St Agatha Novena — Full 9-Day Prayer Text

The novena to St Agatha is a nine-day prayer to the virgin and martyr of Catania in Sicily, invoked above all for diseases of the breast — she is the traditional patroness of women facing breast cancer and of nursing mothers — and as a protectress against fire, burning and the eruptions of Etna. We ask her intercession for healing of body when it pleases God, for patience under the cross, and for the courage to confess the Faith without fear. It is traditionally begun on 28 January and closed on 5 February, the day of her feast in the 1962 calendar, though it may be prayed whenever a pressing need demands it.

St Agatha is not a devotion of yesterday: her name stands in the Canon of the Mass beside St Lucy's, and her cultus is attested in the Calendar of Carthage around the year 530. What follows is the full nine-day text — each day a meditation drawn from her Acts, a petition proper to the day, and the Our Father, three Hail Marys and the Glory Be — followed by the versicle and the authentic collect of her Mass.

The full novena to St Agatha

Each day follows the same shape: the Sign of the Cross, a moment of silence, the daily invocation with your intention named, then the meditation and petition proper to the day, and the three prayers. If you have never kept a nine-day devotion, our guide to what a novena is and how it works explains why the Church prays in nines.

The daily prayer (said on each of the nine days)

In the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen.

Recollect thyself a moment in silence, then say the daily invocation, which is recited on each of the nine days before the meditation proper to the day.

St Agatha, virgin and martyr, who didst choose to lose thy life rather than thy faith and thy purity, I trust in thy powerful intercession before God. Thou who hast known in thy flesh the pain and hast offered it to the Lord, turn thy gaze upon us: obtain for us health of body if it please God, strength to bear the cross with patience and to confess the faith without fear; and I earnestly beseech thee to obtain for me also, if it be good for my soul, the grace I so ardently ask in this novena.

Here name, simply and plainly, the intention thou entrustest to St Agatha — the same throughout the nine days.

St Agatha, virgin and martyr, pray for us. Amen.

Day 1 — The virgin of Catania

Agatha was born about the year 230 at Catania in Sicily — Palermo too claims her cradle — of a family noble, wealthy, and Christian. Beautiful and upright of soul, she was reared in the faith, and from her earliest years she desired to belong wholly to God, preferring the goods of Heaven to those the world offered her in abundance.

St Agatha, noble and pious child whom neither wealth nor beauty turned from God, obtain for the children and the young of our households purity of heart and a desire for the only goods that endure, that they may grow, as thou didst, in the fear and love of the Lord.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day
our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive
those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.

Three times:

Hail Mary, full of grace;
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

Day 2 — The vow of virginity

While yet a young girl, Agatha consecrated her virginity to God and vowed to Him her undivided heart, desiring no other Spouse than Christ. She refused every offer of marriage, holding that true liberty and true nobility are to serve the Lord; and the gift she had made Him of her youth she kept unbroken even amid her torments.

St Agatha, who from thy youth didst give God the flower of thy heart and didst keep it faithfully unto death, obtain for us to give Him in our turn the first and the best of our love, and to be faithful in the state to which His Providence calls us.

Then the Our Father, three Hail Marys and the Glory Be, as on the first day.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day
our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive
those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace;
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

Day 3 — The trial in the house of Aphrodisia

Under the persecution of the emperor Decius, the governor of Sicily, Quintianus, drawn by Agatha's beauty and her wealth, had her arrested under the edicts against the Christians. To break her resolve he first gave her over to a corrupt woman named Aphrodisia and her daughters, that they might draw her into the pleasures of the world. For a whole month they used every seduction and every threat, and never shook her: her courage, she said, was founded on the rock of Christ, and all their devices were but words cast to the wind.

St Agatha, whom neither flatteries nor threats could turn from thy Saviour, obtain for us to resist the seductions of the world and to stand unshaken upon the rock that is Christ, when all things press us to forsake the faith.

Then the Our Father, three Hail Marys and the Glory Be.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day
our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive
those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace;
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

Day 4 — The confession before the judge

Brought before Quintianus, Agatha openly confessed that she was a Christian and a servant of Christ, and refused to sacrifice to the idols. When the governor marvelled that a woman of so high a birth should stoop, as he said, to the condition of a slave, she answered that to serve Christ is the highest nobility and true liberty. Neither mockery nor the first violence could wring from her a single word of denial.

