Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, unless otherwise stated.
Saint Francis of Sales. Bishop, Confessor and Doctor of The Church. Feast Day 29 January.
Double.
White Vestments.
Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622).
Francis of Sales from de:Wikipedia.
From a painting in Heimsuchungskloster,
Oberroning, Bayern, Deutschland,
(Convent of The Visitation Sisters,
Oberroning, Bavaria, Germany).
This File: 18 April 2005.
User: Searobin.
(Wikimedia)
The Word Made Flesh makes known to us, by His teachings, the Mysteries of His Divine Wisdom, and, by His Miracles, His eternal love. Saint Francis of Sales (Saint Francis de Sales), a Doctor of the Church, had a share in the knowledge of the Incarnate Word (Gradual), and, like Him, by his gentle Charity (Collect) worked wonders of conversion.
Sent to "preach the word of God to the Calvinists of Chablais, he brought back sixty thousand to the Catholic Faith" (Breviary). Having become the father of the Church at Geneva, and founder of the Order of the Visitation, he shed over this double family (Communion) the rays of his Apostolic zeal and of his gentle holiness.
"May your light shine before men, so that, seeing your works, they may glorify your Father Who is in Heaven" (Gospel). It is especially God's goodness which this Saint revealed. "If we must fall into some excess," Saint Francis of Sales would say, "let it be on the side of gentleness".
"I wish to love him so much, this dear neighbour, I wish to love him so much ! It has pleased God so to make my heart ! Oh !, when shall we be impregnated with gentleness and in Charity towards our neighbour ?"
Saint Francis of Sales died at Lyons, France, in 1622.
Let us remember this Saint's two sayings: "You can catch more flies with a spoonful of honey than with a hundred barrels of vinegar." "What is good, makes no noise; noise does no good."
The Roman Catholic Church currently celebrates Saint Francis de Sales' Feast Day on 24 January, the day of his burial in Annecy, France, in 1624. From the year 1666, when his Feast Day was inserted into the General Roman Calendar, until the reform of this Calendar in 1969, it was observed on 29 January, and this date is kept by those who celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.
In order to understand fully the meaning of the Text of today's Mass, we must study it in connection with The Lessons of The Breviary, since, in The Church's mind, The Mass and The Divine Office form one whole.
The Lessons and Responses in The Night Office are taken this week from The Book of Genesis. In them is related the story of The Creation of the World and of man, of our first parents' fall and the promise of a Redeemer, followed by the murder of Abel and a record of the generations from Adam to Noah.
"In the beginning," we read, "God created Heaven and Earth and upon the Earth He made man . . . and He placed him in a garden of paradise to be mindful of it and tend it" (Third and Fourth Responses at Matins).
All this is a figure. Here is Saint Gregory's exposition. "The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to the proprietor who hires labourers to work in his vineyard. Who can be more justly represented as Head of a household than Our Creator, Who governs all creatures by His Providence and Who, just as a Master has servants in his house, has His Elect in this World, from the Just Abel to the last of His Chosen, destined to be born at the very end of time ?
De Profundis (Septuagesima Sunday, Tract).
Gregorian Chant notation from The Liber Usualis (1961), p. 499.
The vineyard which He owns is His Church, while the labourers in this vineyard are all those who, with a true Faith, have set themselves, and urged others, to the task of doing good. By those who came at the first, as well as at the third, sixth and ninth hours, are meant the ancient people of the Hebrews, who, from the beginning of the World, striving in the persons of their Saints to serve God with a Right Faith, ceased not, as it were, to work in cultivation of the vineyard.
But, at the eleventh hour, the Gentiles are called and to them are spoken the words: "Why stand ye here all the day, idle ?" (Third Nocturn). Thus, all are called to work in The Lord's vineyard, by Sanctifying themselves and their neighbour in Glorifying God, since Sanctification consists in searching for our supreme happiness in Him, alone.
Adam failed in his task and God told him: "Because thou hast eaten of the tree, whereof
I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat, cursed is the Earth in thy work; with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee . . . In the sweat of thy face, shalt thou eat bread, till thou return to the Earth out of which thou was taken."
