Saint Agnes, Virgin
and Martyr
d. c. 304
Feast Day: January 21
Of a wealthy Roman family
and noted for her beauty, St. Agnes resolved as a young girl to live a
life of purity, consecrating her virginity to God. She was denounced as
a Christian to the governor during Diocletian's persecution by
unsuccessful suitors and though only thirteen refused to be intimidated
by the governor's display of instruments of torture. Infuriated, he
sent her to a house of prostitution in Rome, where she successfully
retained her purity by her saintly bearing, and in one instance by a
miracle. When returned to the governor he ordered her beheaded, which
was done. After St. Agnes suffered Martyrdom she was buried on the Via
Nomentana, where a cemetery was named after her. Over the centuries she
has become the great Catholic symbol of virginal innocence, usually
represented in art by a lamb since the Latin for lamb is agnus.
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