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St. Agnes, Martyr Example for Today's Youth

St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr

St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr

Feastday: January 21

Patron of young girls, chastity, rape survivors, and the Children of Mary

Birth: 291

Death: 304

St. Agnes of Rome was born in 291 AD and raised in a Christian family. Agnes was very beautiful and belonged to a wealthy family. Her hand in marriage was highly sought after, and she had many high ranking men chasing after her. However, Agnes made a promise to God never to stain her purity. Her love for the Lord was great and she hated sin even more than death!

Whenever a man wished to marry Agnes, she would always say, "Jesus Christ is my only Spouse."

According to legend, the young men she turned away became so angry and insulted by her devotion to God and purity that they began to submit her name to authorities as a Christian follower.

In one incident, Procop, the Governor's son, became very angry when she refused him. He tried to win her for his wife with rich gifts and promises, but the beautiful young girl kept saying, "I am already promised to the Lord of the Universe. He is more splendid than the sun and the stars, and He has said He will never leave me!"

In great anger, Procop accused her of being a Christian and brought her to his father, the Governor. The Governor promised Agnes wonderful gifts if she would only deny God, but Agnes refused. He tried to change her mind by putting her in chains, but her lovely face shone with joy.

Next he sent her to a place of sin, but an Angel protected her. At last, she was condemned to death. Even the pagans cried to see such a young and beautiful girl going to death. Yet, Agnes was as happy as a bride on her wedding day. She did not pay attention to those who begged her to save herself. "I would offend my Spouse," she said, "if I were to try to please you. He chose me first and He shall have me!" Then she prayed and bowed her head for the death-stroke of the sword.

St. Agnes hair grew instantly to cover her body

Other accounts of Agnes' life hold the Prefect Sempronius responsible for her martyrdom. It is said he condemned the young girl to be dragged through the streets naked. Some versions of the legend state that Agnes' hair grew instantly to cover her entire body and all the men who attempted to rape the beautiful virgin were immediately struck blind.

The stories go on to explain that another man presided over Agnes' trial after Sempronius excused himself. The new man sentenced Agnes to death. At first, Agnes was tied to a stake, but either the wood would not burn or the flames parted away from her. This prompted an officer to draw his sword and behead the girl. It is believed that her blood, which poured out to the stadium, was soaked up with cloths by Christians.

She died a virgin-martyr at the age of 12 or 13 on 21 January 304.

Martyrdom of St. Agnes

Agnes was buried beside the Via Nomentana in Rome. Her bones are currently conserved beneath the high altar in the church of Sant'Angese fuori le mura in Rome, which was built over the catacomb that held her tomb. Her skull is preserved in the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone in Rome's Piazza Navona.

In 1858, Father Caspar Rehrl, an Austrian missionary founded the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes.

St. Agnes is widely known as the patron saint of young girls. She is also the patron saint of chastity, rape survivors and the Children of Mary. She is often represented with a lamb, the symbol of her virgin innocence, and a palm branch, like other martyrs. She is shown as a young girl in robes holding a palm branch with the lamb either at her feet or in her arms.

Her feast day is celebrated on January 21. On her feast day, it is customary for two lambs to be brought in to be blessed by the pope. On Holy Thursday the lambs' wool is removed and woven into the pallium the pope gives to a newly consecrated archbishop as a sign of his power and union with the pope.

Above taken from Catholic Online 

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=106

YouTube video about St. Agnes

https://youtu.be/5STIRS1FAE8?list=PL58g24NgWPIzvBk2IQVES_xC4WTm6-CDI

St. Agnes, Martyred

Too young to be punished, 

yet old enough 

for a martyr’s crown

From a treatise On Virgins by Saint Ambrose, bishop

Today is the birthday of a virgin; let us imitate her purity  It is the birthday of a martyr; let us offer ourselves in sacrifice.  It is the birthday of Saint Agnes (January 21), who is said to have suffered martyrdom at the age of twelve.  The cruelty that did not spare her youth shows all the more clearly the power of faith in finding one so young to bear it witness.

There was little or no room in that small body for a wound.  Though she could scarcely receive the blow, she could rise superior to it.  Girls of her age cannot bear even their parents’ frowns and, pricked by a needle, weep as for a serious wound.  Yet she shows no fear of the blood stained hands of her executioners.  She stands undaunted by heavy, clanking chains.  She offers her whole body to be put to the sword by fierce soldiers.  She is too young to know of death, yet is ready to face it.  Dragged against her will to the altars, she stretches out her hands to the Lord in the midst of the flames, making the triumphant sign of Christ the victor on the altars of sacrilege.  She puts her neck and hands in iron chains, but no chain can hold fast her tiny limbs.