St Agatha, who didst confess the name of Christ without fear before the judge, obtain for us the grace never to blush for our faith, but to confess it courageously before men, according to the word of the Lord: whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father who is in heaven.

Then the Our Father, three Hail Marys and the Glory Be.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day
our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive
those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace;
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

Day 5 — The martyrdom of the body

Having failed to corrupt her soul, the tyrant set upon her body. Agatha was struck and put to the torture; among the sufferings inflicted on her, her breast was cut away. She bore this cruelty without flinching, reproaching the governor that he mutilated in a woman that which, in his own mother, had nourished him as a child. It is from this wound offered to Christ that the martyr became the protectress of those who suffer in their flesh.

St Agatha, who didst endure in thy body so cruel a torment rather than betray thy Lord, obtain for all who suffer in their flesh — and above all for the sick afflicted in that part of the body which thou hast sanctified — patience, relief, and, if it please God, healing.

Then the Our Father, three Hail Marys and the Glory Be.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day
our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive
those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace;
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

Day 6 — The healing by St Peter

Cast back into prison, bleeding, deprived of food and of all help, Agatha was visited in the night by the Apostle Peter, who appeared to her in the guise of an old man, preceded by a child bearing a light. He dressed her wounds and restored what had been torn from her, while a great brightness filled the cell. The guards fled in terror; but Agatha would not flee, remaining to give God alone the glory of her healing.

St Agatha, whom God consoled and healed by the hand of the Apostle Peter in the depth of thy distress, obtain for us never to despair in trial, but to await from the Lord, with confidence, consolation and help in the time He hath appointed.

Then the Our Father, three Hail Marys and the Glory Be.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day
our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive
those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace;
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

Day 7 — The fire and the earthquake

A few days later, finding her healed and still unshaken, Quintianus had her rolled upon burning coals mixed with red-hot potsherds. At that instant the earth quaked and a part of the city fell, so that the people rose up and forced the governor to break off the torture. Carried back to prison, Agatha prayed one last time that the Lord, who had kept her from her cradle and had taken from her the love of the world, would now receive her soul; and, that prayer ended, she gave up her spirit to God, about the year 251.

St Agatha, faithful unto thy last breath and rendering thy soul to God in prayer, obtain for us to persevere in the faith unto the end, and to obtain, at the close of our life, the grace of a holy death in the hands of the Lord.

Then the Our Father, three Hail Marys and the Glory Be.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day
our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive
those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace;
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

Day 8 — The veil and the fire of Etna

The year that followed her death, Etna broke into eruption and a river of fire flowed down toward Catania. Christians and pagans alike ran to the martyr's tomb, drew from it the veil that covered it, and held it up against the flames: and the fire was stayed. From this wonder comes her patronage against fire, against burning, and against eruptions; and the antiphon of her feast, Mente sanctam, spontaneam, honorem Deo et patriae liberationem — a mind holy and freely given, honour to God and the deliverance of her homeland — was graven upon the bells once rung against storm and fire.

St Agatha, whose veil stayed the fire of the mountain, defend our homes and our families against burning and every scourge; but above all obtain for us to be kept from the fire that is not quenched, and to kindle in our hearts the fire of the charity that saves.

Then the Our Father, three Hail Marys and the Glory Be.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day
our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive
those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace;
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

Day 9 — The name of Agatha in the Canon of the Mass

From the earliest centuries the Church has numbered Agatha among the holy women whose name the priest speaks in the Canon of the Mass, beside St Lucy, the other great virgin and martyr of Sicily. Her martyrdom is among the most ancient and most venerated the Roman Church possesses; and she who would not yield to the tyrant either her body or her faith awaits us at the end of this novena, to bear up to the Lord the prayers we have entrusted to her.

St Agatha, glorious virgin and martyr, who now reignest with the Christ for whom thou gavest all, present to Him the intention we have entrusted to thee through these nine days; and obtain for us to serve Him here below with a faithful heart, that one day we may praise Him with thee among the saints, world without end.

Then the Our Father, three Hail Marys and the Glory Be.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day
our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive
those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace;
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

The closing of the novena

Said at the end of each day, or at least on the ninth.

V. Pray for us, O holy Agatha.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.

O God, who among the other miracles of Thy power hast given even to the weaker sex the victory of martyrdom: mercifully grant that we, who keep the heavenly birthday of blessed Agatha, Thy virgin and martyr, may by her example draw near to Thee. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

In the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen.

