Saint Agnes
Every year, on January 21, two lambs are brought into the Roman basilica built over the tomb of a fourth century thirteen-year-old virgin martyr to be blessed by the Pope. On Holy Thursday, the wool from these lambs is shorn and weaved into pallia which are given to newly consecrated archbishops as a symbol of their authority and union with the Holy Father.
The virgin martyr’s name is Agnes, which
means lamb.
A true a lamb of chastity, she was a woman
who was most deeply in love with her Divine Spouse.
St Agnes was born to rich Christian parents
in AD 291. Her wealth, coupled with her beauty, attracted a great number of
young men as suitors. However, she was already taken: she had vowed herself to
perpetual virginity for her great Love.
‘I am already promised to the Lord of
the Universe. He is more splendid than the sun and the stars,’ she said to a lad who tried to woo her. Her admirers, for their
part, weren’t so impressed by all these praises she blatantly heaped on a man
who was the God of an outlawed religion.
In anger, and in an attempt to persuade her
to marry them, the young men who sought Agnes’ hand reported her to the local
prefect Sempronius. She was guilty of the grave crime of being a Christian. The
young girl’s faith was not fazed, and she would still not agree to marry any of
the young men.
The prefect first tried to convince her to
sacrifice to the Roman gods. He promised her a myriad of wonderful gifts. But
Agnes knew herself to belong to the Lord of everything. She would not burn
incense to dead gods for the deceptions of passing pleasures.
Sempronius then supposed that if he showed
her the instruments that were used for torture, she would be scared enough to
apostatise. But the young Agnes beheld the diabolical instruments held by the
executioner himself with great courage. She would not budge.
It was her virginity, her purity, that she
had vowed to her Divine Spouse, and it was this that the now infuriated prefect
intended to defile: he ordered her to be taken into a brothel to be violated by
lewd men. Agnes remained confident that her Divine Spouse would not let anyone
corrupt that which she had offered to him. And indeed, he showed himself most
faithful.
While she was left exposed to immoral men
in the house of prostitution, the lustful men beheld the beautiful virgin with
lust, but could never approach her. Only one young man dared come close to her
and was immediately struck with blindness. It is said that he was later cured
after Agnes said a prayer for him.
His demonic ploy having failed, the prefect
ordered for Agnes to be killed with the sword. At last, she was going to meet
her Spouse!
She went to present her neck to the
executioner more joyful than a bride at her wedding. It was the executioner,
instead, who trembled at the wonderful sight of a fearless young girl,
beautiful as a spotless lamb, who looked death in the eyes as if to say, ‘Where,
O death, is your sting?’ (1 Cor 15:55). Decades later, St Ambrose, singing
her praises, would place these words on her lips, ‘He who chose me first for
Himself shall receive me. Why are you delaying, executioner?’
It was the year 304 AD when St Agnes was
killed. She died a woman of love—Love that did not fear death; Love that did
not fear to die young, because Love is eternal (see 1 Cor 13:8); Love
whose reward was a glorious crown.
Her short life shows us just how far Love
can go! Love for her Divine Spouse gave her incomparable courage and joy in the
face of her murderers. Love protected her from the evil powers that surrounded
her. Love made her a saint.
Love would make us saints too, if only we
would let ourselves love Him. If only we would let Him love us.
May St Agnes intercede for us, to offer up our lives to God through the virtue
of chastity, and may we, like her, not be afraid to fall in love with Jesus,
and—most importantly—to let him love us.
St Agnes’ feast day is January 21.
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