that grand old city, Rome, while its beautiful temples, now used for the worship of the one true God, were given up to the idolatrous worship of gods and goddesses unworthy of the love or respect of one good man, woman, or child; while the rich, and the learned,and the noble, laughed at the few Christians, who, they supposed, lived among them as fools, or vagabonds, or worse still, as knaves and deceivers; while the emperors, who dressed in purple and gold and jewels, when they gave banquets and festivals, knew that the sport which would most please the Roman people was to give a few Christians to the lions or the panthers, or to wild cows; while Rome was this corrupt, pagan Rome, instead of what it now is, "The Holy City" of the world—at this time, this dark time as it seemed for the persecuted Church of God lived, in this very Rome, a lovely girl whose name was Agnes.

The parents of Agnes were of ancient and noble family, so ancient and so noble that no one supposed they could belong to the despised followers of a crucified Jew; but ancient and noble as the house was from which they came, they prized, above all this worldly distinction, the holy and venerable name of Christian. The little Agnes grew up a flower of Christian grace, an example of Christian virtue. You must remember, my dear children, that when Agnes lived in Rome, Christians could have no grand churches, no processions, no choir, or singers, no Christmas and Easter days, that would attract any attention from the pagan world around them. It was not even safe to have one's nearest friend know one to be a Christian; for to be known as a Christian was to be thrown to wild beasts, or beheaded, or burned to death. The Church, therefore, watching then, as now, with a supernatural prudence over the welfare of her children, advised all Christians to avoid the least display of their religion; to live quietly; to attend the Holy Sacrifice of the mass, not in public places, but in the houses of those nobles, who, like the parents of St. Agnes, could easily receive large numbers into their houses without exciting suspicion; or, in still darker days of persecution, they assisted at the Holy Mass in Catacombs, rooms dug under ground, with large apartments and galleries leading into each other. In the walls of these underground apartments were deposited the venerated bodies of Christian martyrs; and the ranks of the martyrs included nearly all the faithful departed in those days, since few, comparatively, died natural deaths; and thus while mass was instead of having five relies in the altar-stone as every priest must now have when he says mass, there were hundreds of relics all around; bodies, and bones, and phials full of the blood of martyred saints. O, my dear children, with what fervor, with what devotion, must not the Christians of that time have assisted at the holy Sacrifice, seeing so much to remind them that they too, at any moment, might be called upon to die for Him, who had first died for them! How precious must that religion have become to them for which they had seen so many willingly give up rank, wealth, friendship, family love, and even life!

In such a school of devotion was reared the little Agnes. The only child of a noble family, she was often obliged to appear at the luxurious banquets of her relatives and friends. But it was not for such scenes of revelry and splendor that Agnes ever pined. She loved better (Oh, how infinitely better!) that early gathering around the altar in her father's palace, or among the dark chambers of a Catacomb, where, long before daybreak, some good priest, at the risk of life, consecrated the host and distributed to the faithful—who at the same risk had flocked around their pastor—this "Bread of the Strong," this Body broken and this Blood shed for sinners. May we not believe that among these worshippers none received more frequently, or with greater eagernees, this "Holy Food" than the gentle Agnes?

The companions of our Agnes dressed in rich stuffs, wore jewels beyond price, (as we should think), and used costly perfumes, devoting the greater part of their time to decking their persons. But the noble Agnes followed none of their vain customs. She always appeared at their gay banquets, among the richly attired guests, in a plain robe of white; a mystery to her pagan friends, but easily understood by a Christian as the white robe of the child-spouse of Christ Jesus. She never wore jewels. Jesus was her jewel, her crown. No diamond, no sapphire, no emererald, ever shone to her eyes as the face of her Beloved; no opal in its changing beauty, no pearl in its soft loveliness, could rival the mild look of her Redeemer, who seemed to be ever at her side or above her as a vision—the present beatitude, as He was to be the eternal joy, of the blessed child Agnes. No wonder, then, if when the time came for the sweet sacrifice of that unspotted life, if when a motive of chagrin, or envy, or hatred of extraonlinary goodness, moved some reckless, wicked pagan to dog her quiet footsteps under the suspicion of her being a Christian until he could prove her to be so, and then report the only daughter of a noble Roman house as a follower of the lowly Nazarene, crucified betweenn two thieves—no wonder if when that time came, it came to her not as a trial but as a triumph. It was not the tender girl, torn rudely from a sheltering home, from doting parents, to be given over to the dungeon and to the torturers; but the exile, at last setting sail for her native land; the bride, going forth to meet an eternal Spouse.

