M0014076: Statue of Saint Agatha of Sicily / M0014077: Statue of Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Previous title, replaced January 2022: Saint Agatha, statuette

Previous title, replaced January 2022: Statue of Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Two wooden statues, one of Saint Agatha of Sicily, holding her breast on a plate. Patron saint of breast cancer patients, wet nurses, bell founders and bakers and is invoked against fire, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The other is of St Catherine of Alexandria, also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel (4th century) represented with spiked wheel, sword and palm. Patron saint of philosophers and invoked against migraines, diseases of the tongue and for restoring life to the drowned and for milk for breast feeding. The statue of St Agatha item was purchased by the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum and accessioned in 1937 (accession number R2421/1937). The statue of St Catherine was purchased by the Museum in 1928 and accessioned in 1937 (accession number R4770/1937). Neither is held by Wellcome Collection.

1955

1 photograph glass plate negative; 8.3 x 10.8 cm

Wellcome Collection holds the accession registers which provide an entry for the items: acc. number R2421/1937 and acc. number R4770/1937

Copyright held by Wellcome Collection

Catalogue data comes from a combination of entries in the original glass plate registers, metadata created when the glass plates were digitised in the early 2000s and enhancements made by the cataloguer in 2022.

Please consult the digitised version as this item is fragile. Email library@wellcomecollection.org to request access to the physical item.