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Few legends of saints have been more cherished than that of the virgin martyr Agnes. She was held in high regard by the primitive Christian Church, and her name has remained a symbol of maidenly purity through the ages. According to tradition, Agnes was a Christian girl of Rome, perhaps twelve or thirteen years old, when Diocletian began his persecutions. Like St. Lucy, she was sentenced by a judge to a house of ill fame, but a young man who looked upon her lustfully was stricken blind. Thereafter she was taken out to be burned, but whether she met her death by fire or sword we cannot know with any certainty. Although we have no contemporary sources for the facts of her life and martyrdom, there is little reason to doubt the main outline of the story. References to this young saint appear in many Church writings of later date. St. Ambrose, St. Damasus, and Prudentius all praise her purity and heroism. Her name occurs in the Canon of the Mass. Agnes' crypt was in the Via Nomentana, and the stone covering her remains was carven with the words, <Agna sanctissima> (most holy lamb). A church in her honor is presumed to have been built at Rome in the time of Constantine the Great. In the apse of this basilica, which was rebuilt in the seventh century by Pope Honorius, there is still to be seen the large and beautiful mosaic depicting the saint. St. Agnes is the patroness of young girls and her symbol is, naturally, a lamb. On the anniversary of her martyrdom, the Pope, after high pontifical Mass in her church at Rome, blesses two lambs, and their wool is later woven into the <pallia> worn by archbishops.

EWTN Document Library:

Lives of Saints - St. Agnes, Virgin & Martyr
Feast Day is January 21. Taken from 'Lives of Saints', Published by John J. Crawley & Co., Inc.

Catholic Encyclopedia - Agnes of Rome, Saint and Martyr
Of all the virgin martyrs of Rome none was held in such high honour by the primitive church, since the fourth century, as St. Agnes. This article is part of the Catholic Encyclopedia Project, an effort aimed at placing the entire Catholic Encyclopedia on the World Wide Web.

Rev. Alban Butler - St. Agnes, V. M.
St. Agnes did a martyr at Rome. Pope Damasus adorned her tomb with sacred poetry, and many of the Fathers of the Church, following St. Ambrose, have honored her in their writings.

Fr. Miguel Marie Soeherman, MFVA - Feast of St. Agnes
In his homily of 21 January 2008, at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Hanceville, Alabama, Father Miguel, MFVA, preached on the virtue of purity as exemplified in St. Agnes of Rome.

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