Subj : Today Is ... Feb. 4th
To   : All
From : Mike Dippel
Date : Tue Feb 04 2025 19:50:22

Feb 3-5th - St. Agatha Festival

Sant' Agata is especially revered in Catania, Sicily, where her relics are preserved in a 
silver casket. The beautiful young Sicilian virgin was put to death in the third century 
because she refused to yield to the advances of a Roman prefect. 

Among the tortures she is said to have endured was having her breasts cut off, and to 
this day she is the patron saint of nursing mothers and women suffering from diseases 
of the breast.

On February 3, 4 and 5 each year, a silver bust of St. Agatha wearing a jewel-encrusted 
crown is carried in procession from the cathedral to Catania's various churches. 

Included in the procession are the ceri, huge wooden replicas  of candlesticks which are 
carved with episodes from the saint's martyrdom. 

The streets are lined with streamers and flowers, and illuminated by strings of colored 
lights after dark. The festival ends with a fireworks display in the piazza.

Mike Dippel
 
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