while visiting palazzo pitti's painting gallery with my art history students recently, we came across a strange image of a woman holding a silver platter with what appeared to be breasts being served up on it. my students were shocked at this inexplicable sight, and i suddenly recalled having seen the bulging, iced, cherry-topped pastries through the glass of a cafe's countertop that are these same breasts served up in all of their sweetness.
not to be mistaken for obscene, worldly, breasts-as-object to be consumed, these are the holy (whole-ly) sweet embodiment of the mammary as font of the milk which sustains every human life and cushions the curve of every just-emerged-from-the-womb cheek. the breast as naked truth testifying to the sacred power to manifest life itself, and to be a source of both physical and spiritual nourishment.
this is because these are saint agatha's breasts, violently cut off her virgin chest as one among many of her martyrdom's tortures, for she not only refused to deny her love for god, but more grievously for her accusers, (among them the predictably much, much older roman consul who insistently pursued and tried to imposed himself on her), she refused to allow herself to be consumed, gobbled up, by mere lust. her saint day, celebrated on february 5th, is appropriately close to valentine's day.
these are breasts that don't titilate to incite mere physical desire, but instead to testify of the catholic teaching that the body is the temple of the spirit-- a body that is made whole/holy, and as a conduit for love. a body whose capacity to create and incite love is by design a union of body and spirit. thus, our naked nature gives us direct access, where we choose to maintain its integrity, to love's very origins in the body's creator who is love itself, god.
saint agatha offers special protection to her native sicilian town of catania, to which she is said to give shelter from the breast-shaped volcanic fury of nearby mount etna. she is also known to have the grace, or spiritual gift given to her by god, of being able to be a special aid to women with any kind of breast ailment.
in saint agatha's sweet, edible "minne", (in italian, "breast", and by coincidence? in german, love), the mammary is revealed as it is: delicious & delightful, non-vulgar nakedness that celebrates women's bodies as seats of nourishment and pleasure, both emotional and physical, the sacred power of life-giving and protecting, the dessert of love's sweet & holy ecstasy.
