Saint Agnes, the little sheep of God
+ January 21st
+ January 21st
In the first three
centuries A.D. the Christian Church lived one of the most bloody and most
heroic periods in its history. Masses of Christians wrote
with their blood moving pages of love about the Crucified Jesus and His Gospel.
Terrible and
horrible tortures were invented, to eradicate from the hearts of the faithful
Christians the love they had for our Lord Jesus Christ.
The boldness,
however, and the courage all the Christians showed when facing the tortures
were remarkable! With unimaginable patience and bravery, children and adults,
men and women, young and old, even young children suffered all these tortures
with enthusiasm, for the sake of their Christian faith.
One such child, the
young noble Agnes, was in her early teens, when she was asked to confess with
courage the love she had for our Lord Jesus Christ.
Saint Agnes was
born in the year 290 A.D. in Rome. The Emperor was then the great persecutor of
Christians, Diocletian. Her parents had aristocratic origins and were very
wealthy. From the time she was a toddler Agnes learnt about Christ and like a
thirsty fawn which runs to the spring of gurgling water to drink, she was
studying the holy Gospel and the great teaching of love, as interpreted through
the Holy Book.
Her heart is
fascinated by the great love of God the Father, who in order to save mankind
from sin and to restore them to the heavenly Kingdom, from which they had
fallen, sent Ηis only begotten Son to be
sacrificed. She is impressed by the fact that, while Christ was God and
co-creator with His Father, of all the wonderful world in which we live, He
deigned to become man and be born of a pure young girl, Mariam.
She loved the
mother of Christ so much, that she wanted to be like Her in every way. She also
wanted to remain pure all her life and let little Jesus be all her happiness
and joy. She was begging our Holy Virgin Mary to make her worthy to love Jesus,
like She did, with all the power of her soul. God the Father, seeing this great
longing that His little daughter had, flooded her childish soul
with the grace of the Holy Spirit and made her heart beat sweetly for His
only-begotten Son with infinite and divine love.
Agnes lived every
hour and every moment just for the king of her life, her beloved Jesus. Every
moment and every minute was for her an opportunity to show Him how much she
loves Him and how she adores Him!
Jesus had made her
heart His own throne and spoke secretly to her soul. He revealed to her the
heavenly mysteries and the glory all those who loved Him have in heaven, who
for His sake suffered every torture of His persecutors.
Agnes couldn't wait
for the time when she could get, for the sake of her Beloved, the everlasting
wreath of martyrdom. She longed to suffer, like all the other martyrs, for the
unique love of her soul. In her mind she only had the image of Christ and in
her heart only love and divine love for Him was burning. Her lips were
constantly repeating a prayer: "My Jesus I love You."
Agnes was now a 13
year old girl. She was very beautiful and graceful. She looked more like an
angel than a human.
She helped every
unhappy person and with her alms relieved the suffering of the poor, the
widowed women and orphaned children. She tried to do all these things discreetly
as she didn't want to be praised. With her courteous way of life she led many
to seek and know Christ and His holy Gospel.
One day the son of
a local nobleman saw her as she walked in the street, and dazzled by her beauty fell madly in love with
her. He tried many times in various ways to make her notice him and finally
asked her to be his wife. Agnes, however, repeatedly refused his proposal
because, as she told him, she was already married. He was surprised because he
knew very well that Agnes had not yet married. Then she was forced to tell him
that she was a Christian and was married to her heavenly bridegroom, Jesus.
Upon hearing this,
the young man became very angry and told his pagan father. In vain his father
tried to make her change her decision and to marry his son.
Young Agnes was
adamant in her decision and did not want anything to pollute her body, for the
sake of her heavenly Bridegroom. She wanted her whole existence, body and soul,
to belong only to her well-Beloved Jesus.
Then the lord to
bend her resistance, threatened her with various tortures since she admitted
that she was a Christian. But when he saw that even threats could not do
anything, he ordered them to arrest her and to throw her into a brothel, so she
would no longer be pure. He knew that for a young Christian girl it would be
the greatest torture.
Agnes' answer,
however, to the Roman lord was courageous and admirable.
-Neither will I
sacrifice to your gods, nor will I fear the brothel you want to throw me into.
I believe that my heavenly Bridegroom will keep me pure and will not allow
anything bad to happen to me.
The courage of the
young Christian noble girl angered the pagan lord and to ridicule Agnes more,
he ordered that before she was thrown into the brothel she would be stripped
half-naked and then paraded around the city.
Then, after she was
paraded half-naked through the main streets of Rome, the soldiers took her to a
brothel, where anyone could do whatever he wanted to her. Many men came to
dishonour her. None of them, however, could achieve what they wanted, because
as soon as they approached her their lust was numbed. Many of them even
temporarily lost their sight and couldn't see anything before them. This fact
made a tremendous impression on those who learnt about it.
There was then a
proud young man, who bet that he will dishonour her and nothing will stand in
the way of his desire. With these feelings he then approached our Saint, to
dishonour her.
Agnes took refuge
in prayer and begged her beloved Jesus to redeem her again from her aspiring
rapist.
The impudent young
man did not even come close to her when heavenly lightning hit him and knocked
him down dead.
This miracle was
spread immediately throughout Rome, because the young Christian was not just
any girl, but had noble origins. Many people came full of admiration to see the
holy Agnes, the miraculous heroine of Christ! All pagans acknowledged the great
strength that Christ gives to those who believe in Him.
When the Roman
ruler, was informed of the mysterious death of that immoral young man, he
ordered them to bring Agnes in front of him.
-Tell me, cunning
girl, how did you kill this unfortunate young man? What sorcery did you use to
take away his life?
-I used no magic to
kill that immoral young man. Christians never engage in sorcery, because this
is the work of Satan. But since you want to know the truth, I'll tell you.
Maybe then you will be able to open the eyes of your soul and see how true the
faith of Christians is. When you ordered them to dishonour me and brought me to
this house where the demons of prostitution and immorality dominate, a radiant
young man followed me. He sat near me and deadened the carnal desires of all
who came to dishonour me. He is the one who killed the immoral young man.
-And who was this
radiant young man who helped you?
-He was the
guardian angel of my soul, whom my heavenly Bridegroom Jesus sent to guard me
day and night!
-To prove to us
that what you say is true, then beg your God to resurrect him.
Then our Saint
knelt, raised her hands high to heaven and prayed sincerely to her beloved
king, Christ. Then she turned to the dead young man and said:
-In the name of my
Lord Jesus Christ let your soul return to your body, so that everyone will
believe in the only true God.
Then they were all
amazed when they saw the dead young man resurrected and walking as healthily as
before. Everybody saw the miracle and many of the pagans believed and became
Christians. Others, on the other hand, said it was new magic trick of the young
Christian, so they asked the Roman ruler to kill her as a sorceress.
So the cruel and
callous lord gave orders to behead her, and after lighting a big fire, her body was thrown in it to burn.
After the
martyrdom of St. Agnes, her parents and relations took her holy relics and
placed them in a large catacomb of Rome, which since then is called "the
catacomb of St. Agnes."
After eight days
Saint Agnes appeared in this catacomb, wearing royal robes and holding a snow-white
lamb in her arms.
It was 21st January
of the year 304 A.D.
Written in Greek by Fr. Elpidios Vagianakis
Translated by anonymous Christians
