Official feasts used to be an important part of the human community. People would gather together to remember something sacred, express their faith and hope for the future, and / or just be together formally, recognizing each other as being part of a shared community. Few things express a desire for shared companionship and social intimacy more than dining together. Sadly, the gathering together for feasting is increasingly a relic of the past – at least here in the West.
It need not be so! Today we will remember the ancient feasts.
The Feast Day of St. Agnes of Rome
This Feast Day is a Christian religious celebration of Agnes, a virgin martyr from late 3rd and early 4th century Rome, She was almost immediately venerated by the Church as a saint. Today she remains well-known as a patron saint of those seeking chastity and purity. She is also the patron saint of young girls and girl scouts.
Agnes was born in 291 into Roman nobility, and raised as a Christian. She suffered martyrdom on 21 January 304, aged 12 or 13. Her high-ranking suitors, slighted by her resolute devotion to religious purity, sought to persecute her for her beliefs. Her father urged her to deny God, but she refused, and she was dragged naked through the streets to a brothel, then tried and sentenced to death. She was eventually beheaded, after attempts for her to be burnt at the stake failed. A few days after her death, her foster-sister Emerentiana was found praying by her tomb, and was stoned to death.
An early account of Agnes, stressing her young age, steadfastness and virginity was written by the 4th-century theologian, St Ambrose. Since the Middle Ages, she has traditionally been depicted as a young girl with her long hair with a lamb (the symbol of her virginal innocence and her name), a sword, and a palm branch (an attribute of her martyrdom). Her bones are beneath the high altar of the church built over her tomb in Rome. Her skull is preserved in the church of Sant’Agnese in Agone, Rome.
Biography
According to tradition, Agnes was born in 291 into Roman nobility, and raised as a Christian. She suffered martyrdom on 21 January 304, aged 12 or 13, and during the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian. A beautiful young girl, Agnes had many suitors who were young men of high rank. Slighted by her resolute devotion to religious purity, they submitted her name to the authorities as a follower of Christianity. One of them, a man named Procop, brought Agnes to his father, who was the local governor. He urged Agnes to deny God, but she refused.
The Prefect Sempronius condemned Agnes to be dragged naked through the streets to a brothel. In one account, as she prayed, her hair grew and covered her body. It was also said that all of the men who attempted to rape her were immediately struck blind. The son of the prefect was struck dead but revived after she prayed for him, causing her release. At the start of Agnes’s trial, Sempronius recused himself, and another figure presided. After Agnes was sentenced to death, she was led out and bound to a stake to be burned, but the bundle of wood would not burn, or the flames parted away from her. The officer in charge of the troops drew his sword and beheaded her—or, in other texts, stabbed her in the throat. It is said that when her blood poured to the stadium floor, other Christians soaked it up with cloths.
Agnes was buried beside the Via Nomentana in Rome. A few days after her death, her foster-sister, Emerentiana, was found praying by the tomb. Emerentiana claimed to be the daughter of Agnes’s wet nurse. She was stoned to death after refusing to leave the place and reprimanding the people for killing her foster-sister. Emerentiana was also later canonized. The daughter of Constantine I, Constantina, was said to have been cured of leprosy after praying at Agnes’s tomb. She and Emerentiana appear in the scenes from the life of Agnes on the 14th-century Royal Gold Cup in the British Museum in London.
An early account of Agnes’ death, stressing her young age, steadfastness and virginity, but not the legendary features of the tradition, is given by the 4th-century theologian, Ambrose.
The broader social circumstances of her martyrdom are believed to be largely authentic, though the legend cannot be proven true, and many details of the 5th-century Acts of Saint Agnes have been challenged. A church was built over her tomb, and her relics venerated.
Agnes was venerated as a saint at least as early as the time of St Ambrose, based on an existing homily. She is commemorated in the Depositio Martyrum of Filocalus (354) and in the early Roman Sacramentaries.
Because of the legend around her martyrdom, Saint Agnes is patron saint of those seeking chastity and purity. She is also the patron saint of young girls and girl scouts. Folk custom called for them to practise rituals on Saint Agnes’ Eve (20–21 January) with a view to discovering their future husbands. This superstition has been immortalised in John Keats‘s poemThe Eve of Saint Agnes.
Iconography
Since the Middle Ages, Saint Agnes has traditionally been depicted as a young girl with her long hair down, with a lamb, the symbol of both her virginal innocence and her name, and a sword (together with the palm branch an attribute of her martyrdom). The lamb, which is agnus in the Latin language, is also the linguistic link to the traditional blessing of lambs. Saint Agnes has been depicted with a lamb since the 4th century.
Blessing of the lambs
On the feast of Saint Agnes, two lambs are traditionally brought from the Trappist abbey of Tre Fontane in Rome to be blessed by the Pope. In summer, the lambs are shorn, and the wool is used to weave the pallia, which the Pope gives on the feast of Saint Peter and Paul to the newly appointed metropolitan archbishops as a sign of his jurisdiction and their union with the pope. This tradition of the blessing of the lambs has been known since the 16th century.
If you are wondering whether the once common name Agnes is derived from Agnus, the answer appears to be no (or at least, not directly), however, I think you’ll appreciate its etymology.
Agnes is a feminine given name derived from the Greek Ἁγνή Hagnḗ, meaning ‘pure’ or ‘holy’. The name passed to Italian as Agnese, to French as Agnès, to Portuguese as Inês, and to Spanish as Inés. It is also written as Agness. The name is descended from the Proto-Indo-European *h₁yaǵ-, meaning ‘to sacrifice; to worship,’ from which is also the Vedic term yajña. It is mostly used in Greece and countries that speak Germanic languages.
Agnus – which means lamb – is historically a pure and holy animal to be sacrificed.
I’ve linked below a reading of the Keats poem mentioned above:
A video biography of St. Agnes:
What do you eat to celebrate the Feast Day of St. Agnes?
Agnes is strongly associated with lambs. But it feels odd to suggest eating lamb on this day. Instead, I will borrow a fun idea for a celebratory drink from CatholicCuisine, but I looked around and found the recipe elsewhere.
“This is a traditional cider drink that was made and enjoyed on Twelfth Night (January 16-17) in Elizabethan England. It is said that it gets its name from the whiteness of the roasted apples as they fluff out of their skins while they cook.”
O Little St. Agnes, so young and yet made so strong and wise by the power of God, protect by your prayers all the young people of every place whose goodness and purity are threatened by the evils and impurities of this world.
Give them strength in temptation and a true repentance when they fail. Help them to find true Christian friends to accompany them in following the Lamb of God and finding safe pastures in His Church and in her holy sacraments.
May you lead us to the wedding banquet of heaven to rejoice with you and all the holy virgin martyrs in Christ who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.
… St Agnes, Pray for Us …
When is the Feast Day of St. Agnes celebrated?
The feast day celebration occurs annually on 21 January.
I hope that all who celebrate have a wonderful day!
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