Fr. Scott Haynes
When she was about thirteen years old, the beautiful girl, Agnes of Rome, became the object of a rich young man's devotions. The father of this young man was the prefect of Rome. And as he wanted to arrange a marriage his father offered her family riches if she would make a match with their son, but Agnes had already decided to consecrate herself to Jesus.
They threatened to expose her as a Christian. But she did not cower under this threat. So they exposed her and ordered her to either offer incense to the to pagan gods or be thrown into a brothel. She refused to be taken to the temple of Minerva, so she was stripped naked and thrown into the house of ill repute.
But every man who approached her was stricken by her guardian angel. When the prefect's son saw this he mocked these men, pushed his way through the crowd, but on seeing Agnes, he was struck blind. Her guardian angel protected her modesty.
According to tradition, the prefect heard what happened to his son and ran to the brothel, accusing Agnes of witchcraft. After various attempts to kill her, she was eventually decapitated by sword and buried in a tomb on the Via Nomentána.
Eight days after her martyrdom her parents and friends came in the night to pray at her tomb. All of a sudden, they saw a great multitude of virgins clad in vestments of gold and silver. A great light shone before them. On the right was a lamb whiter than snow. And then they saw St. Agnes standing with the virgins.
Then this little martyr said to them:
Grieve me no longer. I am not dead. Be joyful with me, for with all these virgins Jesus Christ hath given me the brightest habitation and dwelling, and I am with him joined in heaven whom in earth I loved with all my thought.
The lamb, as a symbol of purity, is one of the symbols of St. Agnes. In Rome on her feast day, the Holy Father traditionally blesses two lambs at the Church of St. Agnes. The lambs are brought in baskets of red and white to recall martyrdom and purity.
American Catholics observe a day of prayer and penance each year for the crimes against the unborn. Do we realize that the wide-spread legalization of abortion has brought so much violence upon our nation. When our nation accepted legalized abortion we accepted the culture of death and all that goes with it.
Our nation has embraced not only abortion, but also everything that wars against the good of the human person. As we pray for all those who have been victimized by the culture of death, let us pray that St. Agnes will obtain for all of the purity that she knew. She had pure intention – she would offer not false worship to the gods of Rome. She had a pure body – she would not consent to lust. And she had purity of soul because she gave her heart totally to her spouse, Jesus Christ. St. Agnes, pray for us.
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