St. Agatha’s bread
Agathabrot; minne di Sant’Agata
- Known today as
- Bread blessed on 5 February, the feast of St. Agatha, virgin and martyr of Catania.
- Kind
- Sacramental, in 1 older authority
- Earliest authority here
- The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York, 1907–1914)
Revised October 1, 2026: An authority added from a text read in full. Version 1, first published September 28, 2026.
St. Agatha’s bread: what was it used for?
Kept in the house and thrown into fire against the flames; given to cattle and to the sick. In Catania the feast brings small cakes shaped as breasts, for the tortures of her martyrdom.
St. Agatha’s bread: what does modern science say?
The blessing is still kept in Switzerland, southern Germany, and Sicily.
St. Agatha’s bread: what lore surrounds it?
A year after her death her veil, carried out against a stream of lava from Etna, was said to have stopped it at the city’s edge, and she became the patron of all who fear fire.
St. Agatha’s bread: what did the older authorities say?
- The Catholic Encyclopedia
- The Catholic Encyclopedia holds that of St. Agatha's Acts “neither of these recensions, however, can lay any claim to historical credibility,” the order “to have her breasts cut off” being “a detail which furnished to the Christian medieval iconography the peculiar characteristic of Agatha.” Catania honours her as patron, “and throughout the region around Mt. Etna she is invoked against the eruptions of the volcano, as elsewhere against fire and lightning. In some places bread and water are blessed during Mass on her feast after the Consecration, and called Agatha bread.”
Sources
- [73] Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz / Patrimoine culinaire suisse. Agathabrot. patrimoineculinaire.ch. Book, not indexed
- [36] Elisa (2024). I seni e il pane di Sant’Agata: a Castelvecchio come da tradizione. ilGerme, 2 February 2024. Book, not indexed
- The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York, 1907–1914), “Agatha, Saint.” newadvent.org/cathen/01203c.htm Standard reference work
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Each quotation from the older authorities checked word for word against the text, read in full
- Sources
- 3 cited: 1 standard reference work, 2 book, not indexed.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 28, 2026 · last revised October 1, 2026
- Chicago
“St. Agatha’s bread.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 1, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/st-agatha-bread.
- MLA
“St. Agatha’s bread.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 1 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/st-agatha-bread. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
St. Agatha’s bread. (2026, October 1). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/st-agatha-bread
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See Also
Also in The Catholic Encyclopedia
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Historical description, not medical advice.