From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   January 23rd - St. Emerentiana, Martyr   
      
   A sacrificed child, or near-child, is one of the three saints whose relics   
   were placed in the sepulchre of the Seminary's altar on November 1, together   
   with St. Thomas Aquinas', patron of the seminary, and St. Peter Martyr's,   
   original patron of the Dominicans' priory. She is St. Emerentiana,   
   foster-sister of St. Agnes, both martyred in Rome in 304 A.D. It was in   
   pursuit of a relic of St. Agnes herself that the seminary obtained a relic   
   of her companion in martyrdom instead. Here is how the two girls gave their   
   life for Christ:   
      
   St. Agnes, (Feast January 21st) born around 290 A.D., who was perhaps no   
   older than thirteen when she died-thirteen!-of a noble Roman family, noble   
   above all by the Faith in which they brought up their child. However, not   
   only was Agnes beautiful of soul with her deep love of Jesus Christ and of   
   his Passion, she was also beautiful to behold with a beauty which aroused   
   the passionate attention of a young Roman, Procopius, son of the Roman   
   governor. This young man did everything he could with words and gifts to win   
   Agnes' consent to his suit, but she turned him down on all counts: "My soul   
   lives only for the love of one so noble, handsome, wise, rich, good and   
   powerful that you cannot hope to be his rival. I love him better than my own   
   soul, than life itself, and I would be happy to die for him. When I love him   
   I am chaste, when I approach him I am pure, and when I embrace him I remain   
   virgin."   
      
   Procopius fell so ill with jealousy that his father Symphronius, the   
   governor, attempted to persuade her in his place. Meeting also with her   
   resolute refusal to prefer anyone to the Bridegroom of her soul, and   
   learning that this rival to his son was no doubt the God of the Christians,   
   he had here the excuse he needed to submit Agnes to all kinds of pressure.   
   He tried threats, he tried promises, to no avail. Finally he told her to   
   make a sacrifice like all Roman girls to the pagan goddess Vesta, or else he   
   would have her taken- fate more dreaded by Christian girls than death   
   itself - to a place of debauchery where she would be forcibly exposed to the   
   licentiousness of all comers. Agnes did not flinch, expressing complete   
   trust in the power of her God to protect her.   
      
   Furious, Symphronius carried out his threat. Agnes was first stripped of her   
   clothing, but God protected her with a miracle making the hair of her head   
   grow instantaneously in such abundance as to cover her complete body. (A   
   20th century reader is tempted to laugh, but if God exists, if He is   
   all-powerful, and if He protects the innocent, where is the absurdity?) Then   
   Agnes was dragged into the place of infamy to be exposed to all violation,   
   but there she met an angel to protect her, with a white dress so dazzling as   
   to illuminate the darkness around her and to convert the young men who came   
   near her. Procopius, in fact, was struck blind when he tried to approach   
   her. Moments later, recovered enough from his blindness to take up again his   
   pursuit of Agnes, Procopius attempted to force his way through the celestial   
   shield surrounding her. He was struck dead at her feet by the angel.   
      
   When Symphronius arrived in despair at the news of his son's fate, and   
   violently cursed Agnes as a witch, the saintly girl calmly replied that   
   Procopius had had only himself to blame for seeking to break through her   
   heavenly protection. The governor begged her to prove she was no witch by   
   bringing Procopius back to life. This she did, by her prayers. Procopius   
   went straight out of the house, proclaiming the God of the Christians to be   
   the true God.   
      
   When this latest turn of events reached the ears of the high priests of   
   Rome's paganism, they were infuriated, and they so stirred up the populace   
   to demand the death of the young witch that although Symphronius himself   
   would by now have been willing to let Agnes go free, out of cowardice he   
   handed her over to his subordinate, Aspasius, and himself withdrew from the   
   case. Aspasius had a great fire lit, and Agnes thrown into it, but again God   
   protected her, for as her virtue had honoured God by extinguishing in   
   herself and in others the flames of lust, so God honoured her virtue by   
   shielding her from the flames of the bonfire-they divided around her,   
   leaving her intact, but burning to death a number of the idolators standing   
   by. As for Agnes, she prayed a prayer of honour and glory to God, like the   
   three young men similarly protected in the burning fiery furnace (Daniel   
   III), and the fire went out, leaving no trace.   
      
   However, since the uproar of the populace only grew worse, Aspasius handed   
   over Agnes to be executed by the sword. When the executioner appointed to   
   dispatch the girl turned pale and trembled as though he were the one   
   condemned to death, Agnes gave him courage: "What are you waiting for? Kill   
   this body that I do not want men to look on, and let the soul live, which   
   God is happy to look on! May the Lord who chose me for his bride and whom I   
   wish to please, out of his goodness receive me in his arms." So saying, she   
   drew her clothing around her, received the fatal blow, and even in death   
   veiled her face in her hands.   
      
   Her body was buried by the Christians with great joy at her astounding   
   victory over the world, the flesh and the devil, on a piece of land   
   belonging to her family outside the Numa Gate, where today the Church of St.   
   Agnes stands. The pagans were as furious as ever and attacked these   
   triumphant Christians, including a young catechumen still not baptised,   
   Emerentiana, the companion and foster-sister of Agnes. But Emerentiana would   
   not leave the place of Agnes' burial, and standing up to the pagans out of   
   love and fidelity to Agnes, won in her turn, baptised in her blood, the   
   crown of martyrdom, being stoned by the crowd just two days after Agnes had   
   been killed. Emerentiana's body was buried alongside Agnes', and her feast   
   is celebrated on January 23 in our Missals and breviaries, two days after   
   the Feast of St. Agnes. It is a relic from this girl and heroine of the   
   Faith which is now in the seminary's main altar, nearly 1700 years later.   
      
   These stories from the history of the early Church are extraordinary. They   
   tell of a different world, difficult for us to imagine, because whereas it   
   was then a world of paganism giving way to an overpowering Faith, now it is   
   the last remains of the Christendom created by that Faith being crushed   
   beneath a seemingly overpowering neo-paganism. Yet from 1700 years ago to   
   today, neither have God, Our Lord or His one true Church changed on the one   
   side, nor have the world, the flesh and the devil essentially changed on the   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)