Saint Agnes of Montepulciano

She was tenderly cherished by her companions, who regretted that they could not always keep her in their midst. Agnes took advantage of this affection to lead them to neighboring sanctuaries. One day, at the age of nine, she even proposed a pilgrimage to a church in Montepulciano. They all acce Monte-Pulciano Birthplace of the saint in Tuscany. pted and began to joyfully climb the hill that separated them from the venerated place. As they approached the city walls, a troop of cawing crows suddenly swooped down on Agnes. With their beaks, wings, and claws, they sought to bruise her and peck out her eyes. But she invoked the name of Jesus, and the enemy troop flew away without having done her any harm. It was, adds the Saint's historian, an army of demons who presided over a house of debauchery built near that place, and who were troubled by the presence of this angel of purity.

That same year, Agnes, already disgusted by the pleasures of the world before even having learned to know them, asked to dedicate herself to God in a monastery. Her parents thought it wise to oppose her plan for the moment: she was so young! Moreover, they needed to be able to recognize the will of God in order to consent to part with such a treasure. The young virgin obtained nothing from men, neither by her prayers nor by her tears; but she addressed herself to the divine spouse whose voice was calling her, and He bent all resistance. Agnes was at the height of her wishes. She could be reunited forever with the One who speaks to the heart in solitude. She entered the Sisters of the Sack (del Sacco), next to Montepulciano. These n uns lived under the r religieuses del Sacco The first religious community joined by Agnes. ule of Saint Augustine, but without belonging to any of the great monastic families, and their name was only that of the coarse fabric they wore. However, though they were unknown, they were nonetheless fervent and worthy of appreciating the virtues of Agnes.

From the very first day, the young novice applied herself entirely to the religious life. Giving her body only what she could not refuse it, she spent all the hours of the day, and a great part of the night, in prayer, pious reading, and all possible exercises of penance. Her humility, her gentleness, and her obedience were such that the mistress of novices and all her companions loved and venerated her as an angel of paradise.

When she reached the age of fourteen, to put her virtue to the test, she was named bursar of her monastery. This duty was meant to tear her away from the sweetness of prayer; but she knew that prayer is no longer pleasing to God when obedience calls to other tasks. She therefore obeyed with joy, and one never had to address the slightest reproach to her. She watched diligently so that no nun lacked anything, and when it came to rendering a service to her sisters, she was always full of grace and charity. Previously, she had resolved to keep an inviolable silence with men during Lent, to converse only with heaven; but, as her sisters would have become the victims of this sacrifice, she contented herself with cutting out all words that were not necessary for the exercise of her duty.

God then testified how far He is from disapproving that one leaves Him for the good of one's neighbor; for, during this very time, Saint Agnes received a most brilliant grace. The Mother of the Savior, who after God possessed her soul, appeared to her, and speaking to her gently, gave her three small, wonderfully beautiful stones. Then she said to her: "My daughter, before your death you will build a monastery in my honor: take these three small stones to remind you that your edifice must be founded on the constant faith and confession of the most high and indivisible Trinity.

Already Agnes, during her prayers, had appeared several times raised above the ground by more than a cubit, in the presence of all the nuns, and she enjoyed in the world itself, where the fame of her miracles had spread, an extraordinary reputation for holiness. Proof of this was soon seen. The inhabitants of Procen Procena Site of Agnes's first monastic foundation. a, near Acqua Pendente, had decided to build a monastery for their daughters. Although Agnes was only fifteen, they came to ask for her to be its founder and first superior. At the thought of the command, Agnes's humility was frightened: she put forward her incapacity and her age. Moreover, she knew that this was not the monastery that the Blessed Virgin had ordered her to build. However, the Vicar of Jesus Christ, by virtue of his supreme authority, ordered her to undertake the proposed foundation; she did so. But, always convinced of her unworthiness, she redoubled her prayers and penances. Bread and water were her only food; the bare earth her bed; a stone her pillow.

In return for these sacrifices, she was filled, even visibly, with heavenly graces. Often manna fell in the shape of a cross on her mantle: a touching symbol of the sweetnesses hidden under the cross! Where she had knelt, the most lovely flowers grew miraculously: the violet, the lily, and the roses. — One night of the Assumption, the Blessed Virgin appeared to her again; and, placing the Child Jesus in her arms, she left Him to her most affectionate caresses. Agnes could not separate herself from her beloved without shedding tears, and as a consolation, she detached a small cross from the rich pearl necklace of the divine Child. — Another day, praying in the most solitary part of the garden, she was enraptured in God and forgot the time for Mass. Her ecstasy having ceased, she began to weep for not having been able to receive her Savior. Then an angel brought her the Holy Eucharist and gave her communion.

