As in the case of Agnes, another virgin-martyr of the early Church, almost nothing is historically certain about this saint except that she was martyred in Sicily during the persecution of Emperor Decius in 251.Legend has it that Agatha, like Agnes, was arrested as a Christian, tortured and sent to a house of prostitution to be mistreated. She was preserved from being violated, and was later put to death.There are also rather interesting pages on Wikipedia and Catholic Encyclopedia pages about St. Agatha worth checking out.
She is claimed as the patroness of both Palermo and Catania. The year after her death, the stilling of an eruption of Mt. Etna was attributed to her intercession. As a result, apparently, people continued to ask her prayers for protection against fire.
"I am the man who with the utmost daring discovered what had been discovered before....I did try to found a heresy of my own; and when I had put the last touches to it, I discovered that it was orthodoxy." G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
Friday, February 5, 2010
St. Agatha (Catholic & G.O.)
Today's saint is the same in both traditions. Below is the text from the American Catholic website regarding St. Agatha:
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Sorry for the drop-off
I've had a rough past couple of weeks as far as my schedule goes, and couple that with problems on my laptop and you get two weeks where I don't post anything. So sorry. I hope to be back up and running starting tomorrow.
See you then.
See you then.
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