St. Agatha, My Newest Patron





Attributed to Bartelemy d'Eyck, Saints Blaise and Agatha
from Hours of Rene of Anjou (use of Paris)
French (Aix-en-Provence), ca. 1442-1444
London, British Library
MS Egerton 1070, fol. 87v
The feast days of these two saints are February 3 and
February 5, respectively.

 Readers who follow this blog may have noticed that I have not posted anything new since last July. The unfortunate reason is that in that month I received the terrible news that a lump that appeared quite suddenly, and that I had assumed was just another one among the many cysts that have plagued me all my life,  was, in fact, a fairly large breast cancer tumor.  With that announcement my life turned upside down.  In the past months I have undergone the complete removal of one breast and a lumpectomy of the other, had complications from the surgery which required a second surgery to correct, have suffered considerable pain from both procedures and am currently undergoing chemotherapy.   In these months I have gained a new patroness, St. Agatha, patroness of women with breast cancer.  Thus my first new blog is posted in honor of her feast day, which is February 5^th. 

Agatha is among the most important of the female early Christian martyrs.  She is among those who are named in the Roman Canon, now called Eucharistic Prayer I.  They are, in order:  Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia and Anastasia.  By virtue of their being named in this most important prayer, used for centuries at almost every Mass, these women have a special place in Christian history and imagination.  Agatha was also believed to be a major influence on one of the other saints in this exclusive list, St. Lucy, and has for centuries been a frequently imaged figure in Christian art. 

Lorenzo Lotto, St. Lucy at the Tomb of St. Agatha
Italian, 1532
Iesi, Pinacoteca Civica

Agatha, properly Agatha of Catania in Sicily, appears to have been martyred during the third century, probably in the persecution under the Emperor Decius.  As is true for many of the early martyrs there is little doubt about the fact of her martyrdom and her early veneration by Christians.  However, there is virtually no contemporary evidence for the reason and the manner of it, aside from traditional beliefs. ¹

According to these beliefs, Agatha was one of that group of early Christian women saints who apparently aroused the ire of their pagan contemporaries by their refusal to marry or to submit to sexual advances because of their Christian faith.  In an era when a woman had virtually no control over her own person, but was subject to the domination of first her father, who decided on her eventual destiny through his decision of whom she should marry, and then of her husband, once married, this refusal was evidence of major rebellion and was deeply unsettling.  Tales abound of the courage and fortitude of these young women as they withstood torture aimed at coercing them to accept arranged or lecherous marriages and efforts to detach them from their adherence to Christ.   In Agatha’s case she is reputed to have attracted the attention of Quintianus, the prefect of the region.  Her refusal of his advances drove him to extremes of cruelty, among which was confinement in a brothel, imprisonment and the eventual horror of cutting off her breasts.   According to later legends, she was miraculously healed from this terrible injury by an apparition of St. Peter himself, but eventually died in prison from the results of her ordeals.  I, for one, believe that there is often a kernel of truth in some of these tales, but it is impossible to know at this distance in time, what the true facts were.

Be that as it may, the belief appears fairly early on that one of her torments was the hacking off of her breasts by the Roman authorities.  Hence, by the Middle Ages, Agatha is frequently shown holding a dish on which are placed her two breasts.  This is her identifying mark, her iconographic symbol.

Piero della Francesca, St. Agatha
from Polyptych of St. Anthony
Italian, ca. 1460
Perugia, Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria

However, the earliest images of Agatha do not make reference to this event.  She appears as early as the sixth century in the procession of female martyrs in the nave of the church of Sant’Appolinare Nuovo in Ravenna. 

St. Agatha in Procession of Female Martyrs
Byzantine Mosaic, second half of 6th century
Ravenna, Basilica of Sant'Appollinare Nuovo

She stands between Saints Agnes (identified by her familiar symbol of the lamb) and Pelagia.  Like most of the saints in the procession (and unlike Agnes) she has no special identifying marks.  Each of the figures stands before a palm tree and carries a crown made of leaves with a jeweled center.  These are traditional references to martyrdom and virtually identical to those borne by the figures of male martyr saints that march down the opposite side of the nave of Sant’Appolinare.

In the early medieval period Agatha appears as a sort of stock figure in illuminated manuscripts. 

Attributed to Henri,
St. Agatha
from the Sacramentary of
Gellone
French, ca. 775-800
Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale
MS Latin 12048, fol. 17v

As in the mosaic at Sant’Appolinare there is no reference to the specific circumstances of her martyrdom. 

