tana, in the
persecution of Decius, in the third consulship of that prince, in the
year of our Lord 251. She was of a rich and illustrious family, and
having been consecrated to God from her tender years, triumphed over
many assaults upon her chastity. Quintianus, a man of consular dignity,
bent on gratifying both his lust and avarice, imagined he should easily
compass his wicked designs on Agatha's person and estate, by means of
the emperor's edict against the Christians. He therefore caused her to
be apprehended and brought before him at Catana. Seeing herself in the
hands of the persecutors, she made this prayer: "Jesus Christ, Lord of
all things, you see my heart, you know my desire: possess alone all that
I am. I am your sheep, make me worthy to overcome the devil." She wept,
and prayed for courage and strength all the way she {358} went. On her
appearance, Quintianus gave orders for her being put into the hands of
Aphrodisia, a most wicked woman, who with six daughters, all
prostitutes, kept a common stew. The saint suffered in this infamous
place, assaults and stratagems against her virtue, infinitely more
terrible to her than any tortures or death itself. But placing her
confidence in God, she never ceased with sighs and most earnest tears to
implore his protection, and by it was an overmatch for all their hellish
attempts, the whole month she was there. Quintianus being informed of
her constancy after thirty days, ordered her to be brought before him.
The virgin, in her first interrogatory, told him, that to be a servant
of Jesus Christ was the most illustrious nobility, and true liberty. The
judge, offended at her resolute answers, commanded her to be buffeted,
and led to prison. She entered it with great joy, recommending her
future conflict to God. The next day she was arraigned a second time at
the tribunal, and answered with equal constancy that Jesus Christ was
her life and her salvation. Quintianus then ordered her to be stretched
on the rack, which torment was usually accompanied with stripes, the
tearing of the sides with iron hooks, and burning them with torches or
matches. The governor, enraged to see her suffer all this with
cheerfulness, commanded her breast to be tortured, and afterwards to be
cut off. At which she made him this reproach: "Cruel tyrant, do you not
blush to torture this part of my body, you that sucked the breasts of a
woman yourself?" He remanded her to prison with a severe order, t