Agnes of Rome

According to tradition, Agnes was born in 291 into Roman nobility, and raised as a Christian. She suffered martyrdom on 21 January 304, aged 12 or 13, and during the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian.{{Cite book|author=Ambrose|author-link=Ambrose |date=1896 |title= Ambrose: Selected Works and Letters |series= The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf210.iv.vii.ii.ii.html |access-date=2009-01-21 |via=ccel.org|editor=Philip Schaff|volume = X}}{{Cite web |title=Our Patroness: St. Agnes the Martyr |url=https://saintagnes.org/our-patroness-st-agnes-the-martyr/ |access-date=2024-04-12 |website=St. Agnes Parish |language=en-US}} A beautiful young girl, Agnes had many suitors who were young men of high rank. Slighted by her resolute devotion to religious purity, they submitted her name to the authorities as a follower of Christianity.{{cite web|url=http://www.stagnescathedral.org/Our%20Parish/Patroness.html|title=St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr|publisher=St. Agnes Cathedral|access-date=2013-04-24|archive-date=2015-01-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150121150951/http://www.stagnescathedral.org/Our%20Parish/Patroness.html|url-status=dead}} One of them, a man named Procop, brought Agnes to his father, who was the local governor. He urged Agnes to deny God, but she refused.

File:Legendari di sancti istoriado uulgar, 1497 - (sant'Agnese) - BEIC IE4411197.jpg (1497)]]

The Prefect Sempronius condemned Agnes to be dragged naked through the streets to a brothel. In one account, as she prayed, her hair grew and covered her body.{{cite web|url=http://www.antiochian.org/node/17341|title=St. Agnes of Rome|publisher=Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese}} It was also said that all of the men who attempted to rape her were immediately struck blind. The son of the prefect was struck dead but revived after she prayed for him, causing her release. At the start of Agnes' trial, Sempronius recused himself, and another figure presided. After Agnes was sentenced to death, she was led out and bound to a stake to be burned, but the bundle of wood would not burn, or the flames parted away from her. The officer in charge of the troops drew his sword and beheaded her—or, in other texts, stabbed her in the throat. It is said that when Agnes' blood poured to the stadium floor, other Christians soaked it up with cloths.{{cite web |title=Saint Agnes of Rome, Virgin and Martyr |url=https://www.learnreligions.com/saint-agnes-of-rome-542518 |website=Learn Religions |access-date=31 January 2020 }}

File:Agnes & Procopius.jpg in the British Museum]]

Agnes was buried beside the Via Nomentana in Rome. A few days after her death, her foster-sister, Emerentiana, was found praying by the tomb. Emerentiana claimed to be the daughter of Agnes' wet nurse. She was stoned to death after refusing to leave the place and reprimanding the people for killing her foster-sister. Emerentiana was also later canonized. The daughter of Constantine I, Constantina, was said to have been cured of leprosy after praying at Agnes' tomb. She and Emerentiana appear in the scenes from the life of Agnes on the 14th-century Royal Gold Cup in the British Museum in London.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}[https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1892-0501-1]

An early account of Agnes' death, stressing her young age, steadfastness and virginity, but not the legendary features of the tradition, is given by the 4th-century theologian, Ambrose.

The broader social circumstances of her martyrdom are believed to be largely authentic, though the legend cannot be proven true, and many details of the 5th-century Acts of Saint Agnes have been challenged.{{cite book| url = http://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-agnes-21-january/| author = Monks of Ramsgate|chapter=Agnes|title=Book of Saints|orig-date= 1921|date= 12 May 2012}} A church was built over her tomb, and her relics venerated.

File:Drawing by Johann Overbeck of St. Agnes, became a published etching one of 12.jpg of St. Agnes]]

Agnes was venerated as a saint at least as early as the time of St Ambrose, based on an existing homily. She is commemorated in the Depositio Martyrum of Filocalus (354) and in the early Roman Sacramentaries.{{cite web| url = https://www.catholicireland.net/saintoftheday/st-agnes/| title = Jan 21 – St Agnes (d. 305) martyr|website=Catholic Ireland|date= 21 January 2012}}

Saint Agnes' bones are conserved beneath the high altar in the church of {{lang|it|Sant'Agnese fuori le mura}} in Rome,{{cite web| url = https://oca.org/saints/lives/2010/01/21/100255-virginmartyr-agnes-of-rome| title = "Virginmartyr Agnes of Rome", Orthodox Church in America}} built over the catacomb that housed her tomb. Her skull is preserved in a separate chapel in the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone in Rome's Piazza Navona.

