Miniature Stories of the Saints
by Rev. Daniel A. Lord, S.J.

Saint Agatha the Pure Virgin

Saint Agatha was very beautiful. People looked at her and said "Oh, she is the fairest girl alive." But Agatha was also very pure and good. She loved Jesus Christ very much. She promised God she would never marry. "All my love is Yours," she said. "I will live and die for You."

Now it happened that the Governor of Sicily where Agatha lived heard of her beauty. So he sent for her. Soldiers came and arrested her. "You are a Christian," they said. "So you must go to jail." "Dear Lord Jesus," she prayed, "I belong to You. Do not let this tyrant have power over me." He made love to her. But she refused him. So he threw her into prison.

The governor was sure Agatha would be so afraid of prison that she would consent to love him. Instead, she made the wicked woman who was her jailer love God too. So the Governor ordered her to be tortured. She was not afraid. Then he ordered her to be beaten. "Dear Jesus," she cried, "come and take me." And Jesus came and took her home to heaven. Her Feast is on February 5th.

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