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...