AGATHA, Saint, Martyr. - One of the most popular heroines of Christian antiquity, martyred for the faith at Catania. The date of her martyrdom is not known with certainty, whether it occurred during the persecution of Decius, as is commonly read in the texts of the Passio Agathae, or during that of Diocletian, indicated by Aldhelm in his De laudibus virginitatis (ch. 42: PL 89, 142), followed by the Martyrology of Bede, although the first hypothesis is preferred.
From the earliest times following her martyrdom, A. was the object of cult in her native city, which jealously guarded the martyr's tomb located in the suburb of Catania called Hybla Maior, where there were Christian cemeteries with the tombs of illustrious martyrs. An ancient Latin inscription found at Catania in 1730 gives notice of a certain « Julia Florentina pagana nata... fidelis facta », that is, baptized at the age of 18 months and 20 days, who died four hours later and was buried « pro foribus marturorum cum loculo suo per presbyterum », that is, near the tomb of the martyrs Agatha and Euplus (cf. Bull. di Arch. Crist., 6 [1868], p. 75; CIL, X, 2, n. 7112). Likewise another Christian inscription, probably contemporary with the preceding one and coming from the island of Ustica, speaks of a certain Lucifera, who died on the day of the feast of St. A. (cf. A. Ferrua, Epigrafia sicula pagana e cristiana, in Riv. di Archeol. Crist., 18 [1941], p. 237).
The cult of A. did not remain limited to Catania alone, but soon spread to the other Churches. Her name appears in the Hieronymian Martyrology on the days 5, 12 and 25 July, 5 Oct. and 6 Dec., besides the traditional date of 5 Feb., also recorded by the Carthaginian Calendar (ed. H. Lietzmann, in Kleine Texte, II, Bonn 1911, p. 6). Moreover, from the 5th century onward, she was inserted in the canon of the Roman, Ambrosian and Ravennate Mass (Sacramentarium Gelasianum, ed. Wilson, Oxford 1894, pp. 123, 260; F. Savio, Gli antichi vescovi d'Italia...: Milan, Florence 1913, p. 923), and later also in the Mozarabic calendar (M. Férotin, Le liber Ordinum... Paris 1904, col. 454) and in the Greek Synaxaria (Synax. Constantinop., p. 445). Celebrated in a hymn falsely attributed to Pope Damasus (G. Ihm, Damasi Epigrammata, Leipzig 1895, p. 75), by Venantius Fortunatus in the poem De virginibus (VIII, 4), by Aldhelm in the De laudibus virginitatis (PL 89, 268), the popularity of the Sicilian saint is also confirmed by the considerable number of places of worship erected in her honor. Pope Gelasius gives notice of a basilica of the martyr « in fundo Caclano » (A. Thiel, Epp. Rom. Pont., I, Braunsberg 1868, p. 495); from the Liber Pontificalis we know that Symmachus built another « in fundum Lardarium » (ed. Duchesne, I, pp. 262, 267). Besides many others of which today only the name is known, such as S. Agata in Caput Africae, ad Colles Iacentes, in Diaconia, de Tempulo, trans Tiberim (cf. C. Hülsen, Le chiese di Roma nel medio evo, Florence 1927, pp. 165-68), especially well known is that of S. Agata in Subura, commonly called of the Goths (C. Hülsen-C. Cecchelli, Sant'Agata dei Goti, Rome 1924), built around 470 by Ricimer, used for Arian worship and reconsecrated to Catholic worship by St. Gregory the Great (Epp., IV, 19; Dialogues, I, III, ch. 30), who in 592 sent relics of the martyr to Capri (Epp., I, 51) and also dedicated to the saint a monastery he had built at Palermo, the « Lucuscanum » (Epp., IX, 20, 66, 82).
Since, therefore, the martyrdom and the cult of A. are historically established, we nevertheless possess no trustworthy particulars relating to her glorious end. The Passio S. Agathae (BHL 133-36; BHG 36-38), which has come down to us in three recensions, one Latin and two Greek, goes back to a common original of the first half of the 6th century on which no reliance can be placed. It seems to have undergone the influence of certain pagan rites of Sicily and also betrays classical reminiscences of the ancient history of the region. If remnants of a historical tradition were inserted into the Passio, today it is not possible to distinguish them from the embellishments of the writer, concerned with composing a novel of edification rather than with plausibly coordinating the data of the martyr's tradition. The only historically certain element is that of the place of martyrdom.