Anonymous, St. Agatha
from Legendarium S. Matials Lemovocensis
French (Limoges), 10th-11th Century
Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale
MS Latin 5301, fol. 44

These references come later in the Middle Ages and in subsequent centuries, when she begins to appear in two guises:  as a saint in heaven holding a specific reference to her ordeal and as the suffering martyr.

In the images of Agatha as a saint in glory she is frequently shown holding a platter or dish on which repose her breasts.  As the shape of the breasts resembles the shape of bells she is, for this reason, also the patron saint of bronze casters, among whose productions are bells.  

Vecchietta, Assumption of the Virgin with Saints
(St. Agatha is the female saint at the extreme left)
Italian, 1460-1462
Pienza, Cathedral



Francisco de Zurbaran, St. Agatha
Spanish, 1630-1633
Montpelier, Musee Fabre

The other, suffering image, which appears to have been equally popular, shows her undergoing the act of her martyrdom, as her breasts are cut off.  This is shown in various ways. 

Martyrdom of St. Agatha
from Livre d'images de madame Marie
Belgian (Hainault), ca. 1285-1290
Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale
MS Nouvelle Aquisition Francaise 17261, fol. 97v



Martyrdom of St. Agatha from Sermons of Maurice de Sully
Italian (Milan or Genoa), ca. 1320-1330
Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale
MS Francais 187, fol. 38v

In most of the earliest images she is shown as if on a cross, with arms spread out.  


















In later images she is shown as if chained to a column. 

Sebastiano del Piombo, Martyrdom of St. Agatha
Italian, 1520
Florence, Pitti Palace

Philippe de Champaigne, Martyrdom of St. Agatha
French, 1650-1675
Paris, Musee du Louvre

Both postures echo images of the sufferings of Jesus, as He was on the cross or at the scourging at the pillar, and underlines the martyr’s union with the suffering Christ.  Some effort is sometimes made to preserve her modesty, but in most images she is shown naked to the waist, as she probably was in actuality.  Most of the time the torturers attack her with what look like gardening shears, a truly nasty idea. 

Most of the images have a curiously static, nearly symbolic, feel to them.  They are more like a frozen tableau of implied horror than a true reflection of it. 

However, there is one late image that stands out because it seems to capture the reality of what Agatha must have undergone.  This is a painting by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo now in the Staatliche Museums in Berlin.  It shows not the moment of torture, but its aftermath. 

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Martyrdom of St. Agatha
Italian, 1726
Berlin, Staatliche Museen

Agatha has collapsed on what appear to be steps.  She is supported by another woman who holds a bloody cloth up to cover her mutilated torso.  Behind Agatha stand the executioner, holding a bloodied sword, and an assistant, who holds the typical platter with her amputated breasts.  Agatha herself gazes upward toward the heavens, but her face reflects her pain, her shock and her steadfast faith.  This is an image to which I can fully relate for it mirrors my own feelings about my diagnosis and the surgery that followed it.  Although done to save my life for the time being, the effect of the mastectomy and the painful aftermath has brought me to feel very close to this image of St. Agatha, my newest patron saint.  Even given the advanced surgery of our own time, this loss is a difficult one to come to terms with and, in my own case at least, has been an extremely painful experience.

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1.        Kirsch, Johann Peter. "St. Agatha." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 5 Feb. 2014 .

Glorious St. Anne – The Iconography of St. Anne

Masaccio, Madonna and Child with St. Anne
Italian, 1424
Florence, Uffizi Gallery

The course of the year has come round, once again, to the middle of July and the start of the period in which the Church turns to honor St. Anne and her husband, St. Joachim, parents of the Virgin Mary and grandparents of Jesus.  As it has every July since 1892, my home parish in New York will be honoring St. Anne during the nine day novena and feast day, from July 17th to July 26th.   You can see the schedule here.

During this ten-day period in 2011, I posted a series of essays on the iconography of St. Anne.  The list of topics is shown below.  I refer readers to them.  I've updated some with additional images, as I've found them during the past year. 

1. Introduction, Background of Joachim and Anne plus Annunciation of Mary's Birth
2. The Meeting of Anne and Joachim at the Golden Gate
3. Birth of Mary
4. Presentation of Mary in the Temple
5. St. Anne as Teacher (Education of the Virgin Mary)
6. Anne, Root of the Tree of Salvation (the Anna selbdritt image)
7. St. Anne, Grandmother
8. St. Anne, Matriarch of the Holy Kindred
9. St. Anne in the Communion of Saints
10. St. Anne, Patron and Intercessor

In the meantime, you may want to join in the daily prayer to St. Anne, recited during each day of the novena.

