| SAINT AGNES—VIRGIN, MARTYR (c. 314 AD) |
| Feast: January 21
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legends of saints have been more cherished than that of the virgin martyr Agnes.
She was held in high regard by the primitive Christian Church, and her name has
remained a symbol of maidenly purity through the ages. According to tradition,
Agnes was a Christian girl of Rome, perhaps twelve or thirteen years old, when
Diocletian began his persecutions. Like St. Lucy, she was sentenced by a judge
to a house of ill fame, but a young man who looked upon her lustfully was
stricken blind. Thereafter she was taken out to be burned, but whether she met
her death by fire or sword we cannot know with any certainty. Although we have
no contemporary sources for the facts of her life and martyrdom, there is little
reason to doubt the main outline of the story. References to this young saint
appear in many Church writings of later date. St. Ambrose, St. Damasus, and
Prudentius all praise her purity and heroism. Her name occurs in the Canon of
the Mass. Agnes' crypt was in the Via Nomentana, and the stone covering her
remains was carven with the words, <Agna sanctissima> (most holy lamb). A
church in her honor is presumed to have been built at Rome in the time of
Constantine the Great. In the apse of this basilica, which was rebuilt in the
seventh century by Pope Honorius, there is still to be seen the large and
beautiful mosaic depicting the saint. St. Agnes is the patroness of young girls
and her symbol is, naturally, a lamb. On the anniversary of her martyrdom, the
Pope, after high pontifical Mass in her church at Rome, blesses two lambs, and
their wool is later woven into the <pallia> worn by archbishops.
This was taken from "Lives of Saints", Published by John J. Crawley & Co., Inc. |
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