![[Saint Agnes stained glass window]](sta05009.jpg "21kb jpg photograph of the Saint Agnes of Rome stained glass window, Saint Joseph's Cathedral, Macon, Georgia, USA; artist unknown; photographed by the author, summer 2003; if you have information on this image, please email me; please do not write to ask about the image")
Ines Ines del Campo Ynez
beheaded and burned, or tortured and stabbed to death, or stabbed in the throat (sources vary) on 21 January 254 or 304 (sources vary) at Rome buried beside the Via Nomentana in Rome
affianced couples betrothed couples bodily purity chastity Children of Mary Colegio Capranica of Rome crops engaged couples gardeners Girl Scouts girls Manresa, Spain rape victims Rockville Centre, New York, diocese of virgins
crown of thorns lamb woman with long hair and a lamb, sometimes with a sword at her throat woman with a dove which holds a ring in its beak woman with a lamb at her side
Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate Catholic Encyclopedia, by J P Kirsch Catholic Forum Catholic Online Christian Biographies, by James Kiefer Dictionary of Saints, by John Delaney Domestic Church, by Catherine Fournier Domestic Church, by Shonnie Scarola Ecole Glossary, by Karen Rae Keck Encyclopedia Brittanica For All the Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein Golden Legend, by Jacobus de Voragine Google Directory Icons of Saint Agnes, from Saint Hilary Monastery Lives of the Saints, by Aelfric Lives of the Saints, by Father Alban Butler Lives of the Saints, by John J Crawley New Catholic Dictionary Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints, by Matthew Bunson, Margaret Bunson, and Stephen Bunson Patron Saints for Girls Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Society Wikipedia- Saint Agnes
Today is the birthday of a virgin; let us imitate her purity. It is the birthday of a martyr; let us offer ourselves in sacrifice. It is the birthday of Saint Agnes, who is said to have suffered martyrdom at the age of twelve.
There was little or no room in that small body for a wound. Yet she shows no fear of the blood-stained hands of her executioners. She offers her whole body to be put to the sword by fierce soldiers. She is too young to know of death, yet is ready to face it. Dragged against her will to the altars, she stretches out her hands to the Lord int he midst of the flames, making the triumphant sign of Christ the victor on the altars of sacrilege. She puts her neck and hands in iron chains, but no chain can hold fast her tiny limbs.
In the midst of tears, she sheds no tears herself. She stood still, she prayed, she offered her neck.
You could see fear in the eyes of the executioner, as if he were the one condemned. His right hand trembled, his face grew pale as he saw the girl's peril, while she had no fear for herself. One victim, but a twin martyrdom, to modesty and religion; Agnes preserved her virginity and gained a martyr's crown.
from an essay On Virgins by Saint Ambrose of Milan