February 4, 2024
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My Dear Parishioners,
This Monday is the feast of our Patron Saint, St. Agatha. Here is her story that I have sourced from various places on the internet (reliable sources!)
St. Agatha was born in AD 235 at the foot of Mt. Etna, to a wealthy noble family. She is still an adolescent when she manifests the will to consecrate herself to God, and with the ritual of velatio (the “taking of the veil”) receives from her bishop the flammeum, the red veil then worn by consecrated virgins. In AD 250 the edict of Emperor Decius against Christians opened a long persecution, and in Catania, the ruthless proconsul Quintian, who was infatuated with Agatha, was given charge to carry out the edict.
The young woman fled to Palermo, but was found and taken back to Catania, conducted by Quintian. She refused to abjure her faith. The proconsul, determined to attack the virginity of the girl, sent her to a brothel. But Agatha steadfastly refused to acquiesce to immorality, so she was sent back to Quintian, who decided to submit her to trial. Seeing herself in the hands of the persecutors, she made this prayer: "Jesus Christ, Lord of all things, you see my heart, you know my desire-possess alone all that I am. I am your sheep, make me worthy to overcome the devil."
The Acts of the Martyrdom of Saint Agatha report the conversations. “What is your condition?” Asks Quintian. Agatha responds, “Not only was I born free, but of a noble family.” Quintian: “And if you claim to be free and noble, why do you show yourself to live and dress like a slave?” “Because I am a servant of Christ,” Agatha replies. Quintian again: “But if you are really free and noble, why do you want to be a slave?” Agatha: “The greatest freedom and nobility is here: to prove to be Christ's servants.” Quintian replies: “And what about it? We who despise the servitude of Christ and venerate
the gods have no freedom?” “Your freedom draws you to such slavery, which not only makes you servants of sin but also submits you to wood and stones,” Agatha says. In the face of these words Quintian urged Agatha once again to deny Christ, and he remanded her back to prison. The next day, in the face of the young woman’s refusal, he decided that she must be subjected to torture. Furious to see her unyielding courage, Quintian commanded that her breasts be cut away. Agatha was brought back to prison sore and bloody, but in the night, St. Peter appeared to her, and healed her wounds. Again, before the court, Agatha again refused to worship the gods and declared to have been healed by Jesus Christ. Enraged by her steadfast refusal to yield to his demand, the proconsul decided she was to be raked across hot coals, wrapped only in her red veil, symbol of her betrothal to Christ.
As the order was executed, immediately the whole city of Catania was shaken by an earthquake. So, they all ran to the judge’s court and began to threaten him unless he stopped, for all of them were in grave danger. Agatha, with her veil intact, was taken out of the burning brazier and taken back into jail. There, extended her arms to the Lord, she said these last words, “You Lord, who have created and guarded me from my childhood, and made me to act with manly strength, have taken from me the love of the passing world, who kept my body from contamination, who made me overcome the torments of the executioner, the iron, the fire, and the chains, who gave me in torment the virtue of patience! Please accept my spirit now, for it is already time that I should leave this world by your command and reach your mercy.” Having spoken these words in the presence of many, she then fell silent, and gave up her spirit. It was February 5 of the year 251.
After a year ... Mount Etna erupted a great fire, and like a fiery river, so the fiery liquid, melting stones and earth, came to the city of Catania. Many went to Agatha's sepulcher to ask for her intercession, and her veil was placed before the lava flow. Miraculously the lava stopped. The fame of the prodigy is such that Agatha became the patron saint of Catania. Her cult therefore began the year after her martyrdom and spread rapidly everywhere. Her relics are preserved in Catania in the cathedral dedicated to her.