Attracted by the report of these wonders, two Camaldolese hermits came down from their mountains to visit this prodigy of holiness. After a long conversation on the spiritual life, Agnes had them sit at her table for the meal. No food had yet been brought, when they suddenly saw, in the middle of an earthenware dish, a beautiful and fragrant rose rise up. The Saint then turned to these good religious and said to them: "Fathers, our Savior wished, in the midst of the cold and frosts of winter, to send to our table this flower of summer to show how much your ardent words have warmed my languishing spirit." And the edified hermits returned to their cells, well convinced that they alone had been warmed by the ardent words of Agnes.

Such holiness well deserved that Agnes should always have brothers and sisters to watch over her tomb, preserve her memory, and recount her virtues. Now, the nuns of the Sacco formed only one of those ephemeral congregations that a day of generosity brings into being, but which, in the following century, one finds only in the past of history. One day, therefore, in one of her mysterious visions, the servant of God found herself on the open sea, facing three magnificently decorated ships led by Saint Augustine, Saint Francis of Assisi, and Saint Dominic. A holy dispute had arisen between them as to who would possess Agnes. But the glorious patriarch Dominic, alleging the decree of heaven that gave him Agnes as a daughter, reached out his hand to his child and brought her into his boat.

Agnes did not understand how this change of institute would come about; but soon an angel came to reveal it to her. He reminded her of the three small stones she had once received from the Blessed Virgin, with the order to build her a monastery later. "The time," he told her, "has come: you must found a house on the very hill of Montepulciano, where the demons, in the form of crows, assailed you; you will dedicate the convent to the most Holy Trinity, to the incomparable Virgin Mary, and to the blessed Dominic, to whom you are henceforth to belong."

At the same time, the elite of the inhabitants of Montepulciano arrived at Procena, coming to implore Agnes to return to her homeland; they themselves, in that case, would build her a convent where several of their daughters would embrace the religious life under her guidance. Her greatest desire would have been to remain forgotten, but she could not resist the voice of heaven; she therefore went to Montepulciano, where she was received as if in triumph. Fearing these applauses, which often strip virtue of its supernatural value, she pressed the construction work without respite; and as soon as the enclosure could be guarded, she donned the habit of the sisters of Saint Dominic, then made a vow to live according to the rules of her new Order. Following the promise that had been made to her, she found herself, in a short time, at the head of a community of twenty nuns, who, worthy daughters of such a mother, lived, says their historian, like angels of heaven. But God tested these souls whom He cherished. He permitted one time that the new family was forgotten, and the convent remained three days without bread. Agnes, whose confidence equaled her humility, complained lovingly to heaven of such extreme necessity. But let us listen to God Himself praising the conduct of our Saint, whil e speaking to His w la Vierge de Sienne Dominican mystic saint to whom Agnes is compared. orthy sister, the Virgin of Siena (Dialogue 449): "This dear little poor one," He said, "my faithful Agnes, raised her heart toward my goodness by saying to me: My beloved Lord, my tender Father, my eternal Spouse, did you not order me to withdraw these virgins from their families? And you, did you gather them in your house only to let them die of hunger? Good Master, provide for their needs! — To satisfy her humble request, I inspired someone with the thought of bringing her five small loaves, and I revealed it to her. When the one who was coming approached the door, Agnes said to one of her daughters: My daughter, go to the turn, and bring the bread that the Lord sends us in His goodness. — When the loaves were brought, they sat down at the table, and, while my beloved was distributing them, I placed in her hands such power that the loaves multiplied and were able to provide abundantly for several meals."

This is not the only miracle that illustrated this period of Agnes's life. But, remarkably, her miracles changed in character from the day she changed Institutes. In the Order of Saint Dominic, the religious aim to spread the treasures they possess to their brothers in the world. Our dear Saint therefore delivers a man cruelly possessed by the demon; she restores sight to one of her sisters, heals a young girl, resurrects a small child by making the sign of the cross over him, and converts several young libertines who had insulted her with their words; finally, she causes a spring of pure water to gush from a nearby rock, where many recovered their health.

