Her name means ‘good.’ She lived as a chaste child of God, consecrating her life to God. Refusing a proposal from a heathen governor, she was handed over to humiliating persecution by the Roman state.
She was tortured with hot coals and glass shards, but this was interrupted by an eruption of Mount Etna. She was left to starve in prison.
She stretched out her hands to the Lord and said, “O Lord who made and created me, and have kept me from my infancy, … who took from me the love of the world, who have kept my body from pollution, who made me to overcome the executioner’s torments, iron, fire and chains, who gave me the virtue of patience in the midst of torments, I pray Thee to receive my spirit. For it is time, Lord, that Thou command me to leave this world, and come to Thy mercy. Saying this, she sent forth her blessed spirit. The Christian people, taking away her holy body, set it in a new sepulcher, after anointing it.
The Martyrdom of Saint Agatha, from the 1529 Breviary of the Roman Curia
After being healed through the intercession of Saint Peter, martyred Saint Agatha interceded for martyred Saint Lucy, healing Saint Lucy’s mother.
Saint Peter, Saint Agatha, and Saint Lucy are thus all commemorated in the Roman Canon of the Mass.