Patroness of Catania since antiquity, A. was often invoked during the dangerous eruptions of Etna; a patronage that in the Middle Ages was extended to all cases of fire. By an easy transition it is also explained how the bell-founders of the Italian and Alpine regions took her as their patroness. Indeed, during this era it was often customary to engrave on bells the famous epitaph which, according to legend, an angel is said to have brought engraved on a stone with which the tomb was covered after the martyr's burial: « Mentem sanctam, spontaneam, honorem Deo et patriae liberationem ».
Bibliography15 works
Mario Scaduto
ST. AGATHA IN ART
Characterized until the fourteenth century only generically as a martyr, she later had two categories of individual attributes: the tongs, or more often a plate with the severed breasts, go back directly to the Passio; instead the lighted torch, which appears for the first time in a statue in the cathedral of St. Stephen in Vienna in the 14th century, together with a house in flames (Herlin's panel of ca. 1470 in St. George's at Dinkelsbühl), a candle or a loaf of bread (almost exclusively in works of Swabian-Alemannic sculpture at the end of the 15th century) point to A. as a protectress against fires. The spread of the cult, whereby she frequently appears in sacred conversations, means that her numerous images in the altar wings of the late German Gothic correspond at the same time to not a few Italian depictions (Borgognone, Accademia
Carrara of Bergamo; copy after Luini, Rome, Galleria Borghese). Among the cyclic representations of the legend, already traceable in 12th-century miniatures, those by Giulio Campi in the church of St. A. at Cremona are notable; for the principal scene of the martyrdom, the Michelangelesque painting by Sebastiano del Piombo (1520, Florence, Pitti) and another by Tiepolo in Berlin.
Bibliography3 works
ST. AGATHA IN FOLKLORE
This saint is much venerated by the Sicilian people, especially in Catania and in Palermo, which for a long time contended for the boast of having given her birth and where, in one of the three churches dedicated to her, the one "above the walls," the people point out a living rock with the saint's "footprint." In Palermo, in past centuries, on Feb. 5 a solemn procession took place, in which the faithful participated "naked" (perhaps only barefoot) as penance; but in this city the cult of St. Agatha was soon supplanted by that of St. Rosalia, whereas in Catania, which venerates St. Agatha as its patroness and protectress, it is still in full vigor. The festivities last three days; in ancient times there were races of Barbary horses, cavalcades of nobles, processions in which the academic body, the magistracy and, here too, the naked took part. Also original was the custom, already vanished since the last century, of the "ntuppateddi" (literally, sea snails), that is, of women who, so as not to be recognized, covered themselves down to the middle of their person with a mantle of black silk, leaving only the right eye uncovered to see and direct themselves; on that occasion they could ask relatives and friends for small gifts which, by force of custom, could not be refused.
Besides the "fercolo" or "bier," with the statue of the saint, dragged by the members of the circle of St. Agatha, who replace the ancient "naked" and wear the "sack," a loose white tunic, characteristic of the solemn procession are the "cerei" or "candelore," great wooden machines simulating an enormous candle adorned with small lights, little flags, figures and sculptures: they are carried on the shoulders by the various guilds, first among them that of the "rinoti" (a kind of market gardeners). The illumination, which accompanies the procession and blazes on all the facades of the houses along the interminable route, is also one of the salient features of the feast, which is celebrated twice a year: on Feb. 5 and toward the end of August, since on the 17th of that month occurred the return of the saint's relics to Catania.
(Int. Alinari)
Among the popular ceremonies that precede the feast are to be remembered the poetic contests, in which songs (especially in octaves) are improvised in honor of the saint. According to oral tradition the virgin Agatha was a weaver of extraordinary beauty who, almost a Christian Penelope, in order to postpone the abhorred marriage, undid at night the web woven by day; from this episode some Sicilian proverbs were born. Thus, in relation to the other episode of the martyrdom to which she was subjected, the saint is invoked by women who have pains in their breasts. And in certain villages, where bread is made at home, it is customary to leave some pieces which, from their shape, are called "minnuzzi di sant'Aâti." Very characteristic is the procession that is held in honor of the saint in the Republic of San Marino: in it figures a mystery play with maidens dressed as symbolic personages, such as Faith, Religion, Science.
Her popular cult is also very widespread in France, where she is invoked against lightning and fires, as well as for various diseases of women.
Bibliography3 works
Paolo Toschi