St. Anne and Mary
Shrine of St. Anne
New York, St. Jean Baptiste Church

"O glorious St. Ann, you are filled with compassion for those who invoke you and with love for those who suffer! Heavily burdened with the weight of my troubles, I cast myself at your feet and humbly beg of you to take the present intention which I recommend to you in your special care.

Please recommend it to your daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and place it before the throne of Jesus, so that He may bring it to a happy issue. Continue to intercede for me until my request is granted. But, above all, obtain for me the grace one day to see my God face to face, and with you and Mary and all the saints to praise and bless Him for all eternity. Amen."

© M. Duffy, 2012

Eucharistic Miracles and Final Ends at the Morgan Library

Faithful Receiving The Eucharist From Christ
from DuBois Hours
English (probably Oxford), ca. 1325-1330
New York, Morgan Library
MS M700, fol. 121r

The last section of the current exhibition “Illuminating Faith: The Eucharist in the Life and Art of the Middle Ages” focuses on the topic of Eucharistic miracles.

Miraculous Hosts began to appear in the High Middle Ages, that is, in the same time period in which the Church finally came to agreement on an understanding of what transpired at the consecration of the Mass. This was the doctrine of Transubstantiation. Transubstantiation means that at the consecration the substance of the bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, while still retaining the appearances of bread and wine. Although the reality of the presence of Christ in the consecrated elements has been believed by the Church from the earliest times, this formulation ended several centuries of debate on the mechanism of the transformation, which was most famously represented by the debates between Paschasius Radbertus and Ratramnus in the 9th century. It was St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century who formulated the philosophical ground for an understanding of what had been believed from the earliest centuries. 1

Belief in the actual presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the Real Presence, which endures beyond the celebration of Mass is and has been the belief of the Catholic Church from the very beginning. Eucharistic miracles reflect this belief.

They fall into several different categories. There are visions, bleeding Hosts and other manifestations of Christ’s Presence in the Host.

Jean Poyer, Mass of St. Gregory
from Hours of Henry VIII
French (Tours), 1500
New York, Morgan Library
MS H8, fol. 168r

The exhibition includes images of the Mass of St. Gregory, in which Pope Gregory’s fervent prayer for a sign to enlighten a doubting member of the congregation was answered by a vision of Christ as the Man of Sorrows which appeared at the moment of the elevation and was visible to everyone in the church.











In addition there is an image of the vision of St. Bridget of Sweden who saw the Host turn into a child at the elevation of the Host.

St. Bridget's Eucharistic Vision
from Devotional Miscellany
Italian (Naples), 1345-1400
New York, Morgan Library
MS M498, fol. 4v

There is also a charming image of the miracle of St. Anthony of Padua and the mule, which I explained in an earlier article (here). In this image not only does the mule kneel to the Host, but so does St. Anthony, plus the Host in this image levitates.

Miracle of St. Anthony and the Mule
from Breviary of Eleanor of Portugal
Belgian (Bruges), ca. 1500
New York, Morgan Library
MS 52, fol. 411v-412r

However, the main focus of the exhibition is on one of the instances of bleeding Hosts, the Sacred Bleeding Host of Dijon.2 

Sacred Bleeding Host of Dijon
from Book of Hours
French (Poitiers), ca. 1475
New York, Morgan Library
MS M1001, fol. 17v
This image shows the appearance of
the Bleeding Host in great detail.

This Host, which survived in honor for 350 years, was a gift from Pope Eugenius IV to Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy in 1433. Philip built a chapel for it in his capital at Dijon, known as the Sainte Chapelle. An indication of the esteem in which the Bleeding Host was held is indicated by the name, which is the same as the Parisian chapel built for the relic of the Crown of Thorns by Philip’s ancestor, St. Louis.

Bleeding Hosts were assumed to be the results of physical desecration of the Wafer by non-believers, especially Jews (the most frequently encountered non-Christians in medieval Europe). The Host of Dijon had bloody marks in areas specific to the wounds of Christ, a feature that made it particularly notable to the devout.

From 1433 to 1794, when it was burned by the French revolutionaries, the Host was shown intense devotion. This was only increased when, in 1505, King Louis XII of France received a cure after making a pilgrimage to the Host. In gratitude, he donated his crown to the shrine.

