28 January – SECOND St. Agnes

One can tell how our ancient Roman forebears venerated their saints by how many churches they had and how many feasts. Today is the SECOND Feast of St. Agnes. An octave after the feast of her martyrdom, today, 28 January, is the Feast of the Nativity of Agnes. This is a little ambiguous, because the “nativity” (“birthday”) can also mean the day the saint died and was “born” into Heaven.

These says, 2nd Agnes shares with St. Peter Nolasco, serious-badass (and so was Agnes). However in the older Roman Missal there is a separate formulary for her.

The Mass of St. Agnes today is the Common of a Virgin Martyr. The Collect today is rather straightforward, but that of the ancient “Gelasian Sacramentary” runs like this:

Adesto nobis, omnipotens Deus, beatae Agnetis festa repetentibus, quam hodiernae festivitatis prolatam exortu ineffabili munere sublevasti.

Have a stab!

The Gradual and Alleluia are from Ps 44 (45 – RSV) with its two-fold powerful warrior and nuptial maiden image. The Gospel is not that of the wise and foolish virgins, but rather that of the pearl of great price, that is the price of being Christian: all you have.

Happy Second Agnes!

 

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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2 Comments

  1. BeatifyStickler says:

    A great name.

  2. Et Cetera says:

    Be with us, omnipotent God, fresh from the feast of blessed Agnes, she whom, raised by the occasion of today’s feast, you have (further?) elevated with an unutterable honor.

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