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| St. Agnes "Pure" |
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| Piazza Navona in Rome Italy |
In present day Rome is a site popular with tourists called
the Piazza Navona. It has three
fountains that are considered Baroque masterpieces and adding to its charm are
many sidewalk café’s, gelato stands, street musicians, artists, and
entertainers. On a beautiful summer
night, this is truly one of the more magical spots in all of Italy.
On the western side of the oblong piazza stands a church. It too is a masterpiece of the Baroque
although some have criticized the façade of the Church as being poorly
designed. Not being qualified to
evaluate such things, I simply accept St. Agnese in Agone Church as it is and
enjoy the lovely art treasures inside caring little about building symmetry and
the like.
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| St. Agnese en Agone Church |
But behind the beautiful art and all the activities and
entertainments of the piazza is a story of Christian heroism that is quite
important . At the end of the first
century, the Emperor Domitian built a stadium with seating for 30,000 people on
that very site. It was a popular place
for horse racing and gladiatorial games and was in use until the 5th
century when it was abandoned and its materials were repurposed in many other
buildings and homes around Rome. It was here that a young Christian girl known to us as Agnes
was martyred for her Christian faith at the tender age of 13. Her story has continued to inspire Christians
and people of all persuasions ever since.
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| Artistic Model of Domitian Stadium |
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| Piazza footprint of Domitian Stadium |
In March of 303 AD, faced with all sorts of internal and
external pressures, the emperor of the Roman Empire named Diocletian launched
an all-out assault on the Christian church.
Typical with despotic rulers, if things aren’t going well, scapegoating
a segment of the population is a good way to divert unwanted attention on your
own leadership failures. The reasoning
goes like this: (1) things used to be great in the Roman Empire (at least for
the elite classes); (2) Rome was founded on loyalty to the ancient gods; (3) This one group does not respect or
sacrifice to our gods; (4) therefore, destroy this one group and all problems
will dissipate and our normal good fortunes will return.
In the case of the Diocletian persecution, the picture is
not wholly unlike what happened to the Jews in Hitler’s Germany in the 20th
century except that the Christians as a whole were a much larger segment of the
populace. Diocletian started with the
prohibition of Christian meetings and then moved to the razing of any church
buildings, imprisonment of church leaders, destruction of the Scriptures, and
finally a mandatory requirement that anyone accused of being a Christian was
required to make a sacrifice to the pagan gods of Rome upon pain of death. In some parts of the Roman Empire, Christians
were sent to “work camps” where they were essentially executed by being
underfed and worked to death. Eusebius,
the early Christian historian, who was contemporaneous with these events, said
in some locales, the jails were so full of Christians there was no room for
criminals anymore. Although this
persecution slackened a bit with the unprecedented retirement of Diocletian in
305, it was continued in his successors until 313 when the Edict of Milan effectively
brought freedom of religion to all people within the Roman world under
Constantine.
There are several traditions regarding St. Agnes which seem
to emphasize different facets of her story.
Rather than present them separately, I am going to synthesize them into
a single narrative leaving it to the reader to do further research if they are
inclined to know the other alternatives.
Agnes was born in 292 to an upper class Roman family. It is believed the entire family was
practicing Christians although the current times required them to keep a low
profile about their faith. The Prefect
of Rome (a mayor with power) at the time was named Sempronius. He knew Agnes and her family and really
wanted her to marry his son Procop. She
was apparently quite a beautiful person both in appearance and personality and
therefore quite a “catch” for any young man.
Agnes was approached with a marriage proposal a couple of times which
she refused on the basis that she had consecrated her life to Jesus Christ and
intended on living as a virgin.
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| English version of Agnes |
In
today’s sexual economy this may sound absurd, but it has a long tradition in
the Christian church and is found in the Scriptures in 1 Corinthians chapter
7. The purpose of such a consecration
had nothing to do with the idea that sex and marriage were inherently evil,
something the Bible does not teach, but rather this mode of life was a means of
diverting all of your energy and attention on the pursuit of God. The phrase often used by those in that
station in life was “my spouse is Jesus Christ and my heart belongs totally to
Him.” Agnes couldn’t have made such vow
without her parent’s consent at her age and so the refusal of marriage
proposals was also with their permission.
Whether it was boldness, impetuosity, or simply the
knowledge that her tender age exempted her from criminal punishment under Roman
law, Agnes spoke quite freely about her consecration to Jesus Christ and that
she was unavailable for a marriage contract.
After her second refusal of marriage to his son and the spurning of the
offer of many gifts if she would change her mind, Sempronius went to the local
courts to report Agnes as a Christian.
There might have been some politics involved in Agnes’s case
that went beyond just her youth because when she appeared before the court, the
governor made her lavish promises if she would publicly renounce her faith and
then treated her with extreme harshness when she wouldn’t comply. On either side of the equation, Agnes was a
high profile example and useful to the Roman government for propaganda
purposes. To renounce her faith would
provide a powerful testimony to the community that nothing is worth dying for
especially your religion, to cling to her faith would give opportunity for the
government to show just how cruel they can be in punishing those who do not
comply with their policies.
