'''Agnes of Rome''' ({{circa|291|304}}) is a [[Consecrated virgin|virgin]]–[[Christian martyrs|martyr]], venerated as a [[saint]] in the [[Roman Catholic Church]], [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], the [[Anglican Communion]], and [[Lutheranism]]. She is one of seven women who, along with the [[BVM(RC)|Blessed Virgin]], are commemorated by name in the [[Canon of the Mass]]. She is the [[patron saint]] of [[chastity]], [[gardening|gardeners]], girls, engaged couples, [[rape]] survivors, virgins, and the [[Sodality of Our Lady#The Children of Mary (associated group)|Children of Mary]].
'''Agnes of Rome''' ({{circa|291|304}}) is a [[Consecrated virgin|virgin]]–[[Christian martyrs|martyr]], venerated as a [[saint]] in the [[Roman Catholic Church]], [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], the [[Anglican Communion]], and [[Lutheranism]]. She is one of seven women who, along with the [[BVM(RC)|Blessed Virgin]], are commemorated by name in the [[Canon of the Mass]]. She is the [[patron saint]] of [[chastity]], [[gardening|gardeners]], girls, engaged couples, [[rape]] survivors, virgins, and the [[Sodality of Our Lady#The Children of Mary (associated group)|Children of Mary]].
Agnes is depicted in art with a [[domestic sheep|lamb]], as the [[Latin]] word for "lamb", ''agnus'', sounds like her name. Sheis also known with a palm. The [[Agnes (name)|name "Agnes"]] is actually derived from the feminine Greek adjective ''hagnē'' (ἁγνή) meaning "chaste, pure, sacred".
Agnes is depicted in art with a [[domestic sheep|lamb]], from the [[Latin]] word for "lamb", ''agnus''. However, the [[Agnes (name)|name "Agnes"]] is actually derived from the feminine Greek adjective ''hagnē'' (ἁγνή) meaning "chaste, pure, sacred". She is also shown with a martyr's palm.
Agnes' feast day is 21 January. In pre-1970 versions of the [[General Roman Calendar]] an additional feast of the same saint is given one week later, on 28 January (see [[Tridentine Calendar]]). The [[Mysterii Paschalis|1969 revision]] removed this as a duplication of the 21 January feast.<ref>''Calendarium Romanum'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1969), p. 114</ref>
Agnes' feast day is 21 January. In pre-1970 versions of the [[General Roman Calendar]] an additional feast of the same saint is given one week later, on 28 January (see [[Tridentine Calendar]]). The [[Mysterii Paschalis|1969 revision]] removed this as a duplication of the 21 January feast.<ref>''Calendarium Romanum'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1969), p. 114</ref>
==Biography==
==Biography==
The legend cannot be proven true, and many details of the fifth century ''Acts of Saint Agnes'' are open to criticism likely full of elaboration, though substantially the circumstances of her martyrdom are authentic.<ref>[http://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-agnes-21-january/ Monks of Ramsgate. “Agnes”. ''Book of Saints'', 1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 12 May 2012]</ref> Archeological evidence indicates that a young girl of about thirteen years of age, a virgin named Agnes, was martyred in Rome and honored for her sacrifice. A church was built over her tomb, and her relics venerated.<ref name=faithnd/>
==Legend==
According to tradition, Saint Agnes of Rome was a member of the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] nobility born in AD 291 and raised in an Early Catholic family. She suffered martyrdom at the age of twelve<ref name="schaffiv">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf210.iv.vii.ii.ii.html |title=NPNF210. Ambrose: Selected Works and Letters – Christian Classics Ethereal Library |publisher=Ccel.org |date=2005-06-01 |accessdate=2009-01-21}}</ref> or thirteen during the reign of the [[Roman Emperor]] [[Diocletian]], on 21 January 304.
According to tradition, Saint Agnes of Rome was a member of the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] nobility born in AD 291 and raised in an Early Catholic family. She suffered martyrdom at the age of twelve<ref name="schaffiv">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf210.iv.vii.ii.ii.html |title=NPNF210. Ambrose: Selected Works and Letters – Christian Classics Ethereal Library |publisher=Ccel.org |date=2005-06-01 |accessdate=2009-01-21}}</ref> or thirteen during the reign of the [[Roman Emperor]] [[Diocletian]], on 21 January 304.
