The cult of Saint Agrippina is one of the oldest and most heartfelt in all of Sicily. The church, which held the saint's body in its crypts, has been closed for years due to lengthy and major restoration work. On May 17, 2025, it reopened with a solemn and historic dedication and consecration of the church and its new marble altar.
Cusenza Marmi was asked to create the new marble altar for the Church of Santa Agrippina in Mineo, a small inland village in Catania bordering Caltagirone. The construction of a new altar is always a unique experience: a moment when art, faith and tradition come together in a project that is never just liturgical architecture, but becomes memory and identity for an entire community.
Every step of the process involved the use of carefully selected fine marble, combined with the craftsmanship handed down for generations in our company. The result is an altar that combines classic style and liturgical functionality, respecting the architectural lines of the church but at the same time giving it a renewed splendor.
Under the guidance of parish priest pro tempore Fr. Matteo Malgioglio and the president pro tempore of the Santa Agrippina festivities committee, Dr. Antonio Gambuzza, special attention was paid to the design of the marble altar and the sculpting of the details, designed to enhance the devotion to Santa Agrippina, the patron saint so beloved in Mineo. The new marble altar is not only a place for Eucharistic celebration, but also a work of art destined to last through the centuries, bearing witness to the faith and beauty of Italian craftsmanship.
With this intervention, Cusenza Marmi confirms its mission: to combine tradition and innovation in marble processing, carrying out sacred and civic projects that enhance the history and cultural heritage of our territories
The altar of the Church of St. Agrippina in Mineo is a work of great value, made of polychrome marble that combines elegance and sacred symbolism. The structure has solid and compact lines, with an upper mensa in white Carrara marble that gives luminosity and contrasts with the chromatic richness of the underlying panels.
The front and sides are decorated with a refined marble commesso technique, in which Castellammare Red, Alpine Green, ancient Castronovo Yellow, ancient Sicilian Jasper, and relief panels in papal breccia, harmonized by geometric frames enclosing ornamental motifs, stand out.
A coat of arms made of white Carrara marble from the so-called Michelangelo quarry, because it was the same quarry where the famous master chose the blocks for his works, stands out in the center of the front. The coat of arms, carved in relief, symbolizes the town and the saint, surmounted by a crown and framed by an oval that recalls the Sicilian Baroque tradition. On the sides, a second decorative motif in the same white marble depicts a Lion holding 7 campanulas in its mouth, a symbol of Jesus breaking the 7 seals of the apocalypse.
The base is finished with white marble wainscoting, which lightens the layout and gives balance to the whole, blending with the marble floor of the church.
In this work, Cusenza Marmi has been able to combine craftsmanship in marble working with liturgical sensibility, resulting in an altar that is not only a functional element of the rite, but also a testimony to sacred art and community identity.
In 2025, the reopening of the shrine of Saint Agrippina
On May 17, 2025, after long years of closure for renovations, the church was reopened and with an exciting rite of consecration of the altar along with that of dedication of the church, the entire community of Mineo witnessed and participated in great numbers in a rare as well as unique event!
The city of Mineo, perched in the heart of Sicily, experienced a moment of profound spiritual and communal renewal, an event that inextricably linked the present to an almost bimillennial history. The "Celebration of the Dedication of the Church and Altar" of the Basilica of St. Agrippina, presided over by His Excellency Monsignor Calogero Peri, pro tem Bishop of Caltagirone, was not a mere ceremony, but the solemn reaffirmation of an identity forged in faith and devotion. On this day, as announced, Mineo "re-embraced its patron saint," rediscovering the pulsating center of its spiritual life.
This sacred rite transcends the reopening of a building. The celebrant's words make clear the theological significance of the event: "we are not simply doing a simple reopening of a church, but rather we will proceed for the consecration of the altar and consequently of the Church itself."
It is an act of spiritual refounding, a moment when the sacred word is not simply heard, but also "seen," "touched," and finally witnessed. The consecration creates a temporal bridge, ideally linking this modern ceremony to the first, historic consecration that took place back in 312 AD.
To understand the depth of the cult rooted in Mineo, it is essential to trace its origin: the life and sacrifice of a young Roman woman whose unwavering faith defied the power of an empire. Agrippina's story is that of the radical choice that transformed a noble patrician into a martyr for Christ.