Sacred Bleeding Host of Dijon Adored By a Cleric
Single Leaf From a Gradual Choir Book
French (Dijon), 1536-1537
New York, Morgan Library
MS M1144, fol. 1r

The show includes some of the vast amount of material that must have been produced. For example, images of the Host were sold as souvenirs in the cloisters attached to the chapel, just as similar items are sold at shrines today. But these souvenirs were often hand painted. The purchaser could bring the image home and add it to his or her own books of devotion, be those illuminated or printed.

Sacred Bleeding Host of Dijon Adored by a Couple
Souvenir Image added in the 1540s
 to Heures a l'usiage de Romme
Printed in Paris, 1501
New York, Morgan Library
PML 129355, MS fol. 9v

Interest in the Host of Dijon continued through the centuries until the Host was destroyed in the aftermath of the French Revolution. In 1825, following the restoration in France, a Mass of Reparation was established and is celebrated in Dijon on February 10th to this day.

In the 19th century a micro-organism called micrococinus prodigiosus that grows on bread and which turns red and liquid was discovered. It is hypothesized that it is this organism that gave rise to a large number of medieval bleeding Hosts. Whether this was the case with this Host can neither be proved nor disproved since it was destroyed before the micro-organism was discovered.

Finally, another image in the exhibition should be mentioned. It offers a brief glimpse of the effects of the reception of Holy Communion, both good and bad.

Good and Bad Communions
from Book of Hours
Italian (possibly the Veneto), ca. 1425-1450
New York, Morgan Library
MS 1089, fol. 118v

In the center of this picture we see the Crucifixion, with Christ on the cross, His Blood flowing into a chalice, standing on an altar. On either side we see communicants whose actions paint the moral of the picture. The good Communion is shown on the left. These individuals make sincere, good confessions in the foreground; receive Communion in the proper spirit in the middle ground. In the background we see their souls being carried to heaven by angels. On the right side, we see the effects of a bad communion. These individuals make an insincere, bad confession in the foreground, but receive Communion in the middle ground. The effects of this insincerity appear in the background, as demons carry their souls to hell. The image makes clear the words of St. Paul “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.”
(1 Corinthians 11:27-29)

If you are in the New York area I strongly urge that you get to the Morgan Library and see for yourself the amazing variety of images of this most important subject.
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1. LaVerdiere, Eugene S.S.S., The Eucharist in the New Testament and the Early Church, Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN, 1996. Substantial sections of this book can be viewed at http://books.google.com/books?id=j1BjjBe4dL4C&pg=PA1&dq=LaVerdiere+%22oldest+attestation%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=g6-3UaTnJvin4APytIGoAg&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=LaVerdiere%20%22oldest%20attestation%22&f=false

See also: 

2. You can learn more about the Sacred Bleeding Host of Dijon in this slideshow narrated by Roger Wieck, the curator of the Morgan exhibition (here). Just bear in mind that in his introductory remarks about the Host Mr. Wieck uses the past tense to explain Eucharistic beliefs, making it sound a bit like they only applied in the Middle Ages. Not so.  This is still the faith of the Church today, so a better tense for his remarks should have been the present.

The Feast of Corpus Christi at the Morgan Library

Philippe de Champaigne
Vision of St. Juliana of Liege
French, 1645-1650
Birmingham, Alabama, Barber Institute of Fine Arts

The highpoint of the Morgan exhibition “Illuminating Faith: the Eucharist in the Art and Life of the Middle Ages” is the section entitled “Feast of Corpus Christi”. The wall card that introduces this section of the show gives a very good exposition of the history of the establishment of this important feast, the feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. It was officially established for the universal Church by Pope Urban IV in 1264, although its actual adoption in individual countries took another 70-75 years.


This feast, honoring the Body and Blood of Christ, was initially proposed by St. Juliana of Liège (also known as Juliana of Montcornillon). Juliana was a nun of the Premonstratensian order, a religious order founded by St. Norbert in 1120. One of the purposes of the orders he founded is the defense of and spread of devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, which is the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist.

For many years, beginning in her 20s, Juliana had a vision in which she saw the full moon shining brightly except for one black spot. Over time she came to understand that the full moon was a symbol for the round, white Host, the Body of Christ, which is also the Church (known as the Mystical Body of Christ) and that the black spot was an indication that something was missing from the Body of Christ.

