St. Agnes was only 12 or 13 years old when she faced martyrdom.
It was the 4th century, and the Roman Empire was uneasy with the growing Christian population that challenged its pagan traditions.
Agnes was a beautiful girl from a wealthy Christian family. When she reached the age where suitors began to knock on her family’s door, many were eager to win her hand. But Agnes had pledged herself to Christ from a young age.
“He is my only spouse,” she would say, a declaration that mystified and frustrated those who sought her attention.
Among her rejected suitors was the son of a Roman prefect, a man of power and influence. Humiliated, he reported Agnes to the authorities, accusing her of being a Christian—a crime punishable by death.
The prefect gave her a chance to recant. He offered her riches and security if she would renounce her faith and sacrifice to the Roman gods.
Agnes refused.
She was dragged to a house of prostitution, a place meant to shame and break her. Yet even there, her faith shielded her. The men who approached her were said to be struck blind by the radiance of her purity.
Frustrated, the authorities condemned her to death. As she stood before the executioner, Agnes remained calm. When the executioner hesitated, overwhelmed by the gravity of killing such a young girl, she encouraged him: “Do not delay. What you are doing is the will of God.”
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