Born in the 3rd century in Catania, Sicily, into a noble family, Agatha was of great beauty and honoured God with fervour and thus consecrated her virginity to him. Quintian, proconsul of Sicily but a man of low extraction, wished above all to marry her, thinking that he could thus gain respect but also enjoy the beauty and fortune of such a wife.

Agathe having refused his advances, Quintian sent her to a lupanar held by a certain Aphrodisiac, whom he charged to make her accept this marriage and renounce her God. The manageress having failed, Quintien had Agathe thrown in prison and had her tortured. Among the tortures she endured, her breasts were torn out with pincers, but the apostle Peter appeared to her in prison and healed her of her wounds. Other tortures eventually cost her her life, and her death was accompanied by an earthquake that shook the whole city.

A year after his death, Etna erupted, pouring a stream of lava in the direction of Catania. According to the legend, the inhabitants took the veil that covered Agatha's grave and placed it in front of the fire, which stopped immediately, thus sparing the city. Since then, its name has been invoked to protect against earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and fires.

The cult of Saint Agatha quickly spread beyond Sicily: in 470 the Aryans dedicated a small church in Rome to her, Saint Agatha of the Goths, which Pope Gregory the Great gave to the Catholics. After Felicity and Perpetua, and before Lucia, Agnes, Cecilia and Anastasia, Agatha is one of the seven saints mentioned in the canon of the Roman Catholic Mass.