The discovery of the hierophany at the Badia di Sant’Agata in Catania

Journal title ARCHIVIO STORICO PER LA SICILIA ORIENTALE
Author/s Tiziana Nicolosi
Publishing Year 2026 Issue 2025/1-2
Language Italian Pages 21 P. 221-241 File size 827 KB
DOI 10.3280/ASSO2025-001011
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This essay proposes a reading of the Badia di Sant’Agata in Catania, by Giovan Battista Vaccarini, as a declination of an initiatory path of elevation, from martyrdom to salvation through light. The culminating point of this analysis is the discovery, made and documented by the author for the first time ever, of the hierophany of the sculptural group of Sant’Agata and the two lateral cherubs. The author discovered that, on the days of the Agatine triduum from 11.00 to 12.00 a.m., from the choir loft to the south, we witness an extraordinary phenomenon of light: within an hour, a beam of light hits the sculptural group and projects the shadow of Agata’s right hand to make her “grasp” the lily of purity, then she moves and projects the shadow of her left hand to make her “grasp” even the palm of martyrdom, finally goes out to return at 1.00 pm. The cloistered nuns, therefore, attended every year a sort of sacred representation of the story of Saint Agatha with a strong initiatory, symbolic and cathartic value.

Keywords: Giovan Battista Vaccarini, Abbey of Sant’Agata, hierophany, Baroque, Saint Agatha, Catania

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Tiziana Nicolosi, La scoperta della ierofania dentro la Badia di Sant’Agata a Catania in "ARCHIVIO STORICO PER LA SICILIA ORIENTALE" 1-2/2025, pp 221-241, DOI: 10.3280/ASSO2025-001011