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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260205
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DTSTAMP:20260511T192220
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UID:14572-1770249600-1770335999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Agatha
DESCRIPTION:ST AGATHA \nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints \n◊◊◊ \nSt Agatha has retained her place in the Universal Calendar following the \nreforms of 1969\, even though nothing that can be called historical fact is known \nof her life. There is\, however\, good evidence of an early cult\, with many versions \nof her legend recorded in both Greek and Latin\, the Greek being the earlier\, with \nthe Latin dating from the sixth century. This means that however fictitious the \ndetails of her Acts\, she cannot be dismissed as a mere fiction altogether. Her \nActs\, though\, are more of an indication of the type of woman held up for \nveneration as a saint in the early centuries than anything else. \nShe is described as a wealthy woman who had dedicated her virginity to \nChrist. This\, then\, rather than her life\, is the most precious thing she has to \noffer. Her birthplace is assigned to either Palermo or Catania in Sicily\, and she is \nsaid to have died at Catania\, which has the stronger historical claim to be her \nbirthplace. Among those who try to take the precious gift she has vowed to \nChrist from her is a consul named Quintianus. He used the imperial edict \nagainst Christians to have her brought before him\, then placed in a brothel run \nby a woman with the appropriate name of “Aphrodisia” and her assistants\, \nreferred to as her daughters. All tricks\, assaults and threats to make her yield \nher virginity fail\, and so she stands as an example of “virginity as a sacred power\, \na concrete realization within this world of the divine spirit”. \nQuintianus then handed her over to be tortured\, and her Acts dwell on the \ntortures inflicted on her\, culminating in the cutting off of her breasts\, which \nwere placed on a platter. Perhaps because further details of her tortures involve \nher being rolled over live coals\, she is invoked against fire in general. This may\, \nthough\, be an extension of her protection against eruptions from Mount Etna\,11 \nbecause she is associated with Sicily\, and her legend states that after her death a \nflow of lava from Mount Etna was miraculously diverted by her silken veil held \nup on a staff. This is last recorded as happening in the 1840s\, and her veil is still \ncarried in solemn procession on her feast day in Catania. By extension she \nprotects against earthquakes everywhere. \nShe is also patron saint of bell-founders. The association is ancient and \ncertain\, but the reason has not been determined. It may be that it derives from \nher protection against volcanic eruptions and fire\, as bells were rung to warn of \nboth. Another explanation given is that the molten metal involved in casting \nbells suggests the flow of molten lava. Her breasts also brought a more \nappropriate patronage\, as she is invoked against diseases of the breast. Her \nbreasts on a dish were often mistaken for loaves in the Middle ages\, from which \narose the custom of blessing bread on a dish at her altar on her feast day… \nWhatever the facts behind her legend\, Agatha remains one of the best- \nloved and most invoked saints in the Christian devotional life.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-agatha-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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