Being exiled from Eden," says Saint Augustine, "The First Man involved all his descendants in the penalty of death and reprobation, being corrupted in the person of him from whom they sprung. The whole mass of condemned humanity was, therefore, plunged in misery, enslaved and cast headlong from one evil to another" (Second Nocturn). "The sorrows of death surrounded me," says the Introit, and, as a matter of fact, it is in the Basilica of Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls, close to the cemetery at Rome, that "The Station" for this Sunday is made.
The Collect adds that we are "justly afflicted for our sins". In the Epistle, the Christian life is represented by Saint Paul as an arena, where a man must take pains and strive to carry off the prize, while the Gospel bears witness that the reward of Eternal Life is only given to those who work in God's vineyard, where work is hard and painful since the entrance of sin.
"O God", prays The Church, "grant to Thy people, who are called by the name of vines and harvests, that they may root out all thorns and briars, and bring forth good fruit in abundance" (Prayer on Holy Saturday, after The Eighth Prophecy).
"In His wisdom", says Saint Gregory, "Almighty God preferred rather to bring good out of evil than never allow evil to occur". For God took pity on men and promised them a Second Adam, who, restoring the order disturbed by the First Adam, would allow them to regain Heaven, to which Adam had lost all right, when expelled from Eden, which was "the shadow of a better life" (Fourth Lesson). "Thou, O Lord, art our helper in time of tribulation" (Gradual); "with Thee, there is merciful forgiveness" (Tract).
"Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant and save me in Thy mercy" (Communion). "Show Thy face, O Lord, and we shall be saved", The Church cries similarly in The Season of Advent, when calling upon her Lord. The truth is that God, "Who has wonderfully created man, has more wonderfully redeemed him" (Prayer on Holy Saturday after The First Prophecy), for "The Creation of The World in the beginning was not a more excellent thing than The Immolation of Christ Our Passover at The End of Time" (Prayer on Holy Saturday after The Ninth Prophecy).
This Mass, when studied in the light of Adam's fall, prepares our mind for beginning the Season of Septuagesima, and understanding the sublime character of the Paschal Mystery for which this Season prepares our hearts.
In response to the call of The Master, Who comes to seek us even in the depths wherein we are plunged, through our first parents' sin (Tract), let us go and work in The Lord's vineyard, or enter the arena and take-up with courage the struggle which will intensify during Lent.
The "Gloria in excelsis" is not said from this Sunday until Maundy Thursday, except when the Mass of a Feast is said.
From Septuagesima to Ash Wednesday, the Tract is said only on Sundays and Feast Days. On Ferias, when The Mass of The Sunday is said, the Gradual is said, without the Tract.
Every Parish Priest celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.
Mass: Circumdedérunt. Preface: Of The Most Holy Trinity.
The Common Preface: During the week,
From this day until Holy Saturday, when the Gloria in excelsis is omitted, the Ite Missa est is replaced by Benedicamus Domino.
The following Text is taken from "The Liturgical Year" by Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
The Season of Septuagesima comprises the three weeks immediately preceding Lent. It forms one of the principal divisions of The Liturgical Year, and is, itself, divided into three parts, each part corresponding to a week: The first week is called Septuagesima; the second week is called Sexagesima; the third week is called Quinquagesima.
All three are named from their numerical reference to Lent, which, in the language of The Church, is called Quadragesima, that is, "Forty", because The Great Feast of Easter is prepared for by The Holy Exercises of Forty Days.
The words Quinquagesima, Sexagesima, and Septuagesima, tells us of the same great Solemnity as looming in the distance, and as being the great object towards which The Church would have us now begin to turn all our thoughts, and desires, and devotion.
Now, The Feast of Easter must be prepared for by Forty Days of Recollectedness and Penance. Those Forty Days are one of the principal Seasons of The Liturgical Year, and one of the most powerful means employed by The Church for exciting, in the hearts of her children, the spirit of their Christian Vocation. It is of the utmost importance that such a Season of Grace should produce its work in our Souls — the Renovation of the whole Spiritual Life. The Church, therefore, has instituted a preparation for The Holy Time of Lent.
She gives us the three weeks of Septuagesima, during which she withdraws us, as much as may be, from the noisy distractions of the World, in order that our hearts may be more readily impressed by the solemn warning she is to give us at the commencement of Lent by marking our foreheads with Ashes.