Agnes is remembered in the Anglican Communion with a Lesser Festival on 21 January.{{Cite web|title=The Calendar|url=https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/calendar|access-date=2021-03-27|website=The Church of England|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=For All the Saints |url=https://www.anglican.org.nz/Resources/Worship-Resources-Karakia-ANZPB-HKMOA/For-All-the-Saints-A-Resource-for-the-Commemorations-of-the-Calendar/For-All-the-Saints#s|access-date=2021-03-27|website=www.anglican.org.nz}}{{Cite web |title=Agnes and Cecilia of Rome |url=https://www.episcopalchurch.org/lectionary/agnes-and-cecilia-of-rome/ |access-date=2022-07-19 |website=The Episcopal Church |language=en-US}}

St Agnes is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as the Anglican Communion and Lutheran Churches.

File:Fr Guarino Santa Inés 1650.jpg, 1650]]

Because of the legend around her martyrdom, Saint Agnes is patron saint of those seeking chastity and purity. She is also the patron saint of young girls and girl scouts. Folk custom called for them to practise rituals on Saint Agnes' Eve (20–21 January) with a view to discovering their future husbands. This superstition has been immortalised in John Keats's poem The Eve of Saint Agnes.{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Agnes, Saint|volume=1|page=377}}

Since the Middle Ages, Saint Agnes has traditionally been depicted as a young girl with her long hair down, with a lamb, the symbol of both her virginal innocence{{sfn|Kirsch|1907}} and her name, and a sword (together with the palm branch an attribute of her martyrdom). The lamb, which is agnus in the Latin language, is also the linguistic link to the traditional blessing of lambs.{{Cite web |date=2023-01-20 |title=Why is St. Agnes depicted with a lamb? |url=https://aleteia.org/2023/01/20/why-is-st-agnes-depicted-with-a-lamb/ |access-date=2024-04-12 |website=Aleteia — Catholic Spirituality, Lifestyle, World News, and Culture |language=en}} Saint Agnes has been depicted with a lamb since the 4th century.{{Cite web |date=2015-08-07 |title=St Agnes, Little Lamb of the Lord |url=https://www.mdrevelation.org/st-agnes-little-lamb-of-the-lord/ |access-date=2024-04-12 |website=Missionaries of Divine Revelation |language=en-US}}

On the feast of Saint Agnes, two lambs are traditionally brought from the Trappist abbey of Tre Fontane in Rome to be blessed by the Pope. In summer, the lambs are shorn, and the wool is used to weave the pallia, which the Pope gives on the feast of Saint Peter and Paul to the newly appointed metropolitan archbishops as a sign of his jurisdiction and their union with the pope.{{cite web | url=http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/01/29/pope_modifies_and_enriches_pallium_investiture_ceremony_/1120538 | title=Pope modifies and enriches Pallium Investiture Ceremony | publisher=Vatican Radio | date=January 29, 2015 | access-date=January 29, 2015}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/33284/pope-francis-celebrates-saint-agnes-with-blessing-of-lambs|title = Pope Francis celebrates Saint Agnes with blessing of lambs}} This tradition of the blessing of the lambs has been known since the 16th century.{{Cite web|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/28841/blessing-of-lambs-a-500-year-old-tradition-priest-reveals|title = Blessing of lambs a 500 year old tradition, priest reveals}}

File:Skull Saint Agnes.JPG, Rome]]