Noble origins and Christian faith
According to hagiographical accounts, Agrippina was born in Rome in 243 AD to a family of the upper aristocracy who converted to Christianity. From her youth, she chose to give herself totally to God as the bride of Christ through "consecrated virginity," a primordial form of female monastic life. This decision placed her in direct contrast to society's expectations of a woman of her rank, whose duty was to enter into an advantageous marriage and ensure offspring for the groom's family.
Its very name, of Latin origin, was normally given to babies who were born breech, that is, "first with feet," a detail that seems to presage an unconventional life path.
The persecution of Valerian
Agrippina's life took place during one of the most difficult periods for Christians: the reign of Emperor Valerian (253-260 CE). Her persecution policy was particularly brutal and targeted: she specifically targeted high-ranking Christians, senators and knights, demanding that they abjure their faith by making public sacrifices to the gods. Noble women who refused were stripped of their property and condemned to exile. Valerian's goal was to eradicate Christian influence from the empire's elite. In this context, Agrippina's position was extremely dangerous. Her being a patrician, and virgin consecrated to Christ who rejected a pagan marriage, represented a double affront to the established order. Her faith was not a private matter, but a public act of disobedience to imperial authority and state religion, serving as an instrument of unity and strength for Roman society.
The trial and martyrdom
Inevitably, Agrippina was arrested and brought before the court. There she firmly professed her faith in Christ, refusing to sacrifice to idols. Her testimony was not just a religious statement, but an act of political resistance. For this she was handed over to her tormentors. Hagiographic sources relate that she was scourged so brutally that her flesh was macerated. Finally, after being subjected to more severe torments, she was beheaded, around 258 CE.
Her story fits into the powerful archetype of female holiness of the late antique period: the noble and beautiful virgin who preferred a heavenly marriage to an earthly one and death to submission to pagan authority. Her figure, along with that of her companions who recovered her body, represents a model of female courage and solidarity in a hostile world, offering a radical alternative to the traditional role of women in Roman society.
The miraculous translation and arrival of the sacred remains in Sicily
The event that forever binds Agrippina's name to Mineo is the translation of her martyred body from Rome to Sicily. This journey, shrouded in an aura of legend, for the Mineo community is not reduced to a simple transport of relics, but represents the founding act of the city's religious identity, the moment when, through the Martyr's remains, the fruits of Christ's redemption changed its face forever.
To distant lands
Many years after her martyrdom, in a Rome "inebriated with the blood of Christians," three devout virgins-Bass, Paula and Agathonica-performed, with the help of a Greek monk, in obedience to a divine inspiration, an act of extraordinary audacity: they took the holy body of the Martyr from the basilica of St. Paul the Apostle, where it lay incorrupt, to transfer it to the place that would be indicated to them by divine Providence.
The miraculous journey
The three women embarked on a long and perilous journey to Sicily, taking the precious cargo with them. Hagiographic tradition relates that during the journey, from Rome to Mineo, they were protected by a miraculous cloud and enveloped in a suave perfume. This legendary detail serves to acknowledge the divine plan, and the constant assistance of Providence, in the not easy mission undertaken by the three virgins.
The arrival in Mineo and the first miracle
After a stopover near the coast of Agrigento, the relics arrived in Mineo on May 17, at a place called Drafone, in the Lamia district, near a cave that has since taken the name of St. Agrippina's Cave. This date has remained etched in the memory of the town, which still celebrates it today as the Feast of the Transfer, and was precisely the date chosen for the dedication of the church with the consecration of the new marble altar.
From the cave the body was brought to the house of the noble matron Eupresia. It was here that the first, fundamental miracle occurred on Sicilian soil. Theogonia, Eupresia's paralytic daughter, was instantly and prodigiously healed upon contact with the sacred remains. This event was the spark that ignited devotion to St. Agrippina. The miracle validated the sanctity of the relics unequivocally and established a direct and tangible link between the Roman martyr and the community of Mineo. In gratitude, Eupresia had the first oratory built over the saint's tomb (which still exists today at the church crypt), beginning the history of the basilica. The arrival of the relic, then, was not a passive event, but a creative act: the relic acted, healed, and in so doing consecrated the soil of Mineo, transforming the city into her chosen home.
Through Basilian monks, Agrippina's name and the fame of her miracles spread throughout the Church. The liturgical calendar commemorates her "dies natalis" on June 23, while in Mineo her feast, with a concourse of people, is celebrated on the last two Sundays of August, as well as on May 17, in memory of the translation.
