Many know of St. Agatha because she is the patron saint of women fighting breast cancer.
Yet, we know little about her, except what is passed down to us in ancient legends.
Agatha was a beautiful and much courted young woman who died for her faith when she was about 20 years old. At the time, the Roman Emperor Decius had issued an edict that required all citizens of Rome to offer sacrifice to the gods, for which they would receive a certificate that authenticated their allegiance to the empire and the pagan deities.
Disobedience to the order would mean torture and, if the dissenter still refused obedience, execution.
A local Roman magistrate took a different spin on the edict and told Agatha that if she would have sex with him, he would dispense with the emperor’s edict in her case.
As a faithful Christian, Agatha refused the sinful exchange, and for that she was imprisoned, beaten and subject to excruciating torture that eventually involved the shearing off of her breasts.
Agatha the “Good”
St. Methodius of Sicily commented on her life in a homily featured in the Church’s Liturgy of Hours. In it, he specifically mentions the significance of her name:
Agatha, the name of our saint, means “good.” She was truly good, for she lived as a child of God. She was also given as the gift of God, the source of all goodness to her bridegroom, Christ, and to us. For she grants us a share in her goodness.
Agatha derives from the Greek word “agathos,” which means “good.”
St. Methodius then continues his commentary on this connection:
What can give greater good than the Sovereign Good? Whom could anyone find more worthy of celebration with hymns of praise than Agatha?
Agatha, her goodness coincides with her name and way of life. She won a good name by her noble deeds, and by her name she points to the nobility of those deeds. Agatha, her mere name wins all men over to her company. She teaches them by her example to hasten with her to the true Good. God alone.
We may not know why Agatha’s parents named her, but God used it to his advantage and showed her how to be truly “good.”
And today we celebrate...