Agnes of Rome

Who they were

Agnes, whose name means 'pure' in Greek, is one of the most venerated martyrs of the Church. Nothing is known of her but her martyrdom, probably in 304 under Diocletian, and the accounts of it written later do not all agree.

Tradition tells that at about thirteen she refused the son of the Prefect of Rome because she had vowed herself to Christ. Ordered to serve the goddess of Rome, she refused, was exposed in a brothel where Piazza Navona now stands and kept her purity, and was finally killed by a sword-stroke to the throat. She is buried in the basilica built over her catacomb on the Via Nomentana.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: Agnes has been honoured as a virgin martyr of Rome since the fourth century. Each 21 January two lambs are blessed on her feast; their wool is woven into the pallia the Pope gives new archbishops.

Why that counted as sanctity

A girl of thirteen chose Christ over wealth, marriage and life itself. St Ambrose wrote that her consecration was above her age and her courage above nature. She is pictured with a lamb, for she was led like one to the slaughter.

Connected on this site

• Saint Lucy Saint
  “She is one of the best known virgin martyrs, along with Agatha of Sicily, Agnes of Rome, Cecilia of Rome, and Catherine of Alexandria.” — Wikipedia