Saint Agatha has her breasts severed and restored by Saint Peter. Patroness of women with breast cancer and intercessor for protection from earthquakes, fires and volcanic activity
Saint Ágatha is a great intercessor in two serious problems very common in the turbulent days today: in the diseases and breast cancers of women and in natural disasters, especially in earthquakes, fires and volcanic activities. We have routinely seen in recent years the awakening of volcanoes in countless countries and earthquakes reaching all over the world, even in Brazil. This volume of "almost simultaneous" natural disasters has never been reported before in human history. In Matthew 24:7 on the apostles' question to Christ about the end of time and his return answered, "7 For nation shall arise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be fades, and plagues, and earthquakes, in various places. Therefore, in need, the intercession of St. Agatha should be used for its protection.
Born in Catania, Sicily (Italy) between 230 and 235, still in the first centuries of Christianity. From his childhood he received the Christian teachings and promised his chastity to God, rejecting to accept some marriage arranged between families, according to the customs of the time. In her youth she became one of the most beautiful women in Sicily, besides being very intelligent and noble family. Of course, it began to awaken the greed of many men of the locality. But at the age of 15, at the height of his youth, already consecrated to Jesus, he received from the bishop the red veil of consecrated virgins. Even rich, she dressed as poor and lived to serve those most in need.
However, there was one suitor she could not dodge due to her great insistence, because she fell in love with the beautiful young woman: the Roman senator Quinciano, known for her hunger for power and cruelty. She made several refusals of marriage and sexual acts with the politician, reinforcing her promise of virginity and devout life to God. He even captured her and handed her over to a brothel owner to mistake her from her Christian religiosity, but after a month of attempts to dishonor her, no man could touch her.
Finally, already very angry, the senator leads her to trial for being christian - after the great persecution of Christians that persisted at that time. After two days of much discussion and new attempts to persuade her to idolize pagan Roman gods, the young woman does not bend over. Nothing else he can do, the politician has her tortured in terrible ways: burning her with iron, stretching her in a torture machine to disjoint her bones, and... having your breasts ripped off. In this terrible torture, she asks Quinciano, "Aren't you ashamed of mutilating the woman what your mother gave you to feed him?".
After the terrible tortures, Agate was thrown into a prison, with no bandage on his wounds, to die. But during the night she receives the miraculous visit of St. Peter in her prison, restoring her breasts and healing her wounds with a divine light.
Quinciano , upon discovering that Ágata remains alive and healthier than before, he orders torture to intensify: they undress her, leaving her only with her red veil and rolling her over burning embers, next to shards of vases.
At the exact moment of these new tortures, a strong earthquake struck the city of Catania, killing even friends and politicians from the Quinciano circle. The population calls for the politician to release the saint for the earthquake to stop and the Volcano Etna cease its lavas over the city. They take her out of torture and throw her back in jail.
Already in prison, Ágata thanks God for the strength he has given him to endure such atrocities and gives his soul to Him saying, "My Lord Jesus Christ, you are my heart and my life. Take me and make me yours forever!" , dying then. At the very moment of his death the volcano Etna stopped its activity.
The senator still without the slightest modesty, will make an inventory of the possessions of the young woman after a few days of her death. On the way, two of his horses turn on him, one biting him and the other kicking him into the river. His body was never found.
A year after Ágata's death, the Volcano Etna erupts again, advancing its lavas over the city and destroying some villages. The population and Christians devout to Saint Agatha, already in despair, took their red veil and threw it on the lavas in search of a miracle that would stop all the destruction of the city. Volcanic activity immediately ceased, again saving the city of Catania. Over the centuries, countless miracles have been attributed to St. Agatha at intercession to cease the lavas of the Etna volcano and in the region's earthquakes, as well as epidemics and plagues. Therefore, the saint also became the intercessor in the protection in situations of fires, earthquakes and volcanic activities.
References:
ARQUIDIOCESE DE SÃO PAULO. Santa Águeda (Ágata)
BREVIÁRIO. OS MILAGRES DE SANTA ÁGUEDA OU SANTA ÁGATA - COMEMORADA DIA 05 DE FEVEREIRO