The bloudy command of the Roman emperor, against the Christians, appeared in March,303; and the next year, on the 21st of January, the name of St. Agnes was added to the list of Christ's martyrs. The "Acts" of this darling saint, this drerished virgin martyr, who has been, ever since the year 304, the admiration of Christendom were written by no lese a person than the learned doctor, the holy confessor, and renowned bishop of Milan, St. Ambrose. These wonderful Acts of St. Agrees prove how dearly our Lord prized the innocence of this holy child, since an angel defended her from the sinful approaches of wicked men. They also prove what courage is given to the most tender and timid when Jesus calls on them to suffer for Him. Thee noble and delicate maiden shrinks from the blasphemous crowd, until she finds herself, like her Master, in the hands of a furious rabble, and for His sake. She faints at the sight of racks, and hot pincers, and horrid instruments of cruelty, until she is told they are intended for her, as a Christian; knowing, as she does, that through these torments lies her way to God. St. Agnes was only thirteen years old when she was taken before the Roman tribunal to answer to the single accusation of being a Christian; and if we wish to know how the little ones of the household of Christ can look their torturers in the face, we may study the Acts of this young girl, Agnes.

As I have said, she was only thirteen years old; and the night before that morning in January when she appeared before the dreadful tribunal, had been spent partly in prison, partly in the midst of human beings worse even, one would think, than the demons thenselves. Yet when shee comes before the judge her face has lost none of its serenity, none of its celestial beauty. We are told that a murmur of displeasure ran through the crowd when this mere child was brought in between armed guards; but the harsh prefect, who had steeled his heart against all pity, seeing that her hands were free ordered them to be put in irons. The jailor took the smallest pair of manacles, and put them on her slender wrists, but she playfully dropped her hands and the cruel irons fell to the floor. With a face deeply moved, we may believe with a heart far more so, the jailor said to the prefect, "Such infant wrists deserve other bracelets." Finding that she could not be put in irons on account of her extreme delicacy, the prefect showed his severity by his rough questions, to which she returned only celestial answers in praise of her Heavenly Bridegroom; he then commanded her to offer incense to the gods; but she could not be compelled to move her hand, slight as it was, excepting to make the blessed sign of the cross, until, exasperated by her courage and constancy, he ordered her to be beheaded. Agnes, transported with joy at this sentence, still more at the sight of the headsman, "went to the place of execution," says St. Ambrose, "more cheerfully than others go their wedding." Every means was tried to break her noble resolution of suffering for Christ, but in vain, and having made a short prayer she bowed her beautiful young head to the stroke of the sword, to be united forever in heaven to her Divine Spouse.

Her body, that innocent body which had been "the temple of the Holy Ghost," and which might well be looked upon as a venerated relic, was buried at a short distance from Rome, on the road called the "Nomentan Way." On the very spot where she was buried a church was built, which, in 625, was an ancient edifice and was, at that time, repaired. A statue of St. Agnes stands over the high altar; beneath the altar is a sarcophagus containing her relics; relics so well authenticated that the most unwilling must admit them to be the bones of St. Agnes. In this church, also, is a mosaic (or picture made of bits of colored marble, curiously set in cement), representing her as standing, crowned, with a book in her hand; out of the earth spring flowers and a sword lies at her feet. Every year this church is visited by the Holy Father with great devotion; he is accompanied by the cardinals, and otter ecclesiastical dignitaries, and also by the students of the Propaganda. At one of these ceremonies, several years ago, the floor of the ancient church gave way; yet no one was killed, nor, in the end, seriously hurt. The exclamation of the devout Pontiff, as he saw the danger, was, "Immaculate Mother, pray for us!" This church gives title to a cardinal; and every year on the feast of St. Agnes the abbot of St. Peter's ad Vincula (or I, St. Peter's Chains"), blesses in it, at high mass, two lambs, which are thence carried to the Pope who blesses them again. After this they are sent to the Capuchin nuns of St. Lawrence, who make of their wool "Palliums," or small white tippets, decorated with plain Roman crosses in black wool, which the Pope blesses and sends to archbishops, in all parts of the world, as an emblem of the meekness and spotless purity that should adorn their sacred office.

