Today, the Feast of Saint Agnes, started off with me spilling oatmeal on my kitchen floor–not a very happy start. After the oatmeal dust settled, my thoughts landed on today’s saint—a young girl and an early Christian martyr. Since the fourth century this virgin martyr of Rome has been held in high honor. January 21 was designated as her feast day dating from 354 and for more than 1,660 years Holy Mother church has kept her memory sacred.
St. Agnes of Rome, also known as St. Ines, was a consecrated virgin martyr. She is often shown as a girl in robes holding a palm branch with the lamb either at her feet or in her arms. She is the patron saint of young girls, chastity, rape survivors and the Children of Mary. Here’s a short bio of this virgin-martyr.
Agnes of Rome
She was a beautiful virgin who turned away all suitors, declaring that she could have no spouse but Jesus. Among those she refused was the son of the prefect Sempronius. This prefect wished Agnes to marry his son, and on Agnes’ second refusal he reported her to the authorities as being a Christian and condemned her to death. read more at marypages.com
On Saint Agnes’ feast day two lambs are blessed at her church in Rome, and then taken to the Holy Father for a solemn blessing. The lambs are cared for in a monastery outside Rome and their wool is woven into the palliums (bands of white wool) which the pope confers on archbishops in June. Before these precious little creatures are presented to the pope they are made presentable. And, happily, nuns have been in charge of their care for more than 130 years.
Caring for the lambs
For almost 130 years, nuns have upheld ancient tradition. Sister Pomnianowska said her order got involved in 1884 when a group of elderly sisters living nearby could no longer handle the task of preparing the lambs to attend a Mass and then be blessed by the pope. We put them in a tub with baby soap to delicately wash the dirt away. See more…
Here’s a video of Pope Francis blessing the lambs.
And here we see Pope Benedict blessing the lambs a couple of years ago. I prefer this video because we see our Holy Father wearing a winter mozzetta, or short red velvet cape trimmed with ermine fur, over his informal attire.
https://youtu.be/XO32hzfv3RQ
After viewing these touching videos I no longer begrudged my extra floor cleaning this morning. After all, we can resist the bleating of a lamb and the gentle caressing of our Holy Father’s hands to comfort them—like the Good Shepherd.
Christ made my soul beautiful with the jewels of grace and virtue. I belong to Him whom the angels serve. ~Saint Agnes
Artwork: Varotari, Alessandro. St. Agnes. C. 17th Century. Painting. N.p.