Agnes was a beautiful young girl of wealthy family and therefore had many suitors of high rank. Details of her story are unreliable, but legend holds that the young men, slighted by her resolute devotion to religious purity, submitted her name to the authorities as a follower of Christianity.<ref name=rockville>{{cite web|url=http://www.stagnescathedral.org/Our%20Parish/Patroness.html|title=St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr|publisher=}}</ref>
Agnes was a beautiful young girl of wealthy family and therefore had many suitors of high rank. Details of her story are unreliable, but legend holds that the young men, slighted by her resolute devotion to religious purity, submitted her name to the authorities as a follower of Christianity.<ref name=rockville>{{cite web|url=http://www.stagnescathedral.org/Our%20Parish/Patroness.html|title=St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr|publisher=St. Agnes Cathedral}}</ref>
The [[Prefect]] Sempronius condemned Agnes to be dragged naked 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.<ref name=aoca>{{cite web|url=http://www.antiochian.org/node/17341|title=St. Agnes of Rome|publisher=}}</ref> It was also said that all of the men that attempted to rape her were immediately struck blind. In another the son of the prefect is struck dead, but revived after she prayed for him, causing her release. There is then a trial from which Sempronius excuses himself, and another figure presides, sentencing her to death. She was led out and [[burning at the stake|bound 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 [[decapitation|beheaded]] her, or, in some other texts, stabbed her in the throat. It is also said that her blood poured to the stadium floor where other Christians soaked it up with cloths.
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.<ref name=aoca>{{cite web|url=http://www.antiochian.org/node/17341|title=St. Agnes of Rome|publisher=Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese}}</ref> It was also said that all of the men that attempted to rape her were immediately struck blind. The son of the prefect is struck dead, but revived after she prayed for him, causing her release. There is then a trial from which Sempronius recuses himself, and another figure presides, sentencing her to death. She was led out and [[burning at the stake|bound 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 [[decapitation|beheaded]] her, or, in some other texts, stabbed her in the throat. It is also said that her blood poured to the stadium floor where other Christians soaked it up with cloths.
[[File:Agnes & Procopius.jpg|thumb|Agnes depicted on the Royal Gold Cup]]
[[File:Agnes & Procopius.jpg|thumb|Agnes depicted on the Royal Gold Cup]]
Agnes was buried beside the [[Via Nomentana]] in Rome.<ref name=rockville/> A few days after her 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. She and Emerentiana appear in the scenes from the life of Agnes on the 14th-century [[Royal Gold Cup]] in the [[British Museum]].
Agnes was buried beside the [[Via Nomentana]] in Rome.<ref name=rockville/> A few days after her 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 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]].
An early account of Agnes' death, stressing her young age, steadfastness and virginity, but not the legendary features of the tradition, is given by [[Saint Ambrose]].<ref name="schaffiv"/>
An early account of Agnes' death, stressing her young age, steadfastness and virginity, but not the legendary features of the tradition, is given by [[Saint Ambrose]].<ref name="schaffiv"/>
==Veneration==
==Veneration==
Agnes was venerated as a saint at least as early as the time of [[Ambrose|St. Ambrose]], based on an existing homily. She is commemorated in the ''Depositio Martyrum'' of [[Furius Dionysius Filocalus|Filocalus]] (354) and in the early Roman Sacramentaries.<ref name=Duffy>[https://www.catholicireland.net/saintoftheday/st-agnes/ Duffy, Patrick. "Jan 21 – St Agnes (d. 305) martyr", ''Catholic Ireland'', 21 January 2012]</ref>
{{Refimprove section|date=September 2017}}
Agnes was venerated as a saint at least as early as the time of [[Ambrose|St. Ambrose]], based on an existing homily.