There is another church bearing the name of St. Agnes within the walls of Rome, on the west side of the Piazza Navona, on the spot to which she was dragged by the soldiers and exposed to the insults of wicked men. The chamber, which for her preservation was filled with the heavenly light that blinds the eyes of the corrupt, has become, by the changes in the level of the city, an underground cell, and is now a chapel of peculisr sanctity, into which visitors descend by torchlight. On the floor of this chapel is a very ancient mosaic, and on the walls is a bas-relief (sculptured in marble like figures on a medal), representing St. Agnes with clasped hands, her long hair falling over her person, and driven onward by furious soldiers. The upper church is very beautiful, rich in precious marbles and columns. It is a custom with the Roman people to strew the floor of this church with evergreen box on her festival; and for many years I have had a sprig, picked up by a friend from one of the aisles on the joyous feast of St. Agnes of Rome.

Next to the representations of the Apostles and Evangelists there is no saint who appears in pictures as early as St. Agnes, so early, and so enthusiastic, was the veneration paid to this dear child. Her picture (or effigy) is found On the glass and earthen ware vessels used by the Christians in the fourth century, with her name inscribed, so as to leave no doubt of her identity. She carries in one hand the palm of the martyr, in these early pictures, and is sometimes crowned with olive. In later pictures she is always represented with a lamb, beside her or in her arms, and she is distinguished in this way among the virgin martyrs in the "Coronation of the Blessed Virgin," by Fra Angelico. The Limb is called the syn)Iad of 1L :\goes. The lamb is called the symbol of St. Agnes. Her name, which signifies chaste in Greek, and lamb in Latin, is found in the Canon of the Mass, and in the Litany of the Saints, and is thus invoked by every priest celebrating mass; also on solemn occasions, such as the ordination of priests, on Holy Saturday, and on all days of special prayer.

The feast of St. Agnes was formerly a holy day for women in England, as appears fron the council of Worcester, held in 1240. St. Jerome, writing in the fourth century, the same in which St. Agnes "sealed her faith with her blood," tells us that the fame of St. Agnes had spread among all nations, and that hymns, and praises both in prose and verse, had been written of her in all languages. Not only St. Ambrose, but St. Augustine, another father and doctor of the Church, wrote the praises of St. Agnes; and centuries after, Thomas à Kempis, whose "Imitation," or "Following of Christ," is read by every person, as a book next to the inspired words of wisdom, honored her in a special manner, and he speaks of many miracles wrought, and graces received, through her intercession. St. Martin of Tours, also, was very devout to St. Agnes; and to this day there are few, even among those denying the power of her prayers, who do not lore the name of Agnes, and many give it to their little daughters with the silent intention of winning her friendship and protection for the dear child of their hearts.

If every boy should love St. Slanislaus and St. Aloysius, every little girl, the world over, should love St. Agnes, the Virgin Martyr. Never let a day of your life pass without invoking the aid of her sweet prayers, that you may imitate her purity, her devotion to Jesus, and her holy courage in suffering for Him. Her feast is on the 21st day of January, and on the octave, or eighth day after the principal festival, a second Office celebrates the consoling apparition of St. Agnes to her parents accompanied by a lamb "whiter than the driven snow," and assuring them of her perfect happiness. Invoke her specially on these days, and do not, in your petitions, forget her who writes this as a tribute of love to her patron saint.