Agnes, the martyr
(A.D. 304)
No saint
was more revered in the early Church than this young girl
who suffered persecution under the Emperor Diocletian and
who, according to her 5th-century acts, was only
13-years-old when she died. The name Agnes in Greek means
'chaste' and in Latin signifies a 'lamb' (Saint Augustine,
Sermon 274). Thus, she represents all that is pure
and virtuous in womanhood.
Agnes was
martyred at the beginning of the Diocletian persecutions
undertaken between 303 and 305 to wipe out the scourge of
Christian impiety. From a Roman viewpoint, Christians were
not killed for their faith but for treason, since they would
not sacrifice to the gods who protected the empire. After
all, the Romans were able to incorporate the gods of all
other people they conquered--why were Christians so
obstinate? There were Jews who were considered good Romans,
but they kept to themselves for the most part
(see R. L. Wilken, The Christians
as the Romans saw them, New Haven, Conn.: Yale
University Press, 1984, which incorporates the writings of
Pliny, Celsus, Galen, Porphyry, and Julian the Apostate).
Unlike the
Jews, Christianity gained converts from among the nobility,
even after earlier persecutions. They became a threat to the
world order. According to Markus, the Roman Empire was based
on racial distinctions, patriarchal authority, and
slavery--each of these patterns were threatened by the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. Christian military recruits could
not be trusted to defend Rome (cf. Maximilian in Numidia and
Marcellus in Tangier).
The
Christian rejection of the Roman view of marriage was also a
threat. It was a civic obligation for each woman to have as
many children as possible because Romans believed they lived
through their progeny. The Christians, believing in eternal
life, did not see marriage and family as absolutely
necessary for everyone. And, in fact, the Encratites, who
highly prized perpetual virginity of both male and female,
strongly influenced Christianity during this period. With
this background in mind, we come to the story of Saint
Agnes.
Agnes was
born of a noble Roman family--probably the Clodia
Crescentiana. About age 10, Agnes consecrated herself to
Christ, probably with her parent's permission, otherwise she
would have been forced to marry the man of her father's
choosing. It is likely that her father was also a Christian.
About age 12 or 13, she rejected the advances of the son of
a high official (the Prefect Maximum Herculeus?) with the
words, "The one to whom I am betrothed is Christ whom the
angels serve. He was the first to choose me. I shall be His
alone." Thereupon she was denounced as a Christian.
Gill
reports another version that says the prefect's son was
attracted by her beauty and wealth, sought her hand in
marriage, and was rebuffed because she had given her life to
Christ 'to whom I keep my troth.' When he pressed her and
she still refused his suit, he complained to her father,
who, greatly disturbed when he discovered she was a
Christian, considered her mad and treated her as such. She
was urged by her family to submit, and when she still
refused, they planned to make her a vestal virgin in a Roman
temple. But young though she was, she showed great maturity
and a determined will, "Do you think that I shall dedicate
myself to gods of senseless stone!" "You are only a child,"
they replied. "I may be a child," she answered, "but faith
dwells not in years, but in the heart" (Gill).
In Gill's version,
when it was realized that they could not prevail, they
removed her clothes and thrust her into the open street,
where, in shame, she loosened her hair to cover her
nakedness.
Everyone thought
that the sight of the tools of torture would cause Agnes to
waver; when these elicited joy rather than terror in her,
the governor became enraged and threatened to send her to a
house of prostitution. "You may," said Agnes, "stain your
sword with my blood; but you will never be able to profane
my body, consecrated to Christ."
In all versions she
was thrown into a brothel, but untouched because of her
meekness and purity. She is said to have had blonde hair
that was long enough to cover her nakedness (or
spontaneously grew to do so) or that an angel brought her a
robe, white as snow, to cover her body. Because of her
declaration that God would not allow her body to be
profaned, men were afraid to touch her. One man who was rude
to her was suddenly blinded, but she restored his sight by
prayer.
Finally, she was
sentenced to death. But first she was mocked and insulted,
and they cried after her in the streets. When the
executioner hesitated, Agnes told him, "Do not delay. This
body draws from some a kind of admiration that I hate. Let
it perish."
Martyrdom may have
been by fire, sword, decapitation, or strangulation during
the Diocletian persecutions in the early 4th century. She
could not be shackled because her wrists were too small.
Some stories use all three successively:
A fire was kindled,
and when she was placed on the pyre she prayed, "Thy Name I
bless and glorify, world without end. I confess Thee with my
lips, and with my heart I altogether desire Thee." When she
had finished praying, it was found that the fire had
extinguished itself. Then they bound her with fetters, but
the fetters fell from her. She was killed in the end by a
sword, and after her death crowds followed her to her grave.
Because of the
influence of her family, her body was not thrown into the
river (the usual), but was buried in the family cemetery,
which formed part of the catacombs that now bear her name
and that adjoin the church, also dedicated to her, on the
Via Nomentana. Her fame quickly spread.
When the Emperor
Constantine wished to have his daughter baptized, he did so
near the spot where Agnes was buried. And, in 324 (or 350?),
just a few years after her death the church of Sant'Agnese
Fuori le Mura (which still stands today) was erected by
Constantine over her grave.
Although her feast
is January 21, the octave of her feast (January 28) was her
actual birthday. "On that day her parents went to pray at
her tomb. There they were granted a vision in which they saw
her surrounded by a bevy of virgins, resplendent with light;
and on her right hand was seen a lamb whiter than snow.
Saint Ambrose wrote:
"At such a tender age a young girl has scarcely enough
courage to bear the angry looks of her father and a tiny
puncture from a needle makes her cry as if it were a wound.
And still this little girl had enough courage to face the
sword. She was fearless in the bloody hands of the
executioner. She prayed, she bowed her head. Behold in one
victim the twofold martyrdom of chastity and faith."
Though much of her
story is unreliable (it wasn't recorded until about 415),
there is no doubt that Agnes suffered martyrdom and was
buried on the Via Nomentana. Her name and the date of her
feast was included in the calendar of martyrs drawn up in
354. There are no less than five ancient church dedications
to her honor in England
(Attwater, Balsdon,
Benedictines, Bentley, Butler, Cenci, Cioran, Delaney,
Encyclopedia, Farmer, Gill, Husenbeth, Keyes, Markus,
Martindale, White).
Agnes is
patroness of virginal innocence, betrothed couples,
gardeners, and maidens. She is invoked for chastity (Roeder,
White).
In art,
Agnes is pictured as a young maiden with long hair and a
lamb (agnus), because of the resemblance of her name
with that of the animal, since the 6th century mosaics at
San Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna (Farmer). Sometimes she may
be shown: (1) with a sword in her throat; (2) naked, covered
by an angel or by her long hair; (3) crowned and holding a
scroll; (4) with a lamb (symbol of her purity and sacrifice)
and a palm; (5) with a dove having a ring in its beak
(Roeder, White).
Many
portrayals of Saint Agnes survive from throughout the
centuries. There are Renaissance paintings by Duccio and
Tintoretto; medieval stained glass windows; and a cycle of
painting of her on a gold and enamel cup which previously
belonged to the Duke of Berry and passed through the Duke of
Bedford to King Henry VI of England and on to the British
Museum (Farmer).
