January 21: Saint Agnes, Virgin and Marytr

Life and Martyrdom of Saint Agnes

Saint Agnes was 12 or 13 when she suffered her passion in the first decade of the Fourth Century. She solely dedicated herself to Our Lord, and when Agnes rejected suitor after suitor, they reported her to the authorities as a Christian. She was dragged naked through the streets of Rome to a brothel, where her judicial trial was set. Blindness strickened the men who attempted to rape her.  The son of the prefect Sempronius attempted, too, to rape Agnes, but she prayed for him. At her trial, she was sentenced to the stake, but the wood would not burn; a soldier instead cut off her head. Her tomb is under the high altar at Saint Agnes, Outside the Walls, Northwest of Rome on the Via Nomentana.  Constantine the Great's eldest daughter was cured of an illness by praying at the tomb of Saint Agnes; a church dedicated to her is very near Saint Agnes' basilica. 

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Header credit: Unknown French Goldsmith. Scene from the Life of Saint Agnes: Procopius Offering Jewels to Saint Agnes. Detail from the Royal Gold Cup (Saint Agnes Cup). c. 1370–1380. Solid gold, basse-taille enamel, and pearls. British Museum, London. Photograph by Johnbod, July 4, 2010. Digital image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Agnes_%26_Procopius.jpg

Vespers video credit: Overbeck, Johann Friedrich. St. Agnes. c. 1820–1830. Pencil drawing/etching. Digital image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Drawing_by_Johann_Overbeck_of_St._Agnes,_became_a_published_etching_one_of_12.jpg.

Lauds video credit: Domenichino (Domenico Zampieri). Saint Agnes. c. 1620. Oil on canvas, 212.7 × 152.4 cm. Royal Collection, Windsor Castle. Digital image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2872-saint-agnes-domenichino.jpg.

Terce video credit: Anonymous Italian Woodcutter. De sancta Agnesa (Martyrdom of Saint Agnes). In Legendari di sancti istoriado uulgar. Venice: 1497. Woodcut print. Biblioteca Europea di Informazione e Cultura (BEIC). Digital image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Legendari_di_sancti_istoriado_uulgar,1497-(sant%27Agnese)-_BEIC_IE4411197.jpeg.

Sext Video credit: Michaelphillipr. Reliquary containing the skull of Saint Agnes. May 9, 2012. Digital photograph. Sant’Agnese in Agone, Rome. Digital image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Skull_Saint_Agnes.JPG.

None video credit: Unknown Byzantine Master. Saint Agnes between Pope Honorius I and Pope Symmachus. 625–638 CE. Mosaic. Apse of the Basilica of Sant'Agnese fuori le Mura, Rome. Digital image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sant%27agnese_fuori_le_mura,_mosaico_di_sant%27agnese_e_santi,_625-638.jpg.