This prelude to The Holy Season of Lent was not known in the early ages of Christianity: Its institution would seem to have originated in The Greek Church. Besides The Six Sundays of Lent, on which by universal custom The Faithful never Fasted, the practice of this Church prohibited Fasting on the Saturdays, likewise; consequently, their Lent was short by twelve days of the Forty Days spent by Our Saviour doing Penance in the desert. To make up the deficiency, they were obliged to begin their Lent so many days earlier.
I must add one further note - my husband and I speak ASL (American Sign Language) and this piece interprets so beautifully with the hands - it is just a lovely piece to sign and you play with such empathy and compassion - I cannot get all the way through the piece without crying - but, that's OK - tears are a universal language also, especially happy tears. Thank you again.
"Bring Him Home".
Original music by Claude-Michel Schönberg.
Arrangement produced by Jon Schmidt,
Steven Sharp Nelson and Al van der Beek.
Arrangement written by Jon Schmidt and Steven Sharp Nelson.
Piano recorded by Chuck Myers and Jake Bowen at Big Idea Studio. Cello recorded by Al van der Beek at TPG Studios.
Piano: Jon Schmidt.
Cellos: Steven Sharp Nelson.
Mixed and Mastered by Al van der Beek at TPG Studios.
Saint Polycarp, a disciple of Saint John, was by him invested with full Sacerdotal powers (Introit) and made Bishop of Smyrna [Editor: Known, today, as Izmir, Turkey.]. In a Letter, that he writes to the Philippians, he quotes the first Epistle of his Master (Saint John, of which a passage is read in today's Liturgy.
"Whoever," he declares after Saint John, "does not confess that Christ has come in the flesh, is an Anti-Christ." He claims for Jesus the reality of His quality of Son of God against the heretics of his day, who affirmed that The Incarnation of The Word was only a semblance.
One day, when the heretic Marcion asked him if he was known to him, the Holy Bishop replied: "That he knew him as the eldest son of Satan".
And today's Epistle enables us to distinguish "The Sons of God from those who are the sons of Satan". Those who, like Christ, love their brethren, and, like Him, give their lives for them, are of God. That is what Saint Polycarp will do.
Martyred in the Persecution under Emperor Commodus, he bore testimony to Christ (Gospel). He was burned in the middle of the amphitheatre and then struck with the sword in the year 166 A.D. He was 86 years old.
Like Polycarp (which name signifies "much fruit"), let us produce much fruit by loving our neighbour for Jesus's sake.
It is recorded by Irenaeus, who heard him speak in his youth, and by Tertullian, that he had been a disciple of Saint John the Apostle. Saint Jerome wrote that Polycarp was a disciple of Saint John and that Saint John had Ordained him Bishop of Smyrna.
The early Tradition that expanded upon the Martyrdom to link Polycarp in competition and contrast with Saint John the Apostle, who, though many people had tried to kill him, was not Martyred but died of old age after being exiled to the island of Patmos, is embodied in The Coptic language fragmentary papyri (the "Harris fragments") dating to the 3rd- to 6th-Centuries A.D.
Frederick Weidmann, their editor, interprets the "Harris fragments" as Smyrnan hagiography addressing Smyrna–Ephesus Church rivalries, which "develops the association of Polycarp and Saint John to a degree unwitnessed, so far as we know, either before or since". The fragments echo The Martyrology, and diverge from it.
Paul of Tarsus was a Jew of the Tribe of Benjamin. A most zealous Pharisee, he appears in the Epistle as full of hatred "for the Disciples of The Lord". He becomes a "Vessel of Election", so filled with The Holy Ghost (Epistle), "that all Nations shall drink of its fulness," says Saint Ambrose, and shall learn through him that "Jesus is The Son of God" (Epistle).
Saint Paul is, like The Twelve, an Apostle of Christ (Alleluia), "he shall sit in one of the twelve seats and shall judge the World when The Son of Man shall Himself be seated on The Throne which belongs to Him as Son of God" (Gradual and Gospel).
We owe it to today's Feast, which follows by a few days that of The Chair of Saint Peter at Rome, and which had for its origin a Translation of the body of Saint Paul, that we are enabled to see the whole Season after Epiphany represented in a picture [Editor: A Theoretical Picture], giving us an admirable vision of The Kingship of Jesus.
