St. Agatha
Patron of breast cancer patients, nurses, Sicily, bell-founders, protection against fire
Saint Agatha (c. 231–251) was a young Sicilian noblewoman who repelled the advances of the Roman consul Quintianus by professing herself the bride of Christ. Enraged, he handed her over to torture and finally to mutilation: her breasts were cut off, a torment depicted in much of Sicilian and Renaissance art. The night before her death Saint Peter appeared in her cell and healed her wounds. The faithful of Catania, when an eruption of Mount Etna threatened the city a year later, carried her veil to the lava and the flow stopped — a miracle still commemorated by the great February procession through the streets of Catania.