However, the day of the heavenly nuptials was approaching for Agnes. But hours of infirmity and pain preceded this long-desired moment. An angel had announced to her that it would be so, one day when she was resting a little on her bed. It seemed to her that she was led by this heavenly guide under an olive tree, where he offered her a drink from a chalice of a very bitter liquor, saying to her: "It is now, dear Spouse, that you must partake of the chalice that your Spouse drank first for the love of you." On the order of her superiors, she went to seek her healing at the salutary waters of Chi anciano, Clanciano Thermal spa town where Agnes performed miracles. three leagues from Montepulciano. The Lord showed that He approved of this act of obedience: several miracles marked the steps of His servant. The miraculous manna that fell upon her in the shape of a cross covered her again with its dew while she was bathing. A new spring began to flow as soon as Agnes had arrived at Chianciano, the waters of which healed all the other sick: it was named the water of Saint Agnes. She changed the water of a fountain into an exquisite wine; she healed a young girl who had a dangerous ailment in her knee; finally, she brought back to life a child who had drowned in the baths. However, she herself did not heal, because it pleased the heavenly Spouse to prepare her through this illness to enter entirely purified into the wedding hall of the Lamb. She therefore returned to the monastery of Montepulciano where the illness only worsened. Forced to take to her bed, and sensing that God wished to withdraw her from this land of exile, she prepared herself for death with joy, and received the last sacraments with a heart palpitating with love and a face radiant with joy. Her nuns wept bitterly, but she consoled them with these words: "If you loved me as you ought, my daughters, you would not weep so. For friends do not grieve at the good of their friends: on the contrary, they rejoice in it. The greatest good that can happen to me is to go to our Spouse. Be faithful to Him, to this Spouse so good! Persevere always in obedience, and I promise to be more useful to you in heaven than if I remained among you. Above all, love one another! Hold this love as one of the most assured marks of your predestination..." Soon after, lifting her eyes and hands to heaven, she said with a ravishing smile: "My beloved is mine, I will not leave Him anymore!" While pronouncing these words, her soul had flown to the bosom of God, on April 20, 1317, at the hour when Jesus came into the world. Agnes was forty-three years old.

At that very moment, she was receiving on earth the most perfect praise, that of babes at the breast. The tongues of these little innocents were miraculously loosened, and they began in the neighboring places to proclaim the death and virtues of Agnes; their parents awoke upon hearing these voices. The next day, people came from all parts to the monastery to venerate the body of the Saint. She remained exposed for a long time, exhaling a sweet perfume, and working by her virtue innumerable miracles.

Fifty-two years after the death of Agnes, it was revealed to Saint Catherine of Sien sainte Catherine de Sienne Dominican mystic saint to whom Agnes is compared. a that in heaven she would be the companion and equal of the one who had preceded her on earth. This revelation, says a historian, cast into Catherine's soul an ardent desire to visit the relics of the Saint of Montepulciano. She therefore set out with her confessor and some of her faithful companions, and she hastened to prostrate herself before the incorruptible and venerated tomb; she bowed her head to kiss the feet of this heavenly friend. But behold, Agnes seemed unable to endure such profound humility; she raised one of her feet and presented it gently to Catherine before all the Sisters. From that day on, the monastery of Montepulciano was for the heart of the Sienese virgin a sacred place, where she made frequent pilgrimages. The second time she venerated the holy body, she no longer placed herself at her feet, but, filled with confidence and joy, she kissed the face of the blessed Agnes, and, at that moment, a manna whiter than snow was seen to fall, and these two blessed bodies were soon covered in it: a consecration of the sublime friendship between the Saint of the earth and the Saint of heaven!

However, Agnes had not yet received the honors of a public cult; she was only beatified in 1534 by Clement VII, and solemn Clément VII Pope mentioned as having possessed a relic of the saint. ly canonized only by Benedict XIII in 1726.

In the arts: 1° the veil and mantle of Saint Agnes of Montepulciano are scattered with small crosses to recall the heavenly rain that fell upon her in that form; 2° lying in her tomb, she presents her foot to be kissed by Saint Catherine of Siena; 3° an angel gives her communion under an olive tree; 4° the child Jesus, who was in her arms, gives her a cross as he leaves her, etc.

The original Life of Saint Agnes of Montepulciano was written by Raymond of Capua, confessor to Saint Cath erine of Siena: t Raymond de Capone Confessor and principal biographer of Saint Catherine. his is the one provided by the Acta Sanctorum. — Cf. Année Dominicaine, vol. II and an Italian Life of the Saint, by Father Ponti, which was translated for France in 1865.