In the foreground [Editor: Of this Theoretical Picture] are the two witnesses of The Divinity of Christ, Saint Peter, more especially sent to the sons of Israel, and Saint Paul, to the Gentiles (Collect, Gradual).
In the background [Editor: Of this Theoretical Picture], is Galilee with its verdant hills, where we perceive Cana, the Synagogue of Nazareth, and the Lake of Genesareth, where Jesus, by His Miracles, proved that He was The Son of God.
Following the example of Saint Paul, let us show by our Faith, and by a new life, that Jesus is God and that He is our King.
Mass: Scio cui crëdidi. Commemoration: Of Saint Peter.
Saint Timothy is mentioned in The Bible at the time of Paul's second visit to Lystra, in Anatolia, where Timothy is mentioned as a "Disciple". Paul calls him his "own son in The Faith". Timothy often travelled with Paul. Timothy's mother was Jewish and his father was Greek, but he had not been circumcised, and Paul now ensured that this was done, according to the Text, to ensure Timothy’s acceptability to the Jews.
According to McGarvey, Paul performed the operation "with his own hand", but others claim this is unlikely and nowhere attested. He was Ordained and went with Paul on his journeys through Phrygia, Galatia, Mysia,Troas, Philippi, Veria, and Corinth. His mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, are noted as eminent for their piety and Faith, which indicates that they may have also been Christians. Timothy is praised by Paul for his knowledge of The Scriptures (in the 1st-Century A.D., mostly The Septuagint (Greek); See Development of The New Testament Canon - Clement of Rome), and is said to have been acquainted with The Scriptures since childhood.
That Timothy was jailed at least once, during the period of the writing of The New Testament, is implied by the writer of Hebrews mentioning Timothy's release at the end of the Epistle. It is also apparent that Timothy had some type of stomach malady, owing to Paul's advice, in 1 Timothy 5:23, counselling Timothy to: "No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments."
Paul commanded Timothy to remain in Ephesus (1 Timothy 1): "I command you to stay there in Ephesus", to prevent Heresy from infecting The Church in Ephesus. Paul also gave him instructions for establishing Elders and Deacons, there. These very guidelines have become the commonly-used guidelines among Churches across the World to this day.
According to later Tradition, Paul Consecrated Timothy as Bishop of Ephesus in 65 A.D., where he served for fifteen years. In 97 A.D., (with Timothy dying at age eighty), Timothy tried to halt a pagan procession of idols, ceremonies, and songs. In response to his Preaching of the Gospel, the angry pagans beat him, dragged him through the streets, and stoned him to death. In the 4th-Century A.D., his Relics were Transferred to The Church of The Holy Apostles, in Constantinople.
The following Text is from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
Saint Timothy, born at Lystra (Asia Minor), of a pagan father and a Jewish mother, was already a Christian when Saint Paul came to that town. Saint Paul, whose Conversion we Celebrate tomorrow, was struck by Timothy's Holiness and took him as a companion on his travels. Saint Timothy thereupon gave up everything and became his Disciple (Gospel).
Saint Paul conferred on him full Sacerdotal powers (Introit) and committed to his care The Church of Ephesus. We read, in the Epistle, a passage of one of the two admirable Letters which his Master wrote to him. Saint Timothy was stoned to death in his Episcopal City in 97 A.D.
Let us, with Timothy, confess The Divinity of Christ in this Season After Epiphany, which is its Liturgical manifestation.
The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.
The Espousals of The Blessed Virgin Mary, or, Marriage of The Virgin Mary, is a Feast that is Celebrated in certain parts of The Roman Catholic Church. It was removed from many Local Calendars by The Sacred Congregation of Rites. It was formerly generally observed on 23 January.
A Feast of The Latin Church, it is certain that a real Matrimony was contracted by Joseph and Mary. Mary is called "Espoused" to Joseph ("His Mother, Mary, was Espoused to Joseph", Matthew 1:18) because the Matrimony was never consummated.
