Attalus

Saint Attalus was, according to the tradition of the Church of Catania, the second bishop of the city, in the first century, successor of Saint Berillus. He is venerated as a saint by all the Churches that accept the veneration of saints.

The memory preserved in the old texts says that he was seized in the time of the first persecutions and taken to the ancient amphitheatre of Catania, where he received the crown of martyrdom. Other believers suffered with him: the deacon Stephen, Pontian, Fabian and Cornelius. As with many saints of the early centuries, it is hard to separate historical fact from devotional narrative; most details about the first bishops of Catania appear in Byzantine-⁠era texts (eighth and ninth centuries), written also to link the origins of the local Church to the apostolic age.

Before the Cathedral of Saint Agatha in Catania stands a marble statue of him, carved in 1804 by Gaetano Puglisi: the saint wears a Roman breastplate, tunic and cloak.