10 things to know about St. Agatha patron saint

Saint Agatha, the patron saint of Catania, is celebrated all over the world. How much do you know about her life and her feast, which is held between 3 and 5 February?
Agate, born between 229 and 235 A.D. and died in 251, it is the patron of a city that loves and respects her with great devotion. But it isn’t only the holy feast of Catania, it is also an opportunity for thousands of visitors from all over Sicily, Italy and from all over the world, to attend one of the most celebrated religious rites of Christianity. A cult that goes beyond the spiritual aspect, embracing the culture, folklore and society.

Here are 10 things to know, to feel like a real citizen of Catania.

1. Agatha is also celebrated in Palermo! Together with St Cristina, saint Ninfa and Saint’Oliva, she is in fact one of the four patron saints of the so-called Felicissima City (Santa Rosalia will be born only in the 12th century).

2. What does the inscription Agatina M.S.S.H.D.E.P.L., that you find around Catania, means? It is linked to a legend that tells of a tablet brought by an angel and deposited on the tomb of St. Agatha in 251 A.D. It would mean “Mens sana spontanea, honori Dei et patraie liberationi”: the mind of Sant’Agata is healthy and spontaneous for the honor of God and the salvation of his native city, of which she is patron.

3. The relics of patron Saint did not come right away to Catania. First, in fact, exactly in 1040, they were stolen and brought to Constantinople by the Byzantine general Giorgio Maniace. But in 1126 two Byzantine army soldiers, Gisliberto and Goselmo, stole them to deliver them to the Bishop of Catania in Aci Castello. On August 17 of that year, the relics returned in the cathedral of Catania.

4. In honor of Saint Agatha, in Catania delicious cassatine are prepared, from the hemispherical shape, reminiscent of a woman’s breast, and they are called minnuzze or minne di Sant’Agata. A cake that is prepared in all of Sicily, and whose origin is traced to ancient times.

5. Devotees pulling the fercolo, the reliquary bust and the chest, on the streets of the city wear a real “uniform”: a white cotton tunic, said “saccu”, a black velvet cap, called “scurzitta”, a white cord around the waist, gloves and a handkerchief ready to be move in sign of love and devotion to the saint.

6. In 1169 a severe earthquake and a tremendous eruption of Etna struck Catania. The lava river, flowing to the slopes of the volcano and spreading in the countryside, destroying everything advanced in an unstoppable way toward the city. But a procession with the sacred veil of the holy fire blocked the trail, making a miracle (one of many attributed to Agata).

7. A key element of the festivities of St Agatha are Candlemas, or “waxy”, large and richly carved gilded wooden buildings, which represent the corporations of arts and crafts, and weigh from 400 to 900 kg each.

8. Saint Lucia went, with her mother which was seriously ill, to pray at the tomb of Agatha. As for the legend the patron saint of Siracusa, while she was praying, had a vision in which Saint Agatha told her, “why did you come here to ask me what you can do too? As well as Catania is protected by me, your Siracusa will be protected from you. “Lucia’s mother was healed, and the young after a while was martyred”.

9. It seems that on the night of February 4 and 5, in the days of the martyrdom of Agatha, at the Simeto river where the proconsul Quinziano lost his life (the one who tore the breasts of the saint), you still hear his screams that seem to repeatedly invoke the name of Agatha.

10. Agatha is patron of many other Italian towns, and even several foreign locations. Among these, the Republic of San Marino, Mdina in Malta, City of Pesqueira in Brazil and Le Fournet in France.