Agatha
A Dictionary of Early Christian Biography [1]
Agatha , a virgin martyred at Catana in Sicily under Decius, Feb. 5, 251, according to her Acta ; but under Diocletian according to the Martyrol. and Aldhelm ( de Virgin. 22); mentioned by Pope Damasus A.D. 366 ( Carm. v.), and by Venantius Fortunatus c . 580; inserted in the Canon of the Mass by Gregory the Great according to Aldhelm ( u.s. , and see also S. Greg. M. Dial. iii. 30); and commemorated in a homily by Methodius, c. 900. Her name is in the Carthag. Calendar of c. 450; in Ruinart, p. 695; and in the black-letter calendar in our Prayer-book. Churches at Rome were dedicated to her by pope Symmachus c. 500; by Ricimer A.D. 460, enriched with her relics by Gregory the Great; and by Gregory II. in 726. She is the patroness of Malta (Butler's Lives of Saints ). See also the homily against Peril of Idolatry , p. iii.
[A.W.H.]
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [2]
a female Christian martyr, born at Palermo, in the third century. Quintianus, the pagan governor of Sicily (A.D. 251), captivated with her charms, and incensed by her rejection of his illicit overtures, tortured her in the most brutal manner. By his order she was first scourged with rods, then burnt with red-hot irons and cruelly torn with sharp hooks; after which she was laid upon a bed of live coals mingled with glass. She died in prison February 5, A.D. 251. The history of Agatha, however, given by the Bollandists, is suspected of corruption. — Tillemont, 3, 209; Butler, Lives of Saints, Feb. 5.
