"Christ made my soul beautiful with the jewels of grace and virtue. I belong to Him whom the angels serve."
Today's saint, Agnes of Rome is the patron of many things including children, gardeners, chastity, engaged couples, rape victims, Girl Scouts, and virgins. Her name, Agnes, means chaste, lamb, or pure one.
Around the age of 12 she was ordered to sacrifice to pagan gods and lose her virginity by rape. She was taken to a Roman temple to Athena and when led to the altar she made the Sign of the Cross. She was then tortured because she refused to turn against God. Several men presented themselves to marry her, but she said if she did marry it would insult her heavenly Spouse, and that she wanted to keep her consecrated virginity intact, accept death, and see Christ. She was martyred brutally on January 21, 254 or 304 (sources vary) by being beheaded, burned, and stabbed. Saint Agnes of Rome is mentioned in the First Eucharistic prayer. On her feast day two lambs are blessed in her church in Rome and the wool from the lambs are woven into the palliums (bands of while wool) which the pope confers on archbishops as a symbol of their jurisdiction.
Today we must remember the faith and the love for Christ this young girl had to willingly be martyred. She knew this world would come to pass and wanted to live for eternity with her heaving Father. May her love for Christ be an example for us all.
All-powerful and ever-living God, You choose the weak in this world to confound the powerful. When we celebrate the memory of Saint Agnes, may we like her remain constant in our faith. Amen.
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