Page 34 - Saints of the Month: February

Saints of the Month: February

the first, for she was promised to her
parents before her birth, and consecrated
from her earliest infancy to God. In the
midst of dangers and temptations she
served Christ in purity of body and soul, and
she died for the love of chastity. Quintanus,
who governed Sicily under the Emperor
Decius, had heard the rumor of her beauty
and wealth, and he made the laws against
the Christians a pretext for summoning her
from Palermo to Catania, where he was at
the time. “O Jesus Christ!” she cried, as she
set out on this dreaded journey, “all that I
am is Thine; preserve me against the
tyrant.”

And Our Lord did indeed preserve one who
had given herself so utterly to Him. He kept
her pure and undefiled while she was
imprisoned for a whole month under charge
of an evil woman. He gave her strength to
reply to the offer of her life and safety, if she
would but consent to sin, “Christ alone is my
life and my salvation.” When Quintanus
turned from passion to cruelty, and cut off
her breasts, Our Lord sent the Prince of His
apostles to heal her. And when, after she
had been rolled naked upon potsherds, she
asked that her torments might be ended,
her Spouse heard her prayer and took her to
Himself.

St. Agatha gave herself without reserve to
Jesus Christ; she followed Him in virginal

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