Agnes's bones are conserved beneath the high altar in the church of [[Sant'Agnese fuori le mura]] in Rome,<ref>[https://oca.org/saints/lives/2010/01/21/100255-virginmartyr-agnes-of-rome "Virginmartyr Agnes of Rome", Orthodox Church in America]</ref> 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's bones are conserved beneath the high altar in the church of [[Sant'Agnese fuori le mura]] in Rome,<ref>[https://oca.org/saints/lives/2010/01/21/100255-virginmartyr-agnes-of-rome "Virginmartyr Agnes of Rome", Orthodox Church in America]</ref> 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]].
According to Robert Ellsberg, in his book ''Blessed among all women: women saints prophets and witnesses for our time'',<blockquote>In the story of Agnes the opposition is not between sex and virginity. The conflict is between a young woman’s power in Christ to define her own identity versus a patriarchal culture’s claim to identify her in terms of her sexuality. According to the view shared by her “suitors” and the state, if she would not be one man’s wife, she might as well be every man’s whore. Failing these options, she might as well be dead. Agnes did not choose death. She chose not to worship the gods of her culture. ...Espoused to Christ, she was beyond the power of any man to ‘have his way with her’. ‘Virgin’ in this case is another way of saying Free Woman.<ref>Ellsberg, Robert. ''''Blessed among all women: women saints prophets and witnesses for our time'', Crossroad Publishing Company, 2007, ISBN 9780824524395</ref>
Agnes is the patron saint of young girls. Folk custom called for them to practise [[divination|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]].''<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Agnes, Saint|volume=1|page=377}}</ref>
Because of the legend around her martyrdom, she is patron saint of those seeking chastity and purity.<ref name=faithnd>[http://faith.nd.edu/s/1210/faith/interior.aspx?sid=1210&gid=609&pgid=17700&cid=35026&ecid=35026&crid=0 "St. Agnes", ''Faith ND'', University of Notre Dame]</ref>
Agnes is also the patron saint of young girls. Folk custom called for them to practise [[divination|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]].''<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Agnes, Saint|volume=1|page=377}}</ref>
[[File:Fr Guarino Santa Inés 1650.jpg|thumb|right|''Santa Inés'', [[Francesco Guarino|Guarino]], 1650.]]
[[File:Fr Guarino Santa Inés 1650.jpg|thumb|right|''Santa Inés'', [[Francesco Guarino|Guarino]], 1650.]]
Since the Middle Ages, Agnes has traditionally been depicted as a young girl in robes, with a lamb, the symbol of her virginal innocence,<ref name=kirsch>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01214a.htm|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Agnes of Rome|publisher=}}</ref> and often, like many other martyrs, with a palm branch.
===Churches===
===Churches===
Line 104:
Line 115:
* [http://www.stagnesparish.org.au/ St Agnes Parish], Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia
* [http://www.stagnesparish.org.au/ St Agnes Parish], Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia
* St Agnes Catholic Church,Toora,Victoria,Australia
* St Agnes Catholic Church,Toora,Victoria,Australia
* St. Agnes Catholic Church, [[Freeland, Michigan]]
* [http://www.ststephenwindsor.org.uk/ St Stephen & St Agnes Church], [[Windsor, Berkshire|Windsor]], [[UK]]
* [http://www.ststephenwindsor.org.uk/ St Stephen & St Agnes Church], [[Windsor, Berkshire|Windsor]], [[UK]]
===Schools===
===Schools===
{{columns list|2|
* St. Agnes Catholic School, [[Roeland Park, Kansas]]
* St. Agnes Catholic School, [[Roeland Park, Kansas]]
* St. Agnes Catholic School, [[Arlington, Virginia]]
* St. Agnes Catholic School, [[Arlington, Virginia]]
Line 137:
Line 147:
* st. Agnes Girls Boarding school, [[Baricho, Kirinyaga, Kenya]]
* st. Agnes Girls Boarding school, [[Baricho, Kirinyaga, Kenya]]
* St. Agnes Girls' School, [[Mangalore]], [[Karnataka]]
* St. Agnes Girls' School, [[Mangalore]], [[Karnataka]]
}}
* St. Agnes Catholic School, [[Rooty Hill, New South Wales|Rooty Hill]], Sydney
==Legacy==
==Legacy==
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, 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.
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, 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.
