|
Saint Agatha of Sicily (231 AD – 251 AD) is a Christian saint and virgin martyress. Her memorial is on 5 February. Agatha〔Latinized form of Greek Αγαθη (''Agathe''), derived from Greek αγαθος, ''agathos'', "good" ((Behind the Name: the etymology and history of first names )); Jacobus de Voragine, taking etymology in the Classical tradition, as a text for a creative excursus, made of ''Agatha'' one symbolic origin in ''agios'', "sacred" + ''Theos'', "God", and another in ''a-geos", "without Earth", virginally untainted by earthly desires (("Agatha", III.15 )).〕 was born at Catania or Palermo, Sicily, and she was martyred in approximately 251. She is one of seven women, who, along with the Blessed Virgin Mary, are commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass. She is the patron saint of Catania, Molise, Malta, San Marino and Zamarramala, a municipality of the Province of Segovia in Spain. She is also the patron saint of breast cancer patients, martyrs, wet nurses, bell-founders, bakers, fire, earthquakes, and eruptions of Mount Etna. ==Early history== Agatha is buried at the Badia di Sant'Agata, Catania.〔D'Arrigo 1985, p. 15; the present rebuilding of the ancient foundation is by Giovanni Battista Vaccarini (1767).〕 She is listed in the late 6th-century ''Martyrologium Hieronymianum'' associated with Jerome,〔 and the ''Synaxarion'', the calendar of the church of Carthage, ca. 530.〔W.H. Frere, ''Studies in Roman Liturgy: 1. The Kalendar'' (London, 1930), p 94f.〕 Agatha also appears in one of the ''carmina'' of Venantius Fortunatus.〔''Carmen'' VIII, 4, ''De Virginitate'', noted by Liana De Girolami Cheney, "The Cult of Saint Agatha" ''Woman's Art Journal'' 17.1 (Spring – Summer 1996:3–9) p. 3.〕 Two early churches were dedicated to her in Rome,〔Sant'Agata in via della Lugaretta, Trastevere, and Sant'Agata dei Goti, (Touring Club Italiano, ''Roma e dintorni'' (1965 ), pp 444, 315).〕 notably the Church of Sant'Agata dei Goti in Via Mazzarino, a titular church with apse mosaics of ca. 460 and traces of a fresco cycle,〔(date in TCI, ''Roma e dintorni''; a letter from Pope Hadrian I (died 795) to Charlemagne remarks that Gregory (died 604) ordered the church adorned with mosaics and frescoes (Cheney 1996 note 5).〕 overpainted by Gismondo Cerrini in 1630. In the 6th century CE, the church was adapted to Arianism, hence its name "Saint Agatha of Goths", and later reconsecrated by Gregory the Great, who confirmed her traditional sainthood. Agatha is also depicted in the mosaics of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, where she appears, richly dressed, in the procession of female martyrs along the north wall. Her image forms an initial ''I'' in the Sacramentary of Gellone, which dates from the end of the 8th century. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Agatha of Sicily」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|