February Drinking Companion
St. Agatha of Catania, patron of breast cancer. and those who suffered from rape or sexual assault. She is one of those weird but important Catholic devotions. I wanted to talk about her since I was fortunate to visit her tomb this past year. From the outside looking in, it is awkward that one would have a patron for such horrible acts, but that is the point, she preserved through these most difficult experiences maintaining her faith, despite unwelcome advances from a man who was wielding his political influence over her in hopes of manipulating her into his desires.
Agatha was raped over a month span, had her breast basically cut off, and she was imprisoned simply because she didn’t want to marry the prefect of Catania, who would later be the judge who condemned her to all her tortures for refusing to comply to his attempts. She believed though that Jesus was her spouse and she wanted no other. Nearly 1800 years later her legend lives on, including the healing of the mother of another local Sicilian, named St. Lucy of Syracuse. Lucy’s mother was sick circa 4th century. Lucy went to the tomb of St. Agatha and the rest was your typical grace of God through his saints that professed his name to the end. In layman’s terms, she provided a miraculous healing for Lucy’s mom.
Beyond this there’s not a lot of history for St. Agatha, just a lot of veneration as she is one of handful of women venerated in the Catholic liturgy, from the early church. In close I would like to share the holy card I wrote and made for her and Lucy which I took to Sicily with me and placed on their relics as a way of connecting others with them. You can see the box of cards in the main picture of this post. I share these women who understood the love of Jesus, and the healing powers that they knew they could obtain from Him if they just kept the faith. In today’s world with all the cancer and abuse that happen to many women I hope this woman will inspire many to seek the healing sacramental power of the mystical church, who is otherwise known as the Body of Jesus Christ.