It is customary on her feast day for two lambs to be brought from the [[Trappist]] abbey of [[Tre Fontane]] in [[Rome]] to be blessed by the Pope. On [[Maundy Thursday|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.<ref name=rockville/>
It is customary on her feast day for two lambs to be brought from the [[Trappist]] abbey of [[Tre Fontane]] in [[Rome]] to the Sant'Agnese in Agone church to be blessed by the Pope. On [[Maundy Thursday|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.<ref name=rockville/><ref>{{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 | accessdate=January 29, 2015}}</ref>
Since the Middle Ages, Agnes has traditionally been depicted as a young girl in robes, with a lamb, the symbol of her virginal innocence,<ref name=kirsch>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01214a.htm|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Agnes of Rome|publisher=}}</ref> and often, like many other martyrs, with a palm branch.
Agnes is depicted in art with a lamb, from the Latin word for "lamb", agnus. However, the name "Agnes" is actually derived from the feminine Greek adjective hagnē (ἁγνή) meaning "chaste, pure, sacred". She is also shown with a martyr's palm.
Agnes' feast day is 21 January. In pre-1970 versions of the General Roman Calendar an additional feast of the same saint is given one week later, on 28 January (see Tridentine Calendar). The 1969 revision removed this as a duplication of the 21 January feast.[1]
Biography
The legend cannot be proven true, and many details of the fifth century Acts of Saint Agnes are open to criticism likely full of elaboration, though substantially the circumstances of her martyrdom are authentic.[2] Archeological evidence indicates that a young girl of about thirteen years of age, a virgin named Agnes, was martyred in Rome and honored for her sacrifice. A church was built over her tomb, and her relics venerated.[3]
Legend
According to tradition, Saint Agnes of Rome was a member of the Roman nobility born in AD 291 and raised in an Early Catholic family. She suffered martyrdom at the age of twelve[4] or thirteen during the reign of the Roman EmperorDiocletian, on 21 January 304.
Agnes was a beautiful young girl of wealthy family and therefore had many suitors of high rank. Details of her story are unreliable, but legend holds that the young men, slighted by her resolute devotion to religious purity, submitted her name to the authorities as a follower of Christianity.[5]
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.[6] It was also said that all of the men that attempted to rape her were immediately struck blind. The son of the prefect is struck dead, but revived after she prayed for him, causing her release. There is then a trial from which Sempronius recuses himself, and another figure presides, sentencing her to death. She was led out and bound 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 her blood poured to the stadium floor where other Christians soaked it up with cloths.
Agnes depicted on the Royal Gold Cup
Agnes was buried beside the Via Nomentana in Rome.[5] A few days after her 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 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.
An early account of Agnes' death, stressing her young age, steadfastness and virginity, but not the legendary features of the tradition, is given by Saint Ambrose.[4]
Veneration
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.[7]
According to Robert Ellsberg, in his book Blessed among all women: women saints prophets and witnesses for our time,
In the story of Agnes the opposition is not between sex and virginity. The conflict is between a young woman’s power in Christ to define her own identity versus a patriarchal culture’s claim to identify her in terms of her sexuality. According to the view shared by her “suitors” and the state, if she would not be one man’s wife, she might as well be every man’s whore. Failing these options, she might as well be dead. Agnes did not choose death. She chose not to worship the gods of her culture. ...Espoused to Christ, she was beyond the power of any man to ‘have his way with her’. ‘Virgin’ in this case is another way of saying Free Woman.[9]
Her feast day is 21 January.
Patronage
Because of the legend around her martyrdom, she is patron saint of those seeking chastity and purity.[3]
Agnes is also the patron saint of young girls. 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.[10]
Since the Middle Ages, Agnes has traditionally been depicted as a young girl in robes, with a lamb, the symbol of her virginal innocence,[11] and often, like many other martyrs, with a palm branch.
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, 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.
It is customary on her feast day for two lambs to be brought from the Trappist abbey of Tre Fontane in Rome to the Sant'Agnese in Agone church to be blessed by the Pope. 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.[5][15]
In popular culture
Hrotsvitha, the tenth-century nun and poet, wrote a heroic poem about Agnes. Grace Andreacchi wrote a play based on the legends surrounding Agnes's martyrdom.[citation needed]
