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Saint Agatha in prison, visited by Saint Peter and an angel with a torch, painted by Alessandro Turchi about 1640 to 1645

Saint Agatha

Martyr of Catania whose veil, her Acts say, stopped the lava of Etna

Patron of
Catania, diseases of the breast
Western calendar
5 February
Orthodox calendar
5 February (18 February on the old calendar)

Agatha was a young woman of Sicily put to death at Catania for her faith, probably in the persecution of Decius, and her name has stood in the Church's calendars on 5 February since the earliest times. Her Acts tell that the proconsul Quintian had her breasts torn away, that Saint Peter healed her in prison, and that when she was laid on hot coals the city shook; asked why a free and noble woman lived like a slave, she answered, "Because I am a servant of Christ". A year after her death, those Acts say, her veil was set before the lava of Etna and the lava stopped, and Catania has kept her as its patron ever since.

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It is the day each year when the Church remembers a saint in its prayers, and for most saints it is the day they died and went home to God. Many saints here have two dates, because the Western and Orthodox Churches keep their own calendars, and some Orthodox churches still count by the old Julian calendar, which runs thirteen days behind ours.

What is a patron saint?

A patron saint is one we ask to pray for us in a particular place, work or need, as many ask Anthony of Padua for help when something is lost, and as Ireland looks to Patrick. A few patronages were declared by a pope, and most grew from long custom. A card says “Patron of” only where a source we checked names one.

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