A new kind of martyrdom!  Too young to be punished, yet old enough for a martyr’s crown; unfitted for the contest, yet effortless in victory, she shows herself a master in valor despite the handicap of youth.  As a bride she would not be hastening to join her husband with the same joy she shows as a virgin on her way to punishment, crowned not with flowers but with holiness of life, adorned not with braided hair but with Christ himself.

In the midst of tears, she sheds no tears herself.  The crowds marvel at her recklessness in throwing away her life untasted, as if she had already lived life to the full.  All are amazed that one not yet of legal age can give her testimony to God.  So she succeeds in convincing others of her testimony about God, though her testimony in human affairs could not yet be accepted.  What is beyond the power of nature, they argue, must come from its creator.

St. Agnes' Martyrdom

What menaces there were from the executioner, to frighten her; what promises made, to win her over; what influential people desired her in marriage!  She answered: “To hope that any other will please me does wrong to my Spouse.  I will be his who first chose me for himself.  Executioner, who do you delay?  If eyes that I do not want can desire this body, then let it perish.”  She stood still, she prayed, she offered her neck.

You should see fear in the eyes of the executioner, as if he were the one condemned; his right hand trembled, his face grew pale as he saw the girl’s peril, while she had no fear herself.  One victim, but a twin martyrdom, to modesty and to religion;  Agnes preserved her virginity, and gained a martyr’s crown.

Pope Damasus adorned her tomb with sacred poetry, and many of the Fathers of the Church, following Saint Ambrose, have honored her in their writings. 

 Taken from the Liturgy of the Hours

Be a Faithful and Courageous Witness

From a Commentary on Psalm 118 by Saint Ambrose, Bishop

"As there are many kinds of persecution, so there are many kinds of martyrdom.   

Every day you are 

a witness to Christ.  

A knight of Christ being tempted by the Spirit of Fornication

You were tempted by the spirit of fornication, 

but feared the coming judgment of Christ 

and did not want your purity 

of mind and body to be defiled:   

you are a martyr of Christ.  

Spirit of Avarice

You were tempted by 
the spirit of avarice

 to seize the property of a child 

and violate the rights of a defenseless widow, 

but remembered God’s law and 

saw your duty to give help, 

not act unjustly: 

you are a witness of Christ.   

Christ wants witnesses 

like this to stand ready, 

as Scripture says:  

Do justice for the orphan 

 










and 
defend the widow.   

Spirit of Pride

You were tempted 

by the spirit of pride 

but saw the poor and the needy and looked 

with compassion on them, and 

loved humility rather than arrogance:   

you are a witness of Christ.   

What is more, your witness 

was not in word only but also in deed.  

Mother Teresa of Calcutta a True Witness of Christ... WE CAN BE ONE TOO!

Who can give greater witness 

than one who acknowledges 

that the Lord Jesus has come in the flesh  

and keeps the commandment of the Gospel?   

One who hears but does not act, 

denies Christ.   

Even if he acknowledges Him by his words, he denies Him by his deeds.   

How many will say to Christ: Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy and cast out demons and work many miracles, all in your name?  

On that day He will say to them: Depart from me all you evildoers.  The true witness is one who bears witness to the commandments of the Lord Jesus and supports that witness by deeds.

 

How many hidden 

martyrs there are, bearing witness to Christ

each day 

and acknowledging 

Jesus as the Lord!   

The Apostle knew this kind of martyrdom, this faithful witness to Christ.  This is our boast, he said, the witness of our conscience.   

How many have borne witness in public 

but denied it in private!  

 Do not believe every spirit, he said, 

but know from their fruits whom you should believe.   

 

Be faithful and courageous 

when you are persecuted in public.   

Even in those unseen persecutions 

there are kings and governors, 

judges with terrible power.   

You have an example in the temptation 

endured by the Lord.

In another place we read:   

Do not let sin be king in your mortal body.   

You see the kings before whom you are made to stand, 

those who sit in judgment over sinners, 

where sin is in control.   

There are as many kings as there are sins and vices; 

it is before these kings that we are led 

and before these that we stand.    

These kings have their thrones in many hearts.   

But if anyone acknowledges Christ, 

he immediately makes a prisoner 

of this kind of king and 

casts him down from the throne of his own heart.   

How shall the devil maintain his throne

 in one who builds a throne 

for Christ in his heart?"

Taken from, The Liturgy of the Hours, according to the Roman Rite Catholic Book Publishing Corp.  New York 1975

Go to You Tube for a WITNESS OF FAITH that should blow you mind away...

 http://youtu.be/XJOJaFwxBeY

And I am certain that God, 

who began the good work within you, 

will continue his work until it is finally finished 

on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

                                                             Philippians 1:6