C a t a n i a C u l t u r a . c o m

The acts of martyrdom of the triumphant Amazon Agatha narrate a singular episode occurred during his burial: a youngman accompanied by one hundred beautiful children, dressed in white, laid inside the sarcophagus a marble tablet with the following inscription:

Mentem Sanctam Spontaneam Honorem Deo et Patriae Liberationem
(The Holy Mind, Spontaneous the Honour to God and the Liberation of her Homeland).
The inscription reduced to only eight letters (MSSHDEPL) had, over the centuries, a considerable spread so as to be reproduced, in the only city of Catania, in several places: over the left door of the Cathedral; over the tablet on top in the obelisk of the elephant's fountain; over the big bell of the cathedral; in a medieval stone monument inside the church of St. Agatha la Vetere; over the cartouches held by the cupids of the “candelores”; and over many bells in the world. The text is reproduced in full on the silver tablet placed on the left hand of the reliquary bust of the martyr Agatha.
Catania, of the well-beloved Patroness, keeps almost everything. Among the few exceptions there is the marble tablet. The first question we are asking is: Where is kept?
The answer is not easy because to date have not archival documents that could help us.
The tradition tells about a Cremonese priest, that around the year 500, gone to Catania to venerate the first Sicilian martyr and in that occasion has stolen the precious tablet to keep it in his city.
The city of Cremona retains, in the church dedicated to the Saint, an holy table.
It's a wood table of 112 cm x 69, painted on both sides. On a side depicts Our Lady with his Child, on the other hand recounts, in nine scenes spread over four bands, episodes of life and martyrdom: the temptation of S. Agatha; Agatha opposite to the prefect Quinziano; the scourging; the removal of the breast; St. Peter visit Agatha in prison; Agatha ordered to fire; the earthquake and the Saint in prayer, the miracle of the tablet and the end of Quinziano.
Unknown to date remains the name of the painter; however for the style we think to a northern painter operating at the end of the XIII century. The status of holy of the table is linked to the conviction that it is a shrine: a case that is, that might contain a relic between the two valve.
Many devotees of all times believed and believe today that the relic is not other that the angelic tablet. I read and report from the Guide to the churches of St. Agatha and St. Margaret:
"A recent radiological exploration of the table has revealed only the presence in the wood of a small opaque body, which could actually be a relic, but certainly not the marble tablet which is said put by the angels under the head of the martyr at the time of his burial. "
This information I think stop the belief of the marble tablet kept in Cremona. But already from many years some researchers are advancing new interpretations of the famous eight letters. A. Brancaforte in an article, published in the newspaper La Sicilia, February 4, 1990, entitled "Those eight letters mysterious" supports the thesis of F. Grossi Gondi which interprets the eight letters in the following way:
M(artyr) S(upra) S(criptus-a) H(ic) DEP(ositus-a) L(audabilis) . M (artyr) S (upra) S (criptus-a) H (ic) DEP (ositus-a) L (audabilis).

Of the same author: "The jewels of the devotion"

Other articles in English: click here.

Other useful sites:

Cataniaperte.com : news, cultural and general information site relating to Catania.

CircoloSantAgatha.com : official web site of Circle Sant'Agatha in Catania.