The Skull of Saint Agnes of Rome

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SAINT AGNES OF ROME

Of all the virgin martyrs of Rome none was held in such high honour by the primitive church, since the fourth century, as Saint Agnes. In the ancient Roman calendar of the feasts of the martyrs her feast is assigned to the 21st of January, to which is added a detail as to the name of the road called Via Nomentana near which her grave was located. The earliest sacramentaries give the same date for her feast, and it is on this day that the Latin Church even now keeps her memory sacred. Since the close of the fourth century the Fathers of the Church and Christian poets have sung her praises and extolled her virginity and heroism under torture. On one point only is there mutual agreement, the youth of the Christian heroine was twelve or thirteen years of age. Pope Damasus depicts her as hastening to martyrdom from the lap of her mother or nurse. We have no reason whatever for doubting this tradition. It indeed explains very well the renown of the youthful martyr.
After her martyrdom the body of the virgin martyr was placed in a separate sepulchre on the Via Nomentana, and around her tomb there grew up a larger catacomb that bore her name. The original slab which covered her remains, with the inscriptions Agne sanctissima, is probably the same one which is now preserved in the Museum at Naples. During the reign of Constantine, through the efforts of his daughter Constantina, a basilica was erected over the grave of Saint Agnes, which was later entirely remodeled by Pope Honorius, and has since remained unaltered. In the apse is a mosaic showing the martyr amid flames, with a sword at her feet. A beautiful relief of the saint is found on a marble slab that dates from the fourth century and was originally a part of the altar of her church.
Since the middle ages Saint Agnes has been represented with a lamb, the symbol of her virginal innocence. On her feast two lambs are solemnly blessed, and from their wool are made the palliums sent by the Pope to archbishops.

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SAINT AGNES OF ROME

Of all the virgin martyrs of Rome none was held in such high honour by the primitive church, since the fourth century, as Saint Agnes. In the ancient Roman calendar of the feasts of the martyrs her feast is assigned to the 21st of January, to which is added a detail as to the name of the road called Via Nomentana near which her grave was located. The earliest sacramentaries give the same date for her feast, and it is on this day that the Latin Church even now keeps her memory sacred. Since the close of the fourth century the Fathers of the Church and Christian poets have sung her praises and extolled her virginity and heroism under torture. On one point only is there mutual agreement, the youth of the Christian heroine was twelve or thirteen years of age. Pope Damasus depicts her as hastening to martyrdom from the lap of her mother or nurse. We have no reason whatever for doubting this tradition. It indeed explains very well the renown of the youthful martyr.
After her martyrdom the body of the virgin martyr was placed in a separate sepulchre on the Via Nomentana, and around her tomb there grew up a larger catacomb that bore her name. The original slab which covered her remains, with the inscriptions Agne sanctissima, is probably the same one which is now preserved in the Museum at Naples. During the reign of Constantine, through the efforts of his daughter Constantina, a basilica was erected over the grave of Saint Agnes, which was later entirely remodeled by Pope Honorius, and has since remained unaltered. In the apse is a mosaic showing the martyr amid flames, with a sword at her feet. A beautiful relief of the saint is found on a marble slab that dates from the fourth century and was originally a part of the altar of her church.
Since the middle ages Saint Agnes has been represented with a lamb, the symbol of her virginal innocence. On her feast two lambs are solemnly blessed, and from their wool are made the palliums sent by the Pope to archbishops. Rating: 4.2