Saint Agatha

Saint Agatha of Sicily
Saint Agatha tortured
Virgin and Martyr
Born	c. 231 Catania or Palermo, Sicily
Died	c. 251 Catania, Sicily
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Churches Oriental Orthodoxy Anglican Communion
Canonized	Pre-congregation by tradition confirmed by Gregory I
Feast	February 5
Attributes	shears, tongs, breasts on a plate
Patronage	Sicily; bellfounders; breast cancer; bakers; Catania, Sicily; against fire;earthquakes; eruptions of Mount Etna; fire; jewelers; martyrs; natural disasters; nurses; Palermo, Sicily; rape victims; San Marino; single laywomen; sterility; torture victims; volcanic eruptions; nurses; wet nurses; Zamarramala, Spain
Controversy	Rejection to worship Roman Emperors, forced prostitution, rape and conflict to maintain virginity

Saint Agatha of Sicily (231 AD – 251 AD) is a Christian saint and virgin martyr. Her memorial is on 5 February. Agatha was born at Catania or Palermo, Sicily, and she was martyred in approximately 251. She is one of seven women, who, along with the Blessed Virgin Mary, are commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass.

She is the patron saint of Catania, Molise, Malta, San Marino, and Zamarramala, a municipality of the Province of Segovia in Spain. She is also the patron saint of breast cancer patients, martyrs, wet nurses, bell-founders, bakers, fire, earthquakes, and eruptions of Mount Etna.

Agatha is buried at the Badia di Sant'Agata, Catania. She is listed in the late 6th-century Martyrologium Hieronymianum associated with Jerome, and the Synaxarion, the calendar of the church of Carthage, ca. 530. Agatha also appears in one of the carmina of Venantius Fortunatus.

Two early churches were dedicated to her in Rome, notably the Church of Sant'Agata dei Goti in Via Mazzarino, a titular church with apse mosaics of ca. 460 and traces of a fresco cycle, overpainted by Gismondo Cerrini in 1630. In the 6th century AD, the church was adapted to Arianism, hence its name "Saint Agatha of Goths", and later reconsecrated by Gregory the Great, who confirmed her traditional sainthood.