When Agnes explained that she was virgin consecrated to
Jesus Christ alone, the governor set about to torment her before having her
executed. Agnes was condemned to die and
it is said she faced this prospect with the joy of a woman on her wedding
day. But the governor hoped that the
miseries he had planned for her might cause her to reconsider her manner of
life.
First, Agnes was sentenced to live in a well-known brothel
next to the stadium of Domitian where the prostitutes serviced those attending
the games and races there. In Rome, a
young virgin girl could not be given a death sentence, but if the girl was
living as a prostitute, then the situation changes. When game-day arrived, Agnes was stripped naked along with the other
prostitutes, and brought into the stadium much like a half-time commercial on a
ball game today. A different product to
be sure, but the marketing strategy was still same.
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| Agnes covered by hair |
There are a couple of traditions at this point in the story
that may or may not be true but certainly add to the story. The first one is that when Agnes was stripped
naked and brought before the crowd, which would have been utter humiliation for
a chaste young girl of her character,
God caused the hair on her head to suddenly and spontaneously grow to
cover her private parts. The second
story is that a man at the arena who wanted to purchase her services. When he came down and tried to touch her, he
died suddenly. Agnes told the guard
detail that was leading her around that an angel unseen to them but visible to
her was protecting her. To prove this
she prayed and the man was brought to life.
Did this actually happen? We
don’t know. Could it actually happen? I think the same God who says not hair on your
head or a sparrow in the air falls to the ground without his knowledge and
permission
( Lk.21:18, Mt. 10:29) is more than capable of helping a person in
this manner.
When this was reported to the governor, he ordered that
Agnes be taken to be burned alive as a pagan sacrifice. Since she wanted to be a holy virgin to God,
she was to be made an offering by fire to Minerva. When the fire was lit beneath her rather than
consume her, it continually went out.
The Lord was not going to allow her to become a sacrifice to anyone but
Himself.
Finally it was decided to put Agnes to the sword. The Roman
guard who was dispatched to decapitate her, cut her throat instead causing her to
die quickly and mercifully. For this
reason iconography depicts her with a lamb (because lambs have their throats
cut before they are used as a sacrifice) to symbolize her as a pure sacrifice
before God. This happened in a support
room at the stadium of Domitian.
At the time of this incident, the harsh treatment and
execution of Agnes was a shock and scandal to the citizens of Rome and brought
pressure to bear on the government to bring an end to persecution of Christian
citizens. Not only was Agnes admired as
an example of steadfast faith as she innocently endured evil, but was held
forth as a model of purity and chastity for both women and men. The name Agnes actually means “pure and
chaste.”
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| Agnes as sacrificial lamb at sword |
It is important to remember Agnes’ steadfast devotion was
not the result of her great efforts or maturity, but really was made possible
by the support of God given to her in her time of trial. Agnes’ story was immortalized in her own
generation when Constantine the Great built a church in her honor at the urging
of his daughter Constanzia who visited her memorial shrine in Rome and claimed
she had been healed of a disease.
January 21st is her memorial day on the calendars
of the Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican churches. Since medieval times there has been a curious
custom related to her feast. If an
unmarried woman skips her supper on the eve of the feast of St. Agnes, that
night she will see her future husband in her dreams. Of course, that being a true thing would be a
terrific comfort to some women and to others, perhaps warning enough to pursue
the path of St. Agnes herself and becoming the spouse of Jesus alone.
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| Reliquary with Agnes' Skull |
Sources
“Agnes, Saint” Saints and Angels Catholic Online. Catholic.org 20 Feb. 2015
“Agnes, Saint” Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 20 Feb. 2015
“Agnes, Saint and Martyr”
Cyclopedia of Biblical,
Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature Vol. 1 McClintock and Strong eds. (Grand Rapids : Baker Books, 1981)
“Saint Agnes of Rome”
Marypages.com 20 Feb. 2015
“Agnes” Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity Vol.
1. Angelo Di Berardino Gen. Ed. (Downers Grove : Intervarsity Press, 2014)
Cairns, Earle E. Christianity Through The Centuries. (Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1981)
Chidester, David Christianity : A Global History. (San Francisco : HarperSanFrancisco,
2000)
Guy, Laurie Introducing Early Christianity: A Topical
Survey of Its Life, Beliefs & Practices
(Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2004)
Kirsch, Johann Peter
“Saint Agnes of Rome” The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 1 (New York : Robert Appleton Company,
1907) 20 Feb. 2015 www.newadvent.org/cathen/01214a.htm
Saint of the Day:
Lives, Lessons, and Feasts Edited
and Revised by Leonard Foley O.F.M. and Pat McCloskey O.F.M. (Cincinnati : St.
Anthony Messenger Press, 2001)
Todescato, Gianni A Brief Guide to St. Agnese in Agone. (Rome : LazziRoma, 2009)
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