Virgin and Martyr · Feast day February 5
St. Agatha
The feast day of St. Agatha is February 5, a memorial in the US Catholic calendar. Traditionally invoked as patron of nurses and Sicily.
| Feast day | February 5 |
|---|---|
| In the US calendar | Memorial |
| Title | Virgin and Martyr |
| Died | c. 251 |
| Patron of | nurses, Sicily |
| Next on Bless’s Today screen | None left in the published calendar (through December 31, 2028) |
Life
A noble Sicilian maiden of Catania who consecrated her virginity to Christ; the magistrate Quintianus, spurned, invoked the persecution edicts against her. Neither brothel nor rack nor the cutting off of her breasts broke her; she asked her tormentors whether they did not fear God, torturing his handmaid.
She died in prison about 251. Her veil, carried in procession, is credited by the Catanese with halting Etna’s lava again and again; her name too stands in the Roman Canon.
Patron of
Tradition invokes St. Agatha as patron of nurses and Sicily.
Saints with the same patronage
- St. John of Godnurses · March 8
- St. Catherine of Sienanurses · April 29
- St. Camillus de Lellisnurses · July 18
Patronages are traditional, not an official list. All patron saints in Bless, A to Z.
In the calendar
The upcoming dates, through December 31, 2028, when Bless’s Today screen shows St. Agatha. Where the US calendar keeps another celebration that day, it is named instead and no rank is given.
Readings
No dates are left in Bless’s published calendar, which runs through December 31, 2028. St. Agatha keeps February 5 in Bless’s calendar of saints: see the saints of February.
All the saints of February Born on February 5? A saint for every day
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