Background: Sebastiano del Piombo, “The Passion of St. Agatha,” 1520. Foreground: Master of the Transfiguration of Syracuse, “The Virgin Enthroned with Saints,” Bellomo Palace, mid-15th century

Hatred for the Church and hatred for its sexual morality have often gone hand-in-hand, as we see in the Decian Persecution and the life of St. Agatha.