That collect is no devotional composition: it is the collect of the Mass of St Agatha, Virgin and Martyr, sung on 5 February in the Roman Missal — in Latin, Deus, qui inter cetera potentiae tuae miracula etiam in sexu fragili victoriam martyrii contulisti. Praying it, we pray in the words the Church gives her priests at the altar.

The variants of the novena to St Agatha

The novena to St Agatha against breast cancer

There is no separate text for this. The novena above is the prayer to St Agatha as patroness against breast disease: Day 5 turns wholly on the wound she bore, and its petition asks explicitly "for the sick afflicted in that part of the body which thou hast sanctified — patience, relief, and, if it please God, healing." What you add is your intention, named plainly and kept the same for nine days: a name, a diagnosis, a date of surgery.

Keep the two petitions in their right order. We ask for healing — the Church has never been shy of asking bodily favours of God, and Agatha's own history is a history of a healing. But we ask it if it please God, and we ask, whatever the answer, for patience under the cross. A prayer for the sick that asks only for the cure and refuses the cross is not yet a Christian prayer. If an operation is near, the prayer before surgery may be joined to the day's petition.

The novena to St Agatha for fire and against disaster

Day 8 is the day of the veil and of Etna, and it carries the petition for protection against fire, burning "and every scourge." Sicilians have invoked her against the mountain for seventeen centuries; her antiphon — Mente sanctam, spontaneam — was cast into the bronze of the bells rung against storm and conflagration. Firefighters, householders in fire country, and those who have lost a home to flame pray this novena still. The petition ends where it must: that we be kept above all from the fire that is not quenched.

A short form of the novena

If time or strength fails — in a hospital ward, at a bedside, on a night shift — the devotion may be reduced without being broken. Say the Sign of the Cross, the daily invocation with your intention, the petition proper to the day, and a single Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be. What may not be cut is the nine days: it is the perseverance, not the volume of words, that the Church asks of you.

Is there an "official" novena to St Agatha? And a PDF?

There is no single text promulgated by Rome as the novena to St Agatha, and any claim of an "official Catholic novena to St Agatha" over-states what the Church has actually done. Novenas to the saints are private devotions; what the Church gives officially is the liturgy — the Mass and Office of 5 February, the antiphon, the collect. That is why the novena above is built on those official pieces: the collect is the Missal's, word for word, and the meditations follow the martyr's Acts and Butler's Lives of the Saints.

As for a PDF: this page is written to be printed. Print it to PDF from your browser, or fold the nine days into a card for a pocket or a hospital bag.

How to pray the novena to St Agatha

When to begin. The traditional dates are 28 January to 5 February: nine days ending on the feast of St Agatha in the 1962 calendar, so that the last day of the novena is the day the Church sings her Mass. Count backwards nine days from any feast and you have your start date — the same arithmetic governs the novena to St Lucy, the other Sicilian virgin-martyr named in the Canon.

Or begin today. A novena is not tied to the calendar when a need is urgent. If the biopsy is Thursday, if the fires are on the ridge, if the operation is next week, begin tonight and count nine days. The Church has always let necessity set the clock.

How to keep it. Pray at the same hour each day if you can — morning, or before bed with your night prayers. Name the same intention every day, in the same plain words; do not embroider it and do not change it. If you miss a day, pick up where you left off and finish the nine. The devotion is a matter of confidence, not of mechanics.

What to expect. A novena is not a machine for extracting favours from God. We ask with the confidence of children, and leave the answer to a Father who sees what we do not. St Agatha herself was healed in her cell — and four days later was rolled upon the coals and gave up her soul. Both were graces. To pray these nine days well, go to confession during them if you can, and hear Mass on the feast: an examination of conscience is worth more than any formula.

Who was St Agatha of Sicily? The life of the virgin-martyr of Catania

Catania and Palermo dispute the honour of her birth, but all agree that she won the crown of martyrdom at Catania — the Roman Martyrology places it under the persecution of Decius, about the year 251. Her Acts, which exist in Latin and Greek with many variations, relate that she came of a rich and illustrious family and was consecrated to God from her earliest years, triumphing over many assaults upon her purity. Honesty requires the caution Butler himself gives: those Acts are late, and beyond the fact of her martyrdom and the antiquity of her cultus little of the detail can be affirmed with confidence. What the Church has always held certain is that Agatha died for Christ at Catania, and that she has been honoured there since the age of the martyrs.