Eventually, she determined that what was missing was a feast which celebrated the Body of Christ in all its aspects. Her spiritual director, the Canon John of Lausanne, contacted a number of theologians who agreed that her visions were genuine and not in conflict with any Church teaching. Therefore, in 1246 a feast in honor of the Blessed Sacrament was established for the diocese of Liège by the bishop, Robert de Thorete.

In 1261 one of the theologians who had been consulted about her visions in the 1240s became Pope Urban IV. In 1264 he established the feast of Corpus Christi for the universal Church on the Thursday following the Sunday celebration of the Holy Trinity. St. Thomas Aquinas was asked by the Pope to compose the Office and prayers for the new universal feast and his beautiful work is still part of the celebration of the feast today. Indeed, his great poems for the feast, which include the sequence “Lauda Sion” and the hymn “Pange Lingua” (the last two verses of which are the well-known Benediction hymn “Tantum Ergo”) are in frequent use by the Church at other times as well. The feast is still celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday in some countries, while in others, including the United States, it is celebrated on the Sunday following Trinity Sunday.

St. Juliana is frequently shown holding a monstrance, the special reliquary that is used to hold the Body of Christ for adoration outside of Mass.

Mass of St. Giles
witnessed by Charlemagne and
Gisela of Chelles
from Psalter
Belgian (Liege), ca. 1290-1305
New York, Morgan Library
MS M155, fol. 97v

The Morgan Exhibition includes many images related to the establishment and spread of the feast. Through these images it charts some of the influences that form the non-specific background in which the feast was promulgated (the establishment of the feast for the diocese of Liège under Juliana’s influence being the specific background). Among these are the history of miraculous Masses, such as the Mass of St. Giles, as well as an increasing number of representations of representations of several “ordinary” Masses in prayer books, missals and other books of devotion.

Mass from Breviary
Italian (Bologna), 1315-1325
New York, Morgan Library
MS M373, fol. 303v

Funeral Mass from Psalter
Belgian (Liege), ca. 1280
New York, Morgan Lirary
MS M183, fol.252v

Some of the images focus on one of the special aspects of the celebration of this feast, the Eucharistic procession. This is a major aspect of the feast to this day.

Heavenly Procession of the Blessed Sacrament
from Gospel Book
Italian (Padua), 1436
New York, Morgan Library
MS M180, fol. 68r (detail)

Processions of the Blessed Sacrament take place both inside and outside of churches, sometimes as a highly public event involving large crowds of people. One such takes place annually through the streets of Rome, from the Basilica of St. John Lateran to the Basilica of St. Mary Major. Thousands of people take part, including the pope. This year, Pope Francis walked the entire distance with the people.

In spite of Pope Urban IV establishment of the feast it did not spread immediately to all corners of Christendom. Its spread took about fifty years and in some areas much longer. It became widespread only in the period 1311-1317.

The exhibition recalls many aspects introduced into the Church on the establishment of the feast. Among these are the opportunities it offered for lay involvement, in offering adoration and in participating in the Eucharistic procession.

Charles the Bold of Burgundy and
Isabelle of Portugal Adoring the
Blessed Sacrament
from Diurnal of Isabelle de Bourbon
from Hours of Corpus Christi
French (Amiens), ca. 1455
New York, Morgan Library
MS M221, fol. 80v

Corpus Christi Procession
from Missal
French (possibly Angers), ca. 1427
New York, Morgan Library
MS M146, fol. 141 (detail)

One of the most interesting images on view comes from the Farnese Hours, the best known work by the illuminator Giulio Clovio, made for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese in 1546. In an impressive two-page spread we see a Corpus Christi procession moving through St. Peter’s Square. This is the old square, before the transformations made by Michelangelo, Maderno and Bernini.



Papal Corpus Christi Procession in St. Peter's Square
from Farnese Hours
Italian (Rome), 1546
New York, Morgan Library
MS M69, fol. 72v-73r

The image unites the earthly world with the heavenly world, as angels descend from heaven where the Holy Trinity appears surrounded by angels and saints. And the procession depicted is reflected today by the procession through the streets of Rome that takes place each Thursday after Holy Trinity, most recently on May 30, 2013.

As the Church teaches, the Communion of Saints unites all believers, living and dead, in one Mystical Body of Christ. On the feast of Corpus Christi, as this last image suggests, the entire Mystical Body, living and dead, in heaven and on earth, comes together in adoration of the supreme symbol of unity, the Blessed Sacrament.

© M. Duffy, 2013