Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman Martyrology and all others. Famous also among the Greeks. There are various editions of the Acts of her Martyrdom in Latin and in Greek. The latter are not as trustworthy as the former, which are very ancient, and though apparently tampered with by copyists, are on the whole to be relied upon. The Latin Acts were written by eye-witnesses, as appears from a passage in them, "From this we supposed he was her angel." There is an older version of the Greek Acts than that given by Metaphrastes (fl. 867), and there is a sermon on S. Agatha by S. Methodius. The name of S. Agatha occurs in the Canon of the Roman Mass; among the first five Virgin Saints enumerated in Nobis quoque peccatoribus .

THE honour of being the birth-place of S. Agatha is claimed by Catania and Palermo, in Sicily. The probabilities in favour of either are nearly equally divided, though there seems to be a slight superiority in the claims of Catania. It certainly was the scene of her martyrdom, which took place during the persecution of Decius [Roman emperor 249–251, who ordered everyone to sacrifice to the gods] in a.d. 251, as all her acts testify. If these are not in all particulars to be relied on, their main facts seem to be pretty well established. According to these, S. Agatha was the daughter of an illustrious and wealthy house in Sicily, and was famed for her beauty and her gentle and amiable manners. But her love was consecrated to God from her very earliest youth. Quintianus the Consular of Sicily, as the Governor was then called, admired her exceedingly, and the holy virgin retired to Palermo to avoid his importunities. As often happened in those days of heathen cruelty, his love was turned into hatred when he discovered that she was a Christian. She was seized and brought to Catania; and all the way thither she could only weep and pray to the Lord to strengthen her for the conflict which awaited her. Every means was tried during the space of a month to prevail on her to forget her vow; but she was supported by continual prayer, and at last came off victorious from this lingering martyrdom. She was privately examined before Quintianus as to her faith, and confessed Christ with undaunted firmness, declaring the service of the Lord Jesus to be the highest nobility and the truest freedom: she was then sent to prison, to which she went joyfully, recommending herself to God, and entreating His aid. The day after she was tortured on the rack, and suffered with calmness and constancy. And, when she was put to the cruel torment of having her breasts cut off, she mildly reproached the inhuman Quintianus with the remembrance of his own infancy, and with the tenderness of his mother. She was then led again to prison, and all sustenance and medical aid were denied her. Four days afterwards she was put to still further tortures, and then, being taken back to prison, sweetly fell asleep in the Lord, and was buried by the people with great honour.

Relics in Catania, and some in the Church of S. Méry, at Paris.

Patroness of Catania, La Mirandola, and the Order of Malta.

In Art S. Agatha is represented as a majestic virgin wearing a long veil, and over this, in early figures, a crown, the symbol of her victory over death; she usually holds a clasped book in her left hand, and a palm branch in the right; occasionally the place of this latter emblem is supplied by a pair of pincers, having a nipple between the teeth, in allusion to the fearful torture to which she was subjected. Sometimes she carries both her breasts cut off in a dish, or a sword is passed through them.