The nine days above follow that story; Butler preserves two prayers of hers worth carrying. Seeing herself in her persecutors' hands, she prayed: "Jesus Christ, Lord of all, Thou seest my heart, Thou knowest my desires. Do Thou alone possess all that I am. I am Thy sheep: make me worthy to overcome the Devil." And at the end, carried back to prison from the coals: "Lord, my Creator, Thou hast always protected me from the cradle; Thou hast taken me from the love of the world and given me patience to suffer. Receive now my soul." With these words she breathed out her life. Between the two lie a month in Aphrodisia's house of ill fame, the rack, her breasts crushed and cut off, a prison without food or medicine — and the vision of St Peter, who filled the dungeon with light and healed her.

The evidence for her early cultus is excellent. Her name stands in the Calendar of Carthage about the year 530 and in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum; Venantius Fortunatus sang her praises in the sixth century; two sixth-century churches in Rome were dedicated in her honour; and her name is spoken in the Canon of the Mass. In art her attribute is her severed breasts borne on a dish — mistaken in the Middle Ages for loaves, whence the old custom of blessing bread on her feast. In Sicily she was credited with arresting the eruptions of Etna, and thence invoked against any outbreak of fire; the bell-founders took her as their patroness, whether because a bell gave warning of fire, or because molten metal in the casting resembles a stream of lava.

Two things follow for us. This is an ancient devotion, not a modern enthusiasm, and it needs no apology. And Agatha's patronage of the sick is not pious symbolism grafted on later — it grows straight out of what was done to her body and what she did with the pain. She offered it. That is why women who dread a scan turn to her, and why she stands with the other patrons of the suffering, such as St Peregrine, the patron of cancer patients. Her fuller story is told in our life of St Agatha of Sicily.

Frequently Asked Questions

When do you pray the novena to St Agatha?

Traditionally from 28 January to 5 February, the nine days ending on her feast in the 1962 calendar. But it may be begun on any day of the year when a need is pressing — an illness, a coming operation, a threat of fire — and simply carried through nine consecutive days.

What is the St Agatha novena prayer for?

For the healing of the sick, and above all for diseases of the breast; for nursing mothers; for protection against fire, burning, earthquake and volcanic eruption; and for the courage to confess the Faith and remain pure and patient under trial. Any honest intention may be entrusted to her.

Is St Agatha the patron saint of breast cancer?

Yes — she is the traditional patroness invoked in diseases of the breast, because her breasts were cut away in her martyrdom and she offered that suffering to Christ. Nursing mothers and women facing surgery or a diagnosis have invoked her for centuries.

Is there an official Catholic novena to St Agatha?

No text has been promulgated by Rome as the one official novena; novenas to the saints are private devotions. What is official is the liturgy of 5 February — the Mass, the antiphon Mente sanctam, spontaneam, and the collect — and the novena above is built on exactly those, with the collect reproduced word for word from the Roman Missal.

Where can I get the St Agatha novena as a PDF?

Print this page: it carries the full nine days, the daily prayer, the versicle and the collect, and prints cleanly to PDF from any browser. You need no leaflet and no download.

Why is St Agatha invoked against fire?

Because in the year after her death, Etna erupted and a torrent of lava ran toward Catania; the people took the veil from her tomb and held it against the flames, and the fire stopped. From this she became protectress against eruptions, burning and fire of every kind, and the patroness of bell-founders, whose bells were rung against fire and storm and inscribed with her antiphon.

Can I pray the novena to St Agatha for someone else?

Yes. Name that person in the daily invocation and keep the same intention through all nine days. Praying for another is among the works of mercy, and the Church has always held that intercession offered for a neighbour is especially pleasing to God — as our article on the Communion of Saints explains, the whole Body prays for its members.

What if I miss a day of the novena?

Take it up again the next day and complete the nine. There is no rule that annuls a novena for a missed day, and no need to start over unless you wish to. Scrupulosity is not devotion; God asks for perseverance, not for a flawless record.

Pray the novena to St Agatha with day-by-day reminders and audio in the Iter Fidei app. Download it here.

Sources. Holy Scripture, Douay-Rheims (Matt. vi, 9-13; Luke i, 28, 42; Matt. x, 32); Acts of St Agatha; Butler, Lives of the Saints, 5 February; the Roman Martyrology; the Roman Missal, S. Agathae Virginis et Martyris, 5 February (collect and antiphon Mente sanctam, spontaneam); the Canon of the Mass.