Saint Philip of Agira (also Argirò, Aggira, Agirone, Agirya or Argira) was an early Christian
confessor
Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways.
Confessor of the Faith
Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death.St. Athanasius, it is maintained that Philip of Agira is a saint of the 1st century, born in the year 40 in
Cappadocia
Cappadocia or Capadocia (; tr, Kapadokya), is a historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It largely is in the provinces Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde.
According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Revo ...
(modern
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
) and died on 12 May 103.
Another recent study says to have been born of a Syrian father in
Thrace
Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to t ...
on an unknown date in the 5th century whose elder brothers drowned whilst fishing. Philip was known as the "Apostle of the
Sicilians
Sicilians or the Sicilian people are a Romance speaking people who are indigenous to the island of Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, as well as the largest and most populous of the autonomous regions of Italy.
Origin and i ...
", as he was the first Christian missionary to visit that island. Nothing else can be certainly stated about him.
His feast day is 12 May, and he is naturally,
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...
of the city of
Agira
Agira (; Sicilian language, Sicilian: ''Aggira'', grc, Ἀγύριον) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Enna, Sicily (southern Italy). It is located in the mid-valley of the River Salso River, Salso, from Enna. Until 1861 it was cal ...
, Sicily, and of the city of Ħaż-Żebbuġ, Malta, he is celebrated also in the town of
Limina
Limina ( Sicilian: ''Lìmmina'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina in the Italian region Sicily, located about east of Palermo and about southwest of Messina in the Peloritani mountains.
Limina borders the fol ...
, Sicily, where he also lived. Putatively, his relics were discovered in the church dedicated to him in Agira. Philip is one of the patron saints of the United States Army Special Forces and also known for his power of accomplish
exorcisms
Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be do ...