St. Agatha (1), Feb. 5, V. M. 251. Called in Norway Aagot; in Spain Agueda and Gadea; in different parts of France, Apt, Aphte, Apthe, Chaphte, Chapthe, Chatte, Ye; in the Ruthenean Calendar, Agata.
She is one of the great patronesses of the Western Church; her name is in the canon of the Mass. She is patron saint of the island and Order of Malta; of Scala near Amalfi, Gallipoli in Italy, Capua, Messina, Catania, Mirandola; and of nurses. Her aid is specially invoked against fire, colic, and diseases of the breast.
Represented in the midst of flames, or with her breasts being cut off. Husenboth says there is a picture of her in the Pitti Palace at Florence, by Sebastian del Piombo, in which executioners are cutting off her breasts, and that a representation of her was formerly to be seen on the rood screen of St. John's Church in the Maddermarket at Norwich, holding her left breast in pincers.
Palermo disputes with Catania the honour of being her birthplace. She was living at Catania when Quintianus, governor of Sicily, persecuted the Christians in the reign of the Emperor Decius, in the seventh general persecution of the Church. He wished to take St. Agatha for himself, on account of her great beauty; but being unable to make any impression on her, he gave her in charge to Frondisia, a wicked woman with nine daughters worse than herself, promising them great rewards if they could seduce Agatha from Christianity and virtue. As they failed to do so, she was brought before the governor and tried as a Christian. Being asked who she was, she answered, "I am a Christian, and the servant of Jesus Christ." "Abjure thy Master," said Quintianus, "and serve our gods, or I will have thee tortured." She was then bound to a pillar, and her breast torn with iron shears; she was rolled on potsherds, and after various other tortures, she was cast into a dungeon. St. Peter, attended by an angel carrying a torch, appeared to her and healed her wounds with ointment. Quintianus, finding that she was healed of the wounds inflicted by the torturers, ordered her to be burnt alive; but no sooner was she placed in the fire than an earthquake shook the city. The people, believing it to be on account of the Christian maiden, insisted on her immediate release from the flames, and threatened to burn down the governor's palace if he did not comply with their demand. She was again put in prison, but prayed that she might die at once, which she did, and was buried by the Christians in a porphyry tomb. About a year afterwards the city was threatened with destruction by an eruption of Mount Etna. All the inhabitants fled for refuge to St. Agatha's tomb. They took her veil, which was kept there, fixed it on a lance, and went in procession to meet the torrent of lava. The glowing mass was coming close to the walls, but when confronted with the sacred relic it turned aside. All the heathen who witnessed this miracle were converted and baptized. Solomon's Song viii. 8 is supposed by some theologians to foretell the tortures of St. Agatha.
Her name is in the Roman Martyrology, the Canon of the Mass, the Leggendario delle Sante Vergini, and all the chief collections of lives or legends of saints. Her Acts are said by Baillet to be of doubtful authenticity, especially those preserved in the Greek Church. Her worship is undoubtedly very old. It was universal in Italy in the 4th century, and in Africa in the 5th. Her commemoration by the Church has this peculiarity, which it shares with that of St. Agnes, that the psalms of her office are taken from the "Common of Saints" of the male sex, to remind the faithful of the super-feminine courage of the holy maiden. He adds that the schismatic English, though they have expunged her name from their new liturgy, have retained it in their calendars, that the people may not forget the virtues of the early martyrs. R.M. Golden Legend. Villegas, from Bede, Usuard, and Metaphrastes. Mrs. Jameson, Sacred and Legendary Art. AA.SS. Thiers, Traité des superstitions.
In Norway, the legend is that she was brushed to death, wherefore girls abstain from brushing their hair on her day. Another legend in that country is that a lady named Agathe, or Aagot, had her nose and ears eaten off by mice. They only spared the rest of her body on her vowing to keep St. Agatha's day holy ever after. This story is told also of St. Gertrude of Nivelle. The day is marked on the clogs (runic calendars) by a mouse. Aagot's Messa was the Norwegian name of the day. Report xx. of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, "Description of a Norwegian Calendar of the Fifteenth Century."