The Sovereign Military Order of Malta celebrates Saint Agatha, patron Saint of Catania, with the Agathine Jubilee, which will take place from 3 to 5 February 2026 in the city at the foot of Mount Etna, marking the 900th anniversary of the return of the Saint’s relics.

The link between the Order of Malta and Saint Agatha stems from a deep and ancient devotion that developed during the Order’s Maltese period (1530-1798). Saint Agatha is venerated as co-patroness of the island of Malta, the largest of the islands that make up the Maltese archipelago.

According to tradition, the cult of the Saint dates back to the persecutions of Emperor Decius, when Agatha took refuge on the island of Malta, devoting herself to evangelisation, before returning to Catania, where she was martyred on 5 February 251. Furthermore, devotion holds that her intercession protected the island of Malta from the Ottomans in 1551, who desisted from their invasion at the sight of the statue of the Saint, placed by the population in prayer on the walls facing the enemy.

The entire surface of the sheet reproduces Filippo Paladini’s work “The Martyrdom of Saint Agatha”, dating back to 1605 and currently preserved in the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Agatha in Catania, on the fifth altar of the left aisle.

The lower stamp, worth € 3.35, depicts the episode of the cutting off of her breasts, recorded in the Martyrology of the Saint of Catania as the second of the three torments she suffered, ordered by the Roman consul Quinziano. The upper stamp, also worth € 3.35, depicts the Angel flying above the scene of the martyrdom.

Each stamp bears the inscriptions ‘SOVRANO MILITARE ORDINE DI MALTA’ and ‘POSTE MAGISTRALI’, the coat of arms of the Order and the face value ‘€ 3.35’.

The sheet also bears, at the top centre on two lines, the heading ‘SOVRANO MILITARE ORDINE DI MALTA’ and ‘POSTE MAGISTRALI’, the coat of arms of the Order on the left and that of its activities on the right; at the bottom centre, on three lines, the inscription “900° ANNIVERSARIO  DEL RITORNO DELLE RELIQUIE DI SANT’AGATA, PATRONA DI CATANIA”, “3-5 FEBBRAIO 2026”, and, on the right-hand side of the sheet, the descriptive legend of the work depicted ‘Filippo Paladini, Il Martirio di Sant’Agata, 1605, Catania, Basilica Cattedrale di Sant’Agata’.