The term "Spouse" is applied to married people until their marriage is consummated (Colvenerius, Cal. Marian., 23 Jan.). Peter d'Ailly, Chancellor of The University of Paris. (+ 1420), and his famous disciple, Jean Charlier, called Gerson, were the first energetic propagators of The Devotion in Honour of Saint Joseph.
English: Marriage of The Virgin,
Church of Saint-Quiriace de Provins,
Département Seine-et-Marne (Île-de-France), France.
Deutsch: Bleiglasfenster in der Stiftskirche Saint-Quiriace in Provins, einer
Gemeinde im Département Seine-et-Marne (Île-de-France), Darstellung:
Geschichte des Joseph, untere Szene rechts: Heirat Josephs und Marias.
Gerson worked many years to effect the institution of a special Votive Feast (Thursday of Ember Week in Advent), the object of which should be The Virginal Espousal of Mary and Joseph. Gerson's friend, Henry Chicoti, Canon of The Cathedral Chapter of Chartres, had bequeathed a certain sum for the Celebration in the Cathedral of this Votive Feast, for which Gerson had composed a Proper Office. It seems that Gerson carried out the will of his friend, but Tradition does not tell us on what day the Feast was Celebrated.
The first definite knowledge of a Feast, in Honour of The Espousals of Mary, dates from 29 August 1517, when, with nine other Masses in Honour of Mary, it was granted by Pope Leo X to the Nuns of The Annunciation, Founded by Sainte Jeanne de Valois. This Feast was Celebrated on 22 October as a Double of The Second-Class. Its Mass, however, Honoured The Blessed Virgin exclusively; it hardly mentioned Saint Joseph and, therefore, did not correspond to the idea of Gerson.
Also, purely as a Feast of Mary, it appears in The Missal of The Franciscans, to whom it was granted 21 August 1537, for The Feast Day of 7 March (Double Major). About the same time, The Servites obtained The Feast for 8 March. The Office of The Nativity of Mary was recited, changing the word Nativilas to Desponsatio.
After The Religious Orders, among the Dioceses which adopted The Feast of The Espousals of Mary, Arras, France, takes the lead. It has been kept there since 23 January 1556. The first Proper Office was composed by Pierre Doré, O. P. (+ 1569), Confessor of Duke Claude of Lorraine. This Office followed the outlines given by Gerson and Commemorated both Joseph and Mary.
Pierre Doré, in 1546, unsuccessfully petitioned Pope Paul III to extend The Feast of The Desponsatio Beatæ Mariæ Virginis to The Universal Church. But, even without the recommendation of The Apostolic See, The Feast was adopted by many Churches. In Moravia, it was, in the 16th-Century, kept on 18. July. In subsequent times, Rome did not favour any further extension of The Feast, but, after it had been refused (1655) to The King of Spain, it was granted to The German Emperor for Austria on 27 January 1678 (Feast Day 23. January); in 1680, it was conceded to Spain, but Transferred on 13 July, 1682 to 26 November, because, in Spain, The Feast of Saint Ildephonsus, or, Saint Raymond, is kept on 23 January.
In 1680, it was extended to the entire German Empire, in 1689 to The Holy Land (Double of The Second-Class). In 1702, to The Cistercians (Feast Day 20 February), in 1720, to Tuscany, and, in 1725, to The Pontifical States.
In our days (Editor: This Text was written circa 1907, prior to The Liturgical Reforms propagated by Pope Saint Pius X in 1911), it is kept in nearly the entire Latin Church on 23 January, in Spanish-speaking Countries on 26 November, but it has never been extended to The Universal Church.
Since Pope Saint Pius V abolished The Office of Pierre Doré and introduced the modern Office, it is, again, a Feast of Mary. The Commemoration of Saint Joseph, in Mass, Vespers, Lauds (Decree,
5 May 1736) can only be made by a special privilege.
and shows The Liturgy for The Third Sunday After Epiphany, and the next day, in 1865.
22 SUNDAY Third After Epiphany, Semi-Double, Second Prayers of The BVM, Third Prayers for The Church or The Pope. Green. First Vespers of The Espousals of The BVM, Commemoration of The Sunday and of Saint Emerentiana, Virgin, Martyr. White.
23 Monday The Espousals of The BVM, Greater-Double. Second Prayers of Saint Emerentiana, Virgin, Martyr, Creed, Preface of The BVM. White. Plenary Indulgence.
