Agatha [ a ] of Sicily c. Her feast is on 5 February. Agatha was born in Catania , part of the Roman Province of Sicily , and was martyred c. She is one of several virgin martyrs who are commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass.
She is also the patron saint of breast cancer patients, rape victims, martyrs , wet nurses , bell-founders, and bakers , and is invoked against fire, earthquakes, and eruptions of Mount Etna.
Agatha is buried at the Badia di Sant'Agata, Catania. Two early churches were dedicated in her honor in Rome, Sant'Agata in Trastevere and notably the Church of Sant'Agata dei Goti in Via Mazzarino, [ 13 ] a titular church with apse mosaics of c. 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.
Agatha is also depicted in the mosaics of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna , where she appears, richly dressed, in the procession of female martyrs along the north wall. Her image forms an initial 'I' in the Sacramentary of Gellone, which dates from the end of the 8th century.
One of the most highly venerated virgin martyrs of Christian antiquity, Agatha was put to death during the Decian persecution β in Catania, Sicily, for her determined profession of faith. Her written legend [ 15 ] comprises "straightforward accounts of interrogation, torture, resistance, and triumph which constitute some of the earliest hagiographic literature ", [ 16 ] and are reflected in later recensions, the earliest surviving one being an illustrated lateth-century passio.
