ST AGATHA; PATRON SAINT OF BREAST CANCER SUFFERERS, RAPE VICTIMS AND WET NURSES- Feast Day 5th February

 ST AGATHA

PATRON SAINT OF BREAST CANCER SUFFERERS, RAPE VICTIMS AND WET NURSES

5th February

St Agatha is one of the saints whom the Bad Catholics Guide describe as indicative of the Christian predilection for “recycling the worst things in life and turning them into the best”. She is the patron saint of Sicily, bellfounders, breast cancer sufferers, rape victims and wet nurses.

She was tortured and put to death during the persecution of Decius (250-253 AD), in Catania, Sicily, for her determined and faithful witness to the Faith. At a time long before the Catholic idea of marriage predominated, she was forced by her father into an arranged marriage to a Roman senator, Quintianus, (or “Quinziano”), an arrangement which she refused. As a secret Catholic, St Agatha had made a vow of perpetual virginity. As pointed out by the authors of The Bad Catholics Guide, Quintianus was not used to people saying “No’ to him and had her arrested for being a Christian- a crime punishable by death. She was tortured horribly – the Roman soldiers cut off her breasts and left her to die.

It is said that St Peter appeared to the suffering girl with her breasts on a platter and miraculously restored them to her body so she could die with her body intact. As a consequence, St Agatha has always been portrayed with her breasts on a platter. Because they look like bells, the European custom has been for the churches to bless church bells on her feast day.

She was buried at the Badia di Sant’Agata, in Catania, Sicily, and, naturally is the patron saint of Catania. Consequently, her feast day is a huge event in Catania, celebrated with an all-night religious procession, the statue of Saint Agatha borne throughout the city, and a celebration lasting between the 3rd to the 5th of February. The procession of the saint is all accompanied by wonderful street food, with descriptions by the Sicilian web-site, “Citymapsicilia”, including:

Dates, cut in half and filled with almond sugar;

Olivette- recalling the time when St Agatha, pursued by Quinziano’s men, stopped to adjust her shoe, near the Praetorian Palace. In the place where she stopped, an olive tree grew.

Arancino: Filled with meat and sauce

Calia and Simenza: Citymapsicilia describes it as: “What kind of party would it be without the famous calia? Chickpeas, pumpkin seeds, peanuts and all the good dried fruit, to be munched in the street, to share with friends, to be enjoyed in the atmosphere of great party that animates Catania. And why not, to photograph. The stalls of the calia e simenza, often close to the merchants of balloons and to those who sell candy candies or cotton candy, is a real blaze of colors and fragrances.” And how can anybody improve on that?

Horse meat: …well, we’ll skip that, shall we?

Cassatelle or Minuzze di Sant’aita: The famous breast-shaped desserts, described by Citymapsicilia as follows: “The minnuzze year in itself some of the most typical elements of Sicily: the white snow-capped Etna, the lava in the center represented by a small candied cherry. But more than anything, as legend tells, it seems to represent the breasts that, amputated, miraculously receive the Santa.”

And, of course, Torrone di S.Agata: the nougat of St Agatha –

“condensing the essence and the most typical products of the party, rich in marzipan, candied and dried fruit.”(1)

The breasts of St Agatha are celebrated by these desserts, the Minni di Sant’ Aita – round pastries with white icing and a candied cherry on top to represent her breasts. Below is the recipe for one version of them, taken from Italy Magazine, (site address below at (2)).

The story of St Agatha is intriguing in its earthiness, but a superficial view of the celebration, perhaps distracted by the portrayals of breasts, may miss a deeper message, conveyed at a number of levels:

First, there is a recognition by the Church of the cruelty of the oppression of the young girl, forced into sexual servitude by ambitious, powerful people. She was then tortured with specific attention to her breasts – the symbol of womanhood and maternal nurturing. Her desecration was completed by the disregard of her persecutors, who simply left her to die. That is, the Church recognises that bad things happen to people. And sometimes, it is not through any fault of the person.

But, it was the First Pope, the head of Christ’s body on earth, who came to her and healed her wounds. That is, it was St Peter, Christ’s Vicar on earth, specifically, who healed her breasts and made her body complete again – as a woman. It was the early Church that gave her honour and respect, and the honour and respect given to her was directed, precisely and specifically, to the parts of her anatomy that had been desecrated – that represented her womanhood.

It was the Church that exalted women, in contrast to their status in Imperial Rome, and gave them status and respect in recognition of their humanity and reflective of the role played by the Blessed Virgin Mary in the salvation of mankind. It was the early Church that changed the notion of marriage to a sacrament to be entered freely by two people of equal value in the eyes of God, and therefore, their fellow man.

So, the dessert of St Agatha’s breasts, while amusing, is not just a titillating and silly celebration: rather it is a celebration of life and of womanhood and it is symbolic, both of the cruelty of the world and the gentle healing of Christ and His Church.

MINNI di SAINT AITA

INGREDIENTS

PASTRY

450 g flour

190 g butter

150 g icing sugar

3 egg yolks

1 tspn vanilla extract

FILLING

600 g sheep ricotta

60g candied orange peel

50 g dark chocolate chips

100 g icing sugar

1 orange zest

ICING

525 g icing sugar

3 egg whites

3 tblspn lemon juice

10 candied cherries

PREPARATION

“Mix the flour and cold butter in a food processor, then place onto a board dusted with some flour. Add the egg yolks (keep the whites aside for the icing), the seeds of a vanilla pod (or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract) and knead lightly just to mix all the ingredients and obtain a homogeneous dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.

Proceed with the preparation of the filling: chop the orange peel into small cubes. Sift the ricotta, passing through a sieve and add the icing sugar, orange zest, the candied orange cubes and the chocolate chips. Mix everything together to get a homogeneous mixture.

Take the pastry out of the fridge and roll it out into a sheet approximately 1/2 cm high. Then cut them in circles with an 8-9 cm diameter and line some spherical moulds with it, then fill them with about 80 gr of the ricotta cheese mixture and seal them with another circle of pastry pressing the edges down.

Then bake them in a pre-heated static oven at 200 C° for 20 minutes (or in a convection oven 180° for 15 minutes). When the Minne di Sant Agata will be golden-brown on top, take them out of the oven and leave to cool in the moulds. Unmould them when they have cooled down. Place them on a wire rack and in the meanwhile prepare the glazing. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the egg whites with the lemon juice.

Add the sifted powdered sugar and beat on low speed until smooth. The consistency of the icing should not be too thick and stiff, but more like the consistency of thick batter.

Cover the "minne" with the icing, pouring it evenly over the cakes, then finish the decoration with a candied cherry placed on top of each little cake.

Let them dry on the rack so that the excess glazing can drip off. The minne of Sant'Agata are ready: they can be eaten when the icing is still soft or after you have let them dry completely.”

(1) citymapsicilia

(2)Italy magazine

Images: Citymapsicilia-Minni di sant'agat; Saint Agatha by a follower of Carravaggio, Francisco de Zurbaran; Saint Agatha by Piero della Francesca; Procession Catania, 2008.