Saint Agrippina di Mineo

Saint Agrippina Di Mineo was a beautiful blond princess who was unmercifully tortured to death by the Emperor Valerian in 256 AD. After her death, her body was taken from Rome to Mineo, Sicily, by three holy women; Bassa, Paula and Agatonica.

The Greeks also honor her and claim to have relics of her. Sant' Agrippina is the patron saint of thunderstorms, leprosy and evil spirits. Her feast day is celebrated on the first weekend in August.

Each year since 1914 this group of devoted people come together to renew their faith in her in Boston's North End, as was the custom in the land of origin, Mineo, Sicily. Each year everyone is invited to witness the respect and honor that is bestowed on this young, beautiful martyred saint.

The story of the journey of the martyred body of St. Agrippina from Rome to Mineo, Sicily is full of the miraculous.

The fragrance that accompanied the body of St. Agrippina wherever it went, the veneration of the sailors and the farmers, the miraculous light weight of the reliquary so that the three young girls could carry it, the quickness of the voyage from Rome to Sicily, the miraculous cloud that covered the girls and transported them and the relics at certain times of danger in the journey, the angels that protected them from harm, the devils that were defeated and swept out at the sight of the sacred relics, and the miracle of Teogonia - these are all signs that it was the will of God that Agrippina should be the Saint of this blessed city of Mineo.

As the sacred tradition affirms, the relics of St. Agrippina arrived in Mineo on Wednesday, May 17, in the year 261.