Church Triumphant: St. Agnes of Rome

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Every month, my dear friend Tiffany at Life of a Catholic Librarian and I pair up and share a saint whose feast day is celebrated within the respective month. The saint has to speak to us. This month, I didn't know who I would "adopt". I opened my Magnificat for January, and flipped to read the last pages first, don't you? The artwork is always stunning. There she was, St. Agnes found me.

St. Agnes of Rome in Prison post by @fillpraycloset
St. Agnes was born c. 291 A.D. Her feast day is January 21st, but before 1970, an additional feast was celebrated on January 28th. More important than when St. Agnes was born was when and how she died. When St. Agnes was thirteen years old, she refused Eutropius, then the son of the prefect of Rome. Eutropius fell in love (some say lust) with the young girl and just had to have her. He tried to win her over with gold and jewels, asking her parents for Agnes' hand in marriage. She flatly refused claiming that she already belonged to someone else. How could this be? How could anyone in 304 A.D. refuse precious jewels, and status to boot? Who would refuse that now?

Eutropius was lovesick and fell ill and told his father, the prefect, that he had to do everything in his power to change her mind, or he would die. He just had to have her. Eutropius' father tried to persuade her and she replied with complete and utter refusal. The prefect was outraged and jealous for his son that she would prefer another so he inquired as to who this "other" could be. He found out that the "other" she preferred was Jesus Christ (but we already knew that.) Doesn't this read like a novel?!

Read more at Filling My Prayer Closet.

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