Agatha[a] of Sicily (c. 231 – c. 251 AD) is a Christian saint. Her feast is on 5 February. Agatha was born in Catania, part of the Roman Province of Sicily, and was martyred c. 251. She is one of several virgin martyrs who are commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass. [7]

St. Agatha (flourished 3rd century?, Sicily; feast day February 5) was a legendary Christian saint and virgin martyr. She is the patron saint of breast cancer patients and of various localities in Italy and elsewhere. St. Agatha is cited in the martyrology of St. Jerome, the Calendar of Carthage (c. 530), and other works.

2025年2月5日 · Reflection: As with many of the early and most revered martyrs in our Church, very little is known about the life and death of Saint Agatha. She was born in either Palermo or Catania, Sicily around the year 231 and died a martyr’s death in Catania around the year 251 during the persecution of Christians ordered by the Roman emperor Decius.

St. Agatha, also known as Agatha of Sicily, is one of the most highly venerated virgin martyrs of the Catholic Church. It is believed that she was born around 231 in either Catania or Palermo, Sicily to a rich and noble family.

Agatha, Saint, martyr, one of the most highly venerated virgin martyrs of Christian antiquity, put to death for her steadfast profession of faith in Catania, Sicily.

This holy virgin and martyr, St Agatha, is held in great veneration by the Greek as well as the Latin Church; and although her original Acts have not been preserved, many well-authenticated facts concerning her martyrdom are found in the Bollandists, Surius, and others.

Sant'Agata, whose name in Greek, Agathé, means good, was martyred in the mid-third century, and some archaeological findings dating back a few decades after her death, which took place, according to tradition, on 5 February 251 AD, are evidence of the antiquity of the cult. It has always been common to name "Agata" girls born on this day.

Every Feb. 5, the Church remembers St. Agatha of Catania, a young woman who consecrated her virginity to God and died a martyr’s death during the persecution of the Roman Emperor Decius in the third century. Agatha was born in Catania, Sicily, in southern Italy, around the year 230.

ST AGATHA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR (Died A.D. 251) Feast: February 5. We have her panegyrics, by St. Aldhelm, in the seventh, and St. Methodius, Patriarch of Constantinople, in the ninth centuries; also a hymn in her honour among the poems of Pope Damasus, and another by St. Isidore of Seville, in Bollandus, p. 596.

Venerated by Catholics and Orthodox, she is the patron saint of Catania. Her feast, which has been celebrated for centuries every year from February 3rd to February 5th, is one of the most beautiful patronal feasts in the world and involves thousands of devotees and curious, who fill the streets of the city in honor of their “Santuzza”.