• St. Agnes Anglican Church Grange, Hanover, Jamaica
• Basilica of St James and St Agnes, Nysa, Poland
• St Agnes Cathedral, Rockville Centre, New York{{Cite web |url=http://www.stagnescathedral.org/Our%20Parish/History/Part%201.html |title="History", St. Agnes Cathedral |access-date=2019-01-29 |archive-date=2018-09-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913155819/http://www.stagnescathedral.org/Our%20Parish/History/Part%201.html |url-status=dead }}
• St Agnes Church, New York City
• Church of the Ascension and Saint Agnes, Washington, D.C.
• Sant'Agnese in Agone, Rome
• {{lang|it|Sant'Agnese fuori le mura}}, Rome
• {{ill|Sainte-Agnès, Lac-Mégantic|lt=Sainte-Agnès|fr|Église Sainte-Agnès de Lac-Mégantic}}, Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, Canada
• St Agnes, St Agnes, Cornwall, England{{cite web| url = http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=428393| title = Church of St Agnes, English Heritage National Monuments}}
• St Agnes, Cologne, Germany
• St Agnes, Cawston, Norfolk, England
• St Agnes' Church, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly, England
• St Agnes Cathedral, Springfield, Missouri, US
• St Agnes Church, Saint Paul, Minnesota
• St. Agnes Catholic Church, Key Biscayne, Florida{{Cite web |last=Pacenti |first=John |date=2023-06-19 |title=St. Agnes pastor to critics: "We are building to leave a legacy. |url=https://kbindependent.org/2023/06/19/st-agnes-pastor-to-critics-we-are-building-to-leave-a-legacy/ |access-date=2024-04-12 |website=Key Biscayne Independent |language=en-US}}

The Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes is a Catholic religious community for women based in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, US. It was founded in 1858, by Father Caspar Rehrl, an Austrian missionary, who established the sisterhood of pioneer women under the patronage of Agnes, to whom he had a particular devotion.

File:Johann Overbeck drawing of St. Agnes vs Roman Rule an early Christian martyr.jpg

The city of Santa Ynez, California is named after her.

Hrotsvitha, the 10th-century nun and poet, wrote a heroic poem about Agnes.{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/nondramaticworks00hrot/page/236|title = The non-dramatic works of Hrosvitha : Text, translation, and commentary|year = 1936}}

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.{{Cite web|url=https://librivox.org/fabiola-or-the-church-of-the-catacombs-by-cardinal-nicholas-patrick-wiseman/|title=Fabiola or The Church of the Catacombs|first=Nicholas |last=Wiseman|website=librivox.org|language=en|access-date=2018-03-16}}

The Eve of St. Agnes is a Romantic narrative poem written by John Keats in 1819.

St. Agnes’ Eve is a poem by Alfred Tennyson first published in 1837.

The instrumental song "Saint Agnes and the Burning Train" appears on the 1991 album The Soul Cages by Sting.

The song "Bear's Vision of St. Agnes" appears on the 2012 album Ten Stories by rock band mewithoutYou.

The St. Agnes Library is a branch of the New York Public Library located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, on Amsterdam Avenue between West 81st and West 82nd Streets.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nypl.org/locations/st-agnes|title=St. Agnes Library}}

{{Reflist}}

• Of Saint Agnes in "Ælfric's Lives of Saints", by Ælfric of Eynsham London, Pub. for the Early English text society, by N. Trübner & co. (1881).
• {{cite Q|Q115376221|editor1=Henry Gardiner Adams|ref=none}}
• {{Cite Catholic Encyclopedia |wstitle=St. Agnes of Rome |volume=1 |first=Johann Peter |last=Kirsch}}

{{wikisource|The Eve of St. Agnes}}

{{Commons category}}

• [http://www.stpetersbasilica.info/Exterior/Colonnades/Saints/St%20Agnes-43/StAgnes.htm "St Agnes – St Peter's Square Colonnade Saints"]
• [http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Agnes.htm Satucket.com], St. Agnes of Rome
• [http://www.christianiconography.info/agnes.html "Saint Agnes"] at the [http://www.christianiconography.info Christian Iconography] website
• [http://www.christianiconography.info/goldenLegend/agnes.htm "Of Saint Agnes"] from the Caxton translation of the Golden Legend
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110614120053/http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/biggerFiles/ambroseOnVirgins.html Remarks on the feast of St. Agnes] from St. Ambrose of Milan, On Virgins
• [http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Agnes.htm Saint Agnes] – The patron saint of young girls.

{{Catholic saints|state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Christian child saints

Category:291 births

Category:304 deaths

Category:4th-century Christian martyrs

Category:3rd-century Roman women

Category:4th-century Roman women

Category:4th-century Romans

Category:3rd-century Christian saints

Category:4th-century Christian saints

Category:People executed by the Roman Empire

Category:Virgin martyrs

Category:Burials at Sant'Agnese fuori le mura

Category:Ancient Christian female saints

Category:Anglican saints

Category:Christians martyred during the reign of Diocletian

Category:Christian martyrs