ID: 456
Ressource_Provider: Jérôme Bourgon
Title: Martyrdom of St Agatha
DocumentNature: Painting
Repository: Unknown
Color: Black and white
Caption: A Mosaic in the Church of Ris (Auvergne)
Topic: Supplice (esthetic representation of)
Description: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from St Agatha)

Saint Agatha (died 251) is a Christian saint. Her memorial day is February 5th.
Agatha was born at either Catania or Palermo and was martyred in approximately 250 at Catania. She is the patron saint of Catania.
According to variations of her legend, having rejected the amorous advances of a Roman prefect, she was persecuted by him for her Christian faith. Among the tortures she underwent was the cutting off of her breasts. She is therefore often depicted iconographically carrying her excised breasts on a platter.
The shape of her amputated breasts gave rise to her attribute as patron saint of bell-founders. More recently she is venerated as patron saint of breast cancer patients.
Her scorned admirer eventually sentenced her to death by being burnt at the stake. However, she was saved from this fate by a mysterious earthquake. She later died in prison.
She is considered as patron saint of Malta since her intercession is reported to have saved Malta from Turkish invasion in 1551.
The memory of Agatha is upheld in particular by the Military Order of the Collar of Saint Agatha of Paternò.
Keyword: St Agatha, Martyrdom, Breasts cut off, nipples

Related Replication (1)

1  Ressource_Provider: Jérôme Bourgon
    Title: Crucifixion-like lingchi (with breast tortures, mostly)
    Information: One of the most frequently reproduced model represented a convict, most of the time a woman, tyed on a pole similar to the Christian cross, and having his breast tortured as a preliminary to dismemberment. The model might have been provided by Christian iconography, for instance the "Martyrdom of St Agatha", who had her nipples cut by tortioners. Christian cross can also be found on crucifixion-like stranguation and decapitation. Variations include tortioners handling a kind of screen against blood pollution, and starting disembowelment instead of (or joined to?) breast wounds.

Derniére modification le : 2006-03-14