savior, who have given my soul the burning desire to renounce the joys of the world and have kept my body pure from all defilement. Hear me now, I beg you; allow your servant to leave this earth and go to you.
Then she gave her soul to this heavenly Bridegroom, for whom she had endured so many harsh battles. The Christians of Catania, upon hearing the news of the glorious martyr's death – which occurred on February 5, 252 – immediately rushed, without fear of the proconsul, took her body covered in such glorious wounds, and prepared to bury her with great honors. As these precious relics were placed in the sarcophagus prepared for them, it is said that a young man of celestial beauty appeared, accompanied by a procession of a hundred children dressed in magnificent clothes. No one had seen this young man in the city of Catania before. He entered the place where the revered remains of Agatha were being embalmed and placed a marble plaque under her head on which were engraved these words: "Holy soul, devoted, honor of God, protector of the homeland." He waited until the coffin was closed, then he disappeared. No one saw him again, and many thought he was an angel.
The news of this event soon spread throughout Sicily, so much so that even the Gentiles and Jews themselves had great reverence for the tomb of the glorious martyr.
Cult of Saint Agatha.
After the peace granted to the Church in 312, the fame of Saint Agatha spread, and great Doctors such as Saint Ambrose, Saint Augustine, Saint Damase, Saint Isidore, Saint Gregory the Great, and many others praised her in their writings.
From Sicily, her cult spread beyond Naples and Benevento, and a city was founded under her patronage, currently the seat of a bishopric, Saint Agatha of the Goths, where Saint Alphonsus Liguori was bishop. Her patronage was also given to churches in Rome, Lombardy, and France.
Her feast was elevated to a double rite by Clement XI on August 26, 1713.
In 1040, a Greek captain, after defeating the Saracens who infested Sicily, sent to Constantinople some bodies of saints, including those of Saint Agatha and Saint Lucy (of Syracuse), to attract God's blessings on the Eastern Empire through their intercession. But before the Venetians brought back the relics of Saint Lucy to Venice in 1205, the inhabitants of Catania had recovered those of their patroness in 1126, thanks to a valiant warrior, Gislibert. On August 17 of that same year, the bishop received them with great honor and triumphantly carried them to his cathedral, where they are still venerated. The eighth centenary was solemnly celebrated on August 17, 1926, under the presidency of Cardinal Lualdi, papal legate.
Since then, Catania has always had great devotion to its heavenly Patroness, to whom the city attributes the protection it has enjoyed from the eruption of Mount Etna in 253 to the dreadful earthquake of December 28, 1908.
A. Bousquet.
Consulted sources. – Acts of the martyrdom of Saint Agatha. – Abbe J.-B. Brun, Life of Saint Agatha (Paris, 1867.) – Prof. Salvatore Rombo, Vita e Culto di Sant’ Agata (1889). – (V. S. B. P., No. 103.)
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