About two years ago, my eldest daughter at the age of four showed me a
painting of St. Agatha’s martyrdom that she found in a children’s book
of saints. The painting shows a deathly pale St. Agatha after the
torture impose upon her of cutting off her breasts, gesturing in a
pleading manner up to Heaven. A sorrowful looking woman is holding her
from behind, pressing a bloodied cloth against the wound. And her
breasts are being carried away on a platter. My second daughter at a
similar age was fascinated by this painting and by this martyrdom, in
her turn. She still has a great devotion to St. Agatha, though she has
not yet asked to carry a basket of bread to the All Saints day party at
our church. I will say that I have not yet been explicit with them about
the details of her death.
My children’s wonder at martyrdom has always been prevalent in our
discussion of the saints, and the manner of the saint’s death is often
the first thing they inquire about. Christians should draw strength from
the witness of the martyrs, and in my children’s youthful innocence,
they see something appealing in martyrdom, in making a sacrifice.
Read the rest here...
Confessions of a Catholic Mom and Philosopher's Wife
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