Saint Agatha

Piero della Francesca, Polyptych of Perugia (detail of Saint Agatha), c. 1470, oil and tempera on panel, 338 cm x 230 cm, Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia

Agatha was a young Sicilian noblewoman in the third century.  She refused to make sacrifices to the gods and rejected the advances of the consul Quintianus.  She had her breasts removed with pincers, but was healed in the night by Saint Peter.  She was also forced to walk over hot coals and shards of glass, and eventually died in prison of starvation.

She is frequenly also depicted in the moment of her martyrdom, having her breasts torn off with pincers.