this is the story of saint agnes or the virgin martyr of rome saint agnes is one of the most famous roman martyrs of the early church even as a young girl she dedicated her virginity to jesus christ whom she had chosen as her heavenly spouse to save god her purity and fidelity to jesus she died a martyr at the age of 12 or 13 in rome during the persecution of diclation she has always been regarded by the church as a special patroness of purity her courageous martyrdom proves the truth of the statement that god often chooses the weak to confound the powerful in the modern world of sexual anarchy the chaste and pure life of saint agnes is a great challenge to the worldly people especially the youth according to saint austin the name agnes means lamb or victim in latin unchaste or pure in greek her name which is still invoked in the first eucharistic prayer for holy mass reminds us of jesus christ who is called the lamb of god in the holy bible the stories of her martyrdom date from the 5th sanctuary about 100 years after her death so there are not many details known about her life but we have almost a correct picture about her martyrdom and sufferings she was born in a rich family in rome in the year 292. she was very beautiful too the young noble men of rome attracted by her beauty and wealth quoted her asking her hand in marriage but she declined all these offers saying that she had chosen a heavenly spouse who could not be seen with mortal eyes hoping to change her mind the suitors approached the governor and accused her of being a christian then she was brought before a judge who at first treated her with gentleness and kindness because of her young age she was now asked to offer incense to the god jupiter or the goddess minerva agnes refused to worship false gods and goddesses she was stern in her loyalty to jesus christ then the judge tried to frighten her with threats of torment she was shown tools of torture and terrible fires in spite of these threats the little saint remained calm and steadfast in a faithfulness to her heavenly spouse seeing that all his threats were ineffective the angered judge then threatened to send agnes to a house of prostitution agnes replied that jesus christ was too jealous a spouse to let her purity to be violated hearing this the judge became furious and ordered that she be taken at once to the public brothel where all were at liberty to abuse her in person many people came to see the spectacle and to join in it agnes was not disturbed she was still calm and she trusted in christ to protect her the sight of the saint filled most of the people with the feelings of respect and awe and they left the place but a youth bolder than others attempted to molest her he was struck down by a lightning and he fell to the ground shaking he was carried off by his friends throughout this ordeal agnes remained chaste and pure she was still a spotless spouse of christ finally the judge ordered that she should be executed they thought that this last threat would make her change her mind and worship the roman gods agnes went to the place of execution cheerfully she was certain that she would soon meet her beloved jesus she was mercilessly beheaded and her body was buried close to rome under normantan road the martyrdom of agnes was in the year 304 or 305 when she was 12 or 13 years old a big church a basilica was built in her honor over the place where she was buried by the christian emperor constantine about the year 350. for centuries during an annual celebration in this church two lambs have been blessed at the altar they are then sent to a cloister when they have grown into sheep their wool is cut to make palliums for archbishops these are sent by the pope to the archbishops who wear them around their shoulders as symbols of the sheep carried by the [Music] good