St. Agatha of Sicily

St. Agatha is one of the many early virgin martyrs, and one of several who is mentioned by name in the eucharistic prayer. In classic hagiographic humor, she is a patron saint of wet nurses, owing to her breasts being torn off as part of the tortures she underwent.


Lifetime: ~231 to ~251
Region: Sicily
Patronages: Breast cancer; natural disasters; jewelers; Wet nurses
Iconograpy: Tongs; Severed breasts; Palm of martyrdom
Feast Day: February 3

Agatha was a beautiful girl, but very early in her life she consecrated herself to God, vowing that she would have no husband other than Christ. However, because of her beauty, many men continued to try to woo her despite her vows.

One of these men was a high-ranking diplomat who thought that because of his political power he could force Agatha to marry him. He proposed to her many times, but Agatha always said no, and that she had dedicated herself only to God. The diplomat grew increasingly angry that his advances were rejected.

Eventually he got so mad that he decided to punish her. At this time, it was illegal to be Christian, and Agatha had made no secret of her faith. So the diplomat had her arrested for her faith, to be brought before a judge for her crime. And it just so happened that he was also the judge.

He thought that surely now Agatha would agree to his proposal. All she would have to do was to marry him and she wouldn't have to be arrested, tortured, tried, and possibly killed. Surely she wasn't so obsessed with this God of hers to throw her life away over Him. 

It should come as no surprise that the judge was very wrong. Agatha refused to turn from her faith. As punishment, the judge sentenced her to a month in the brothel where she was assaulted repeatedly. He thought that maybe if her virginity was taken from her, she would finally give in. But Agatha continued to maintain her vow.

The judge couldn't believe it. He had her arrested again, and this time he tortured her in every way he could think of to try to get her to give up her faith. She suffered all of it with cheer, from being stretched, pierced with hooks, burned with torches, and whipped. Her calm demeanor grated on the judge and he finally demanded that her breasts be torn off with tongs. The judge was going to have her burned at the stake, but an earthquake prevented this, so he instead had her imprisoned with no food to suffer from her wounds.

But Agatha's faith was so strong that God sustained her. She had a vision of St. Peter coming into her cell and healing her wounds, and when the judge checked on her again, Agatha was indeed healed. The judge continued her tortures, stripping her naked and rolling her over hot coals and glass shards. No matter what he did, Agatha just continued to pray.

Eventually, Agatha died of the tortures, but she never stopped praising God.

Popular posts from this blog

St. Muirgen the Mermaid

Image
Wait, an actual mermaid? That can't be real. Mermaids aren't real, so they can't be saints! Well, yes and no. Lifetime: 90 to 558 Region: Lough Neagh, Northern Ireland Patronages: People who like mermaids; Storytellers; Converts from pagan faiths (I made these up.) Iconograpy: Water; Otter; She's an actual mermaid Feast Day: January 27 Muirgen was born Li Ban and lived as a princess in her father's palace. But one day, a spring opened up under the palace, swallowing the entire building into a lake. Li Ban's whole family drowned, but Li Ban's room remained intact and continued holding air. She lived trapped in this underwater room for a year with only her dog to keep her company. After a year, Li Ban turned into a mermaid. Her faithful dog was also changed, becoming an otter to keep his master company. As a mermaid, Li Ban's lifespan was lengthened and she swam through the lake, playing with her otter for hundreds of years. Li Ban learn...
Read more

St. Agatha Kim A-gi

Image
St. Agatha Kim A-gi was born to Confucian family. She married young and began to convert to Catholicism because of her sister's testimony, before Christianity was persecuted in Korea. She loved learning about her faith, but couldn't memorize the prayers and liturgy. Instead, she always repeated a simple prayer to Jesus and Mary, no matter what. Though she was only studying to be a Christian and hadn't even been baptized, she was arrested when persecution began. While in prison, Agatha was finally baptized, which redoubled her strength to resist her captors. She refused to turn on her friends, refused to give in to torture, and refused to deny God, instead repeating only her simple prayer to Jesus and Mary. She was executed a martyr for her faith. Lifetime:  1787 to 1839 Region:  Seoul, Korea Patronages:  Korean Christians; Converts; Issues with memory (informal) Iconograpy:  Downturned sword; Lilies; Hanbok dress Feast Day:  May 24
Read more

St. Felix of Nola

Image
When I was converting to the Catholic faith, St. Felix was one of the first saints I learned about. Mostly because, as a horror writer and bug lover, I was Googling things like "spookiest Catholic saints".  Nonetheless, the scant details of St. Felix's life are an inspiration today, and a lesson about facing our fears and trusting in God. And it's just cool that there's a patron saint of spiders. Lifetime: ~200 to ~250 Region:  Nola, Campania, Italy Patronages:  Spiders; Against eye disease; Nola, Italy Iconograpy:  Spider or spider web; Prison chains; Grapes  Feast Day: January 14  Felix, in a refrain that is very common among early church saints, grew up wealthy, but sold off his estate and gave his money and possessions to the poor. He soon became the assistant to the local bishop Maximus (who himself would go on to be canonized as well). I don't want to gloss over that, though, just because it was common among the canon. Could you imagine growing up in...
Read more