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Agatha
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The Lives of the Saints 14 Agatha February 5 Agatha is the prototype of those martyrs whose glorious suffer ings—minutely described in The Golden Legend, a collection of the stories of the saints’ lives compiled at the end of the thirteenth century—fascinated the faithful of those days when religious fervor took precedence over historical criticism. Agatha, a “virgin of noble lineage and rare beauty,” lived in Catania at the foot of Etna in the mid-second century. Her comeliness attracted the attention of the Consul Quintianus who was not only a pagan, but from lowly extraction as well. He attempted to seduce her, without success. In order to make her cede, he entrusted her to a brothel madam, who likewise could not induce Agatha to falter in her resolution. In order to make her renounce her faith and forsake her virtue, Quintianus then submitted her to torture, ordering her breasts to be torn off. Following this torment, the ill-fated damsel was led back to her prison cell, where Saint Peter in person came at night to heal her, and the virgin’s breasts were restored. Exasperated by the young woman’s resistance, as well as by her discourses—she missed no opportunity to demonstrate the superiority of Christianity over paganism—the consul had her rolled over potsherds and burning coals until she died. One year after her interment, tradition holds, Agatha performed her first miracle, stopping a rush of molten lava from the volcano Etna, which threatened Catania. Therefore, the saint’s aid is sought against volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Paradoxically, the torture she endured also made her protectress of wet nurses. Sebastiano del Piombo (alias, Sebastiano Luciani) (ca. 1458–1547) The Martyr Saint Agatha Palazzo Pitti, Florence ...