Agnes of Rome
| Saint Agnes | |
|---|---|
 Saint Agnes by Domenichino |
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| Virgin and Martyr | |
| Born | c. 291 |
| Died | c. 304 |
| Honored in | Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Anglican Communion, Lutheranism |
| Canonized | Pre-Congregation |
| Major shrine | Church of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura and the Church of Sant'Agnese in Agone, both in Rome |
| Feast | January 21; before Pope John XXIII revised the calendar, there was a second feast on January 28 |
| Attributes | a lamb, martyr's palm |
| Patronage | Betrothed couples; chastity; Children of Mary; Colegio Capranica of Rome; crops; gardeners; Girl Guides; girls; rape victims; virgins; the diocese of Rockville Centre, New York |
Agnes of Rome (c. 291 – c. 304) is a virgin–martyr, venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, and Lutheranism. She is one of seven women, excluding the Blessed Virgin, commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass. She is the patron saint of chastity, gardeners, girls, engaged couples, rape victims, and virgins.
She is also known as Saint Agnes and Saint Ines. Her memorial, which commemorates her martyrdom, is 21 January in both the Roman Catholic calendar of saints and in the General Roman Calendar of 1962. The 1962 calendar includes a second feast on 28 January,[1] which commemorates her birthday. Agnes is depicted in art with a lamb, as her name resembles the Latin word for "lamb", agnus. The name "Agnes" is actually derived from the feminine Greek adjective "hagnē" (ἁγνή) meaning "chaste, pure, sacred".
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[edit] Biography
According to tradition, Saint Agnes was a member of the Roman nobility born c. 291 and raised in a Christian family. She suffered martyrdom at the age of twelve[2] or thirteen during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, on 21 January 304.
The Prefect Sempronius wished Agnes to marry his son, and on Agnes' refusal he condemned her to death. As Roman law did not permit the execution of virgins, Sempronius had a naked Agnes dragged through the streets to a brothel. Various versions of the legend give different methods of escape from this predicament. In one, as she prayed, her hair grew and covered her body. It was also said that all of the men who attempted to rape her were immediately struck blind. In another the son of the prefect is struck dead, but revived after Agnes prayed for him, causing her release. There is then a trial from which Sempronius excuses himself, and another figure presides, sentencing her to death. When led out to die she was tied to a stake, but the bundle of wood would not burn, or the flames parted away from her, whereupon the officer in charge of the troops drew his sword and beheaded her, or, in some other texts, stabbed her in the throat. It is also said that the blood of Agnes poured to the stadium floor where other Christians soaked up the blood with cloths.
A few days after Agnes' death, her foster-sister, Saint Emerentiana was found praying by her tomb; she claimed to be the daughter of Agnes' wet nurse, and was stoned to death after refusing to leave the place and reprimanding the pagans for killing her foster sister. Emerentiana was also later canonized. The daughter of Constantine I, Saint Constance, was also said to have been cured of leprosy after praying at Agnes' tomb. Emerentiana and Constance appear in the scenes from the life of Agnes on the 14th-century Royal Gold Cup in the British Museum.
Agnes' bones are conserved beneath the high altar in the church of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura in Rome, built over the catacomb that housed Agnes' tomb. Her skull is preserved in a separate chapel in the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone in Rome's Piazza Navona.
An early account of Agnes' death, stressing her steadfastness and virginity, but not the legendary features of the tradition, is given by Saint Ambrose.[2]
[edit] In popular culture
An interesting custom is observed on her feast day. Two lambs are brought from the Trappist abbey of Tre Fontane in Rome to the pope to be blessed. On Holy Thursday they are shorn, and from the wool is woven the pallium which the pope gives to a newly consecrated metropolitan archbishop as a sign of his jurisdiction and his union with the pope.
Saint Agnes is the patron saint of young girls. Folk custom called for them to practice rituals on Saint Agnes' Eve (20–21 January) with a view to discovering their future husbands. This superstition has been immortalized in John Keats's poem, "The Eve of Saint Agnes".
She is represented in art as a young girl in robes, holding a palm branch in her hand and a lamb at her feet or in her arms.
In the historical novel Fabiola or, the Church of the Catacombs, written by Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman in 1854, Agnes is the soft-spoken teenage cousin and confidant of the protagonist, the beautiful noblewoman Fabiola.
She is sometimes misconstrued to be the Saint Agnes referred to in the Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslas"; as the peasant who Wenceslas sees, lives, "Right against the forest fence, by Saint Agnes' fountain." The saint being referred to is actually Saint Agnes of Bohemia.[citation needed]
Hrotsvitha, the tenth-century nun and poetess, wrote a play the subject of which was Saint Agnes. Grace Andreacchi wrote a play based on the legends surrounding the martyrdom of Saint Agnes.
[edit] Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes
The Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes is a Roman Catholic religious community for women based in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1858 with Saint Agnes as its patron saint.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ cf. LiturgyOffice.co.uk
- ^ a b "NPNF210. Ambrose: Selected Works and Letters - Christian Classics Ethereal Library". Ccel.org. 2005-06-01. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf210.iv.vii.ii.ii.html. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
[edit] Further Images
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9th-century Mosaic in the church of St. Praxedes, Rome
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16th-century polychrome statue in Burgos Cathedral, Spain
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The saint's statue is among those on the colonnade in St. Peter's Square
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thumb|Statue in a church on Gora Oljka
[edit] External links
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Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
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Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Agnes, Saint. |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Saint Agnes of Rome |
- The Life of St. Agnes of Rome, Virgin & Martyr of the Catholic Church
- NewAdvent.org, Catholic Encyclopedia: St Agnes of Rome
- Satucket.com, St. Agnes of Rome
- Blogspot.com, St Agnes in literature
- Aug.edu, "St. Agnes" in Christian Iconography
- "Of Saint Agnes" from the Caxton translation of the Golden Legend
- Remarks on the feast of St. Agnes from St. Ambrose of Milan, On Virgins
