Source: Atlas Obscura.
According to the story, not only did 15-year-old Saint Agatha of Sicily refuse to abandon her faith, she also rejected a Roman governor’s advances. As such, she was punished by having her breasts amputated, then died of her wounds in prison on February 5, 251 A.D. Frescoes of the mutilated martyr are easily recognizable. She’s often depicted holding her breasts on a platter.
Known as minne di Sant’ Agata in Italian, these sweet cheese and marzipan desserts are an edible reminder of Saint Agatha’s suffering. Bakers craft the perfectly round confections using a base of shortcrust pastry topped with ricotta. After adding in chocolate or a piece of boozy spongecake to accompany the filling, they blanket everything in pistachio marzipan and a thick, creamy glaze. A candied cherry on top completes the anatomically-correct aesthetic.
Each February, hundreds of thousands of people flock to Catania to honor Saint Agatha in a three-day celebration. The centuries-old festival features an all-night procession and delicious replicas of saintly, amputated breasts at every pastry shop.
You can read more at Atlas Obscura. A bit grisly, but I’ll admit they do look on the delicious side. Religions certainly do come with a side order of weird. There are many depictions of Agatha of Sicily, including ones of her holding her breasts on a platter, her breasts alone are carved in stone, and much more.
Known as minne di Sant’ Agata in Italian, these sweet cheese and marzipan desserts are an edible reminder of Saint Agatha’s suffering
Death cultists are so disgusting.
Ok. Delicious sweet treats with cheese and marzipan? I can get behind that. But… the association. That’s just gruesome. Like, why would you name a dessert like that? Who did this?
I don’t know if it’s some weird patriarchal fascination with breasts=women in general, or a feminist representation of ‘fuck you for staring, now stare for eternity’ going on here. Considering it’s some nuns who invented it, I’m not even sure.
Perhaps next we can enjoy someone’s confectionary penis, because it will (obviously) be his most noteworthy body part, as the article mentions.
Anyway. One day, I’m sure I will try one, and I will love it. Heh.
Yeah, that’s the thing -- the dessert itself sounds delish, but I don’t know if I could enjoy it with the associations in my head. It’s not only grisly, it’s representational of cannabalism, which is granted, a central tenet of catholicism, but still…
Definitively on the creepy side. I could enjoy these sweets only if I did not know what they represent.
Urg. That Picture on the Wiki? With the thongs? That shit is terrifying!
And the breast on the platter? WTF is this shit?
Catholicism -- Cultists of the Great Old Ones, where is the difference?
*goes to play with the neighbours kittens, allergies be damnd, I need the fluffy to soothe my soul*
Also I get symbolic depictions in art and all that, but why the fuck would you carry your breasts around on a platter??
Somehow the white colour of death makes it extra creepy.
WTF. I’m pretty sure this is the creepiest catholic tradition I’ve ever heard of, and that’s saying a lot.
Where I come from, there is a patroness saint who is buried in such a way that the mortal remains of her right hand can be “admired” ever few years. Always a big event when it is announced that the bishop will authorize public admiration of the dead hand! Sadly there are no hand-shaped sweets, it seems no one ever thought of that.
Nightjar:
Same here. I grew up catholic, and somehow, never heard of Agatha. Or maybe I did, and just repressed it.
rq:
“You can have my breasts, but you can’t have me!” ? Fuck if I know. If you start thinking about all the symbolism caught up in breasts, especially when it comes to religious thought, it’s just too much, I don’t want to think about it.
Plus I’m pretty sure if you cut them off and put them on a platter, they will not keep their shape so perkily like that. Anatomy fail?
I’m sorry, I will stop going on about this, but this is truly the oddest catholic tradition I have heard of. And I was raised catholic, too (but probably never heard of this one because boobs, neh?).
Yeah… “Canape?”
rq:
Oh, gross! I shouldn’t be laughing, but I am. It’s just so damn twisted.
Caine:
Me neither, but there seems to be quite an obsession with Agatha’s breasts. In addition to the sweet, there is also a bread. I just… why?
Nightjar:
Oh FFS! This is far beyond an obsession, wow. I, uh, I don’t know what to say. It’s really awful that the only bit of Agatha which is truly remembered or honoured are her breasts.
Old man fantasies of the perfect white breast, divorced from the pesky woman that grew it.
Lofty:
To say the least…
Anyone else notice that the wiki page is clearly written by someone who thinks that all of those stories are entirely factual?
@Kremer
Yes, a good spotting. Even more creepy!
IIRC Sta Lucia has also been depicted holding her gouged eyes on a platter. It must be some tradition of symbolic representation.
Lucia’s cult used to be mainly a local thing in Syracuse, Sicily, but then somehow became a popular thing in Sweden and Finland, in a heavily bowdlerized form, even surviving Reformation.