AGATHA - PATRON SAINT OF BEAUTIFUL WOMEN PERSECUTED BY THEIR PURSUERS

 

Of all the early Christian martyrs, St Agatha's martyrdom makes me cower. So much so that I've often resisted learning her story. She spurned a powerful man's advances and for this he ordered that her breasts be scraped off. Perhaps this is why so exceedingly few Catholic parents call their girls Agatha, because it is hard to explain to a sweet girl that she is called after a great woman whose blood fell from her bare chest which looked like a rack of lamb after her network of mammary glands had been ripped away. Even if her story could be, ahem, edited for children, her plight was a lot worse than every little girl whose had sand from the sandpit thrown in her eyes by a little boy who feels rejected, but it is nonetheless the same mindset: punish the girl who has not returned affection because of the feelings of rejection she has inspired. And this makes Agatha an advocate for every little girl and woman of any age whose had unfair treatment and even punishment for not complying with a male’s carnal desires.

Young Agatha was exceptionally beautiful. She was born in Catania, Italy to a noble family who had plenty of gold coins. The year of her birth was 231, and Emperor Decius ruled over the empire in which she and her family were citizens. Decius was a pagan whose view of Christians got worse as he aged. 

As a very young child, Agatha had made a vow to be a virgin for Christ. She went through most of her teens being celebrated as a great beauty, but she did not feel in the least bit tempted by her many suitors. She had a love for Christ that most of us can only dream of. Unfortunately for Agatha, when she grew old enough to marry, Emperor Decius was in the last and meanest year of his life. Quintianus, one of Decius's judges fell in love, I mean, in lust with her. Decius gave his judges free reign as to how to make Christians perish. Agatha always wore a red veil to symbolize she was a bride of Christ, and the scarlet of her head-covering foreshadowed the blood she would spill.

Agatha was about 20 years old when caught the eye of Quintianus who wanted to make her his wife.  I've read in The Golden Legend, a book that was popular among English Catholics of the Middle Ages that Quintianus was of "low lineage", which is a snobbish way of saying he was from a poor family, and he is suspected of having wanted to take advantage of Agatha's social standing and her family's wealth. But Quintianus could have asked the hand of another noblewoman from an affluent family and used his power as a high-profile lawyer (this was before there was such a profession as lawyer, but he had that role as one who practised the law of Ancient Rome) and used his influence over the emperor to get a rich girl. He, however, wanted Agatha on his arm because of her exquisite beauty. Initially when she refused his proposal, he tried to woo her with promises of the great life he could give her, but she responded poetically, "Your words are but wind, your promises be but rain". 

Thus she injured Quintianus' ego, and he called her to court and sought a deposition from her that would prove she was one of those feared beings, a Christian. If he gathered evidence to this effect, he could torture her. She came to court in her red veil. In his judgment seat, he demanded of her that she worship the pagan gods, and she refused utterly, and echoed St Paul when she told him that there are no "gods" but devils that pose as so-called deities. Agatha had such mettle and was a strong in word and deed, such a powerful role-model for early Christian women.  When she would not bend to his will, Quintianus swore he would make her pay by vile persecution, but that first he would have her cast into jail to think things over. She did not consent to be his paramour and she was led to the barracks. To all those who saw her, she went to her dingy prison cell as one going to her wedding banquet. 

The next day, Quintianus thought he might give her a second chance, and he asked her if she was feeling well after a night in the bitter, hard stone of the prison. She answered affirmatively, "Christ is mine health." Quintianus was out-played, but he was sat aloft in his judge's seat, trying to make a case that she was a stubborn Christian, when this was his cover for persecuting her for not wanting to be his lover. In truth, he was persecuting her for not warming his bed. He demanded of her something he knew she would not do - that she deny Christ in order to be spared savage suffering. Agatha refused. Agatha warned him that he was going to the fires of Hell. Not the stuff you say to sweet-talk a judge. But she matched him in wit and verbal skill, which was not just because she was smart, but because she had that true courage of a lover of Christ. 

This was the second time Agatha had defied him, and he had her thrown in jail again, and this time nasty torturers came and took pincers to her nipples, in what must have been an early sado-masochistic scene, they clamped her nipples repeatedly and without mercy. Okay, I sympathize with anyone who flinches from calling a little baby girl Agatha because they don't want to hold forth on this detail alone. Yet, there's worse, a knife was used to flay Agatha's breast right off and they were arranged on a platter like pieces of meat, which surely instructs as to Quintianus' view of women as attractive flesh puppets. 

When she was next before him, Agatha brought Quintianus up short, "Cruel tyrant, hast thou no shame to cut off that in a woman which thou didst suck in thy mother?" Whoever said that Christian women faithful to Christ could not be feisty? All the while she stood before him, bereft of her breasts, Quintianus's was not satisfied that he had exacted revenge on her, and he had her thrown in jail again, this time with the order that no one was to try to alleviate her pain. He didn't allow, of course, for the miraculous, and in her dark cell, Agatha was greeted with the sight of St Peter, Keeper of the Keyes who came accompanied with a glowing angel. Peter acted as a surgeon and medical doctor and had her breasts restored to her. 

When Quintianus next saw Agatha, he had the stupendous sight of seeing her with an intact bosom. This must have made for interesting court documents, that a judge had ordered her mammary glands be removed, the order was fulfilled and next she appeared as though his henchmen had never carved her breasts away. Instead of being moved to repent, Quintianus decided on a more deliberate way to arrange her death, he had her stripped naked and had her body rolled over hot coals and rough shards. Astoundingly, her red veil remained untouched by the burning embers and the jagged edges of the shards. His efforts to slay her were still in vain and she returned to prison alive. Soon after, however, she was killed by an act of God when earthquake shook Catania on February 5th. The prison was reduced to rubble, under which was the dead body of Agatha, who had not died because of Quintianus's attempts, but because it was her time. She had given her will to the Lord to take her when He willed, and it was surely a lesson to all those who had abused her that try as they might to kill her, they could not do so because their efforts had not been the will of God. 

When we review the stories of the early Christian female martyrs, especially in the case of the gloriously beautiful St Philomena for whom Emperor Diocletian was consumed with lust, and for delicate-in-body but strong in mind, St Agnes, there is a common thread in that the more beautiful the woman, the worse their persecution and torture. The more beautiful they were, the more certain extremely powerful men desired them, and when these women rejected them, they paid with their blood. 

I think there is a strong case to be made for Agatha being a patron saint of pretty women who are persecuted by their pursuers.

February 5th is the feast day of St Agatha, I wish you and yours a wonderful day. 

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This post was informed by my historical research on Ancient Rome and by The Golden Legend. First classic painting was executed by Carlo Dolci. The second was executed by Guido Cagnacci. The third of St Peter coming to St Agatha in her cell was executed by Alessandro Turchi. 

All paintings are in the public domain.