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Bible Dictionaries
Agatha
Wace's Dictionary of Early Christian Biography
or Agatha , a virgin martyred at Catana in Sicily under Decius, Feb. 5, 251, according to her Acta; but under Diocletian according to the Martyrol. and Aldhelm (de Virgin. 22); mentioned by Pope Damasus A.D. 366 ( Carm. v.), and by Venantius Fortunatus c . 580; inserted in the Canon of the Mass by Gregory the Great according to Aldhelm (u.s. , and see also S. Greg. M. Dial. iii. 30); and commemorated in a homily by Methodius, c. 900. Her name is in the Carthag. Calendar of c. 450; in Ruinart, p. 695; and in the black-letter calendar in our Prayer-book. Churches at Rome were dedicated to her by pope Symmachus c. 500; by Ricimer A.D. 460, enriched with her relics by Gregory the Great; and by Gregory II. in 726. She is the patroness of Malta (Butler's Lives of Saints ). See also the homily against Peril of Idolatry , p. iii.
[A.W.H.]
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Wace, Henry. Entry for 'Agatha'. A Dictionary of Early Christian Biography. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hwd/a/agatha.html. 1911.
