St. Agatha
A girl from Sicily who said no to the most powerful man on the island, and kept saying it.
Agatha was young, rich, and beautiful, and a Roman governor named Quintianus decided he would have her. She had already made a promise to God, and she said no. He was not a man who heard no often, so he reached for the law instead. Being a Christian was illegal, and Agatha was one.
He put her in prison thinking she would change her mind. She did not. It cost her everything, and she died there, still herself, still sure. She was probably about fifteen.
A year later Mount Etna erupted, and the lava came down the mountain toward her city. The people of Catania ran to her tomb, took up her veil, and carried it toward the fire, and the lava stopped. They have been carrying it out every February since. Seventeen hundred years later, her festival is still one of the biggest in the world.
St. Agatha facts for kids
- Her festival in Catania, Sicily draws hundreds of thousands of people every February
- Sicilians ask her protection against fire and the eruptions of Mount Etna
- Her name means good in Greek
- She is one of only seven women named in the oldest Eucharistic Prayer of the Mass
Feast day: February 5 · Patron of Sicily and nurses, and against fire
St. Agatha, make me strong enough to keep my promises, even when keeping them is hard.