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Prayers to St. Agnes

Indulgenced by Pius IX, 30 October 1854, and Leo XIII, 16 January 1886

To the child of twelve or thirteen whom Rome could not frighten — 'by that lively faith which animated thee from thy most tender years' — with the prayer of her feast, on which the lambs are blessed.

The Prayer
English · Original
Each is followed by an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be.

I. Singular example of virtue, glorious St. Agnes, by that lively faith which animated thee from thy most tender years, and rendered thee so acceptable to God that thou didst merit the crown of martyrdom; obtain for us the grace to preserve entire in our hearts the Catholic Faith, and sincerely to profess ourselves Christians not only in word but also in deed; so that while we confess Jesus openly in the face of men, Jesus may give favourable testimony of us before His Heavenly Father.

II. Invincible martyr, St. Agnes, by that hope which thou hadst in the divine aid, when, being condemned by the impious prefect to see the lily of thy purity stained and trampled under foot, thou wast wholly undismayed, firmly trusting in the God who gives His angels charge over those who trust in Him; we beseech thee to obtain for us by thy intercession the grace to guard this virtue jealously in our hearts, so that to the many sins which we commit we may never add that most hateful sin of distrust in the mercy of God.

III. Brave child, most pure St. Agnes, by that ardent charity which enflamed thy heart and secured thee from being injured by the flames of passion or of the stake at which the enemies of Jesus Christ sought to destroy thee; obtain for us from God that every fire may be extinguished in us except that which Jesus Christ came on earth to enkindle; so that after passing a spotless life in the exercise of this beautiful virtue we may be allowed to share in that glory which is the crown of thy purity of heart and of thy martyrdom.

PRAYER
O sweetest Lord Jesus Christ, Source of all virtue, Lover of virgins, most powerful Conqueror of demons, most severe Extirpator of vice, deign to cast thy eyes upon my weakness, and through the intercession of Mary most blessed, Mother and Virgin, and of thy beloved spouse, St. Agnes, glorious virgin and martyr, grant me the aid of thy heavenly grace, in order that I may learn to despise all earthly things, and to love what is heavenly; to oppose vice, and to be proof against temptation; to walk firmly in the path of virtue, not to seek honours, to shun pleasures, to bewail my past offences, to keep far from the occasions of evil, to keep free from bad habits, to seek the company of the good, and persevere in righteousness, so that, by the assistance of thy grace, I may deserve the crown of eternal life, together with St. Agnes and all the saints, for ever and ever, in thy kingdom. Amen.
When the Prayer is Said

On 21 January; for young girls; for purity; for the courage to be known as a Christian.

History & Background

Agnes was martyred at Rome about 304, probably at twelve or thirteen. She is one of the earliest and most certain of the Roman martyrs: Damasus wrote her epitaph, Ambrose and Prudentius wrote about her within a century, and the basilica over her grave on the Via Nomentana still stands. Her name is in the Roman Canon.

Her feast is 21 January, and on that morning two lambs are blessed at Sant'Agnese fuori le Mura — <em>agnus</em>, a lamb, for Agnes — and their wool is woven into the pallia the Pope gives to new metropolitan archbishops. It is the oldest continuous custom attached to any saint in the Roman calendar.

The three prayers follow faith, hope and charity, as those to St. Lucy do; the second remembers what was done to her before she died, when the prefect's sentence was that a girl who would not marry should be sent to a brothel, and she was not touched. Pius IX indulgenced the first prayer in 1854 and Leo XIII the three in 1886. The text is the Raccolta's of 1910.

Indulgences Attached

One hundred days for the prayer — Pius IX, 30 October 1854; two hundred days for the three — Leo XIII, 16 January 1886 (Raccolta, 1910, nos. 379–380).

Related Saints
St. Agnes of Rome
c. 291, Rome – c. 304, Rome (beheaded under Diocletian)
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