Saint Raymund was born in 1175 of the noble Spanish family of Pennafort. Christ, by His teaching and Miracles, showed Himself to be the Son of God. The Church shows us, today, how, by the knowledge and Miracles of Saint Raymund, and thanks to her Saints, she also has a part in The Divinity of The Word.
Having given up everything to enter The Order of Saint Dominic, of which he is one of the glories, Saint Raymund "meditated on The Law of God" (Introit) and wrote the "Summa of cases of conscience", a summary of Christian morals which is much esteemed. Wherefore, The Church awarded him the title of "eminent Minister of The Sacrament of Penance" (Collect).
The Collect alludes to the Miracle by which, having spread out his cloak on the waters, Saint Raymund, in six hours, crossed the fifty-three Leagues of sea which separate the island of Majorca from Barcelona.
He persuaded Saint Peter Nolasco to sacrifice his fortune for the ransoming of Christians detained as captives in The Barbary States, and, with that end in view, obtained The Institution of The Order of Our Lady of Ransom.
Saint Raymund, unwilling to be surprised by the sudden arrival of The Lord (Gospel), employed the last thirty-five years of his life in a very special manner in preparing himself for death. The Saint gave up his Soul to God in 1275 at the age of ninety-nine.
Through the intercession of Saint Raymund, who was the eminent Minister of The Sacrament of Penance, and who miraculously crossed the sea, may we obtain to produce worthy fruits of Penance and to reach the haven of Eternal Salvation (Collect).
Mass: Os justi. Commemoration: Of Saint Emerentiana. Virgin and Martyr.
The Espousals of The Blessed Virgin Mary is a Feast that is Celebrated in certain parts of The Roman Catholic Church. It was removed from many Local Calendars by The Sacred Congregation of Rites. It was formally generally observed on 23 January. In Matthew 1:16, Joseph is described as the husband of Mary. It is probable that Joseph and Mary were betrothed at Nazareth. The term "betrothal" indicates more than an engagement. It was customary to celebrate marriage in two stages, The first, that of the contractual arrangements culminating in consent or “betrothal.”
After a period of, perhaps, one year, in which preparations were made to establish a new home together, the second part stage, of actually conveying the wife to that home, would be accompanied by a great Feast, such as that recounted in the Gospel of John as The Marriage Feast at Cana. The first definite knowledge of a Feast, in honour of The Espousals of Mary, dates from 29 August 1517, when, with nine other Masses in honour of Mary, it was granted by Pope Leo X to the Nuns of the Annunciation, founded by Saint Jeanne de Valois. In certain particular Churches, the Espousals of the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph are honoured with an Office on 23 January.
Gaspar Bertoni, founder of the Stigmatines, chose Mary and Joseph, in the context of their Espousals, as Patrons of the Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata. The subject, of the Espousals of Mary and Joseph, is depicted: In a fresco, in the German Chapel at the Shrine of the Holy House in Loretto, Italy; in a sculpture in the Left Portico of Holy Family Basilica in Barcelona, Spain; and in a Stained-Glass Window at Saint Rita's Basilica, Cascia, Italy.
Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, unless otherwise stated.
Saint Emerentiana. Virgin and Martyr. Feast Day 23 January.
Simple.
Red Vestments.
The Royal Gold Cup, or Saint Agnes Cup, is a Solid Gold Covered Cup, lavishly decorated
with Enamel and Pearls. It was made for The French Royal Family at the end of the 14th -Century, and later belonged to several English Monarchs, before spending nearly 300 years in Spain.
Since 1892, it has been in The British Museum, and is generally agreed to be the outstanding
survival of Late-Mediaeval French Plate.
Saint Emerentiana's likeness is shown, here, on The Royal Gold Cup.
A Foster-Sister of Saint Agnes, the Virgin, Emerentiana, while still a Catechumen, shed tears on the tomb of her friend, who had just been Martyred.
Some Pagans mocked her grief. She, full of The Divine Virtue of which Jesus is the source (Collect), reproached the idolaters with their cruelty towards Saint Agnes, and they, in their fury, stoned her on that very tomb. Baptised in her own blood, she went to join for every more her Spouse and her Sister, about 304 A.D.
