ST AGNES OF MONTE PULCIANO, VIRGIN AND ABBESS

ST AGNES OF MONTE PULCIANO, VIRGIN AND ABBESS - 20 APRIL

Saints celebrated on the 20th of April

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

SAINT AGNES OF MONTE PULCIANO, VIRGIN AND ABBESS

Saint Agnes of Monte Pulciano was a native of this place in Tuscany. She had scarcely attained to the use of reason, when she conceived an extraordinary relish and ardour for prayer, and in her infancy often spent whole hours in reciting the Our Father and Hail Mary, on her knees, in some private corner of a chamber.

A LOVE FOR PRAYER

At nine years of age she was placed by her parents in a convent of Sackins, of the order of St Francis, so called from their habit, or at least their scapular, being made of sackcloth.

A MODEL OF ALL VIRTUES

Agnes, in so tender an age, was a model of all virtues to this austere community: and she renounced the world, though of a plentiful fortune, being sensible of its dangers, before she knew what it was to enjoy it.

SHE WAS APPOINTED ABBESS

At fifteen years of age she was removed to a new foundation of the Order of St Dominic, at Proceno, in the county of Orvieto, and appointed abbess by Pope Nicholas IV.

She slept on the ground, with a stone under her head in lieu of a pillow; and for fifteen years she fasted always on bread and water, till she was obliged by her directors, on account of sickness, to mitigate her austerities.

THE NEW NUNNERY IN MONTE PULCIANO

Her townsmen, earnestly desiring to be possessed of her again, demolished a lewd house, and erected upon the spot a nunnery, which they bestowed on her. This prevailed on her to return, and she established in this house nuns of the Order of St Dominic, which rule she herself professed.

GIFTS OF MIRACLES AND PROPHECY

The gifts of miracles and prophecy rendered her famous among men, though humility, charity, and patience under her long sicknesses, were the graces which recommended her to God.

HER HOLY DEATH

She died at her home town Monte Pulciano, on April 20, 1317, being forty-three years old. Her body was removed to the Dominicans’ church of Orvieto, in 1435, where it remains. Clement VIII approved her office for the use of the Order of St Dominic, and inserted her name in the Roman Martyrology. She was solemnly canonised by Benedict XIII in 1726.

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)

ST VALENTINE, BISHOP OF RHAETIA - 7 JANUARY

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY Saints celebrated on the 7th of January WELCOME! SAINT VALENTINE, BISHOP OF RHAETIA Saint Valentine (Valentinus) is the patron saint of the diocese of Passau. The Proprium of Passau relates his life story as follows: Saint Valentine came from the seashore and arrived at Batava, today's Passau. Here he wanted to proclaim the gospel to the inhabitants, who were ignorant of the true worship of God, and therefore went to Rome to obtain the necessary authority from the Pope for this undertaking. Upon his return, he invested much time and effort to gain those lost souls for Christ, as the Pope expected him to. Valentine himself thirsted for their salvation, incessantly preaching the Divine word to them. After some considerable time, however, Valentine realised that all the seed he had sown fell on rocky ground. Thus he travelled again to Rome with the request to be sent to another place that had fertile soil. The Pope received him graciously, consecra...

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