From: trudie.Miller@cox.net   
      
   January 21st - St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr   
      
   Biographical selection from St. Ambrose, On Virgins, Book II:   
      
   St. Ambrose speaks with great admiration of St. Agnes, who was martyred at   
   the tender age of 12. In his work, On Virgins, he wrote: "This is a new kind   
   of martyrdom! One not yet of fit age for punishment, but already ripe for   
   victory. One unready for combat, but able to win the crown. One who has not   
   yet reached the age of judgment but who has mastered virtue ....   
      
    "Joyfully she advances with unhesitating step to the place of punishment,   
   her head not adorned with plaited hair, but with Christ. All weep; she alone   
   is without a tear. All wonder that she is so ready to deliver her life,   
   which she has not yet enjoyed, but which now she gives up as though she had   
   lived it fully. All are astounded that she stands forth as God's witness   
   although at her age she could not yet decide about herself! And so it came   
   about that what she said regarding God was believed, although what she said   
   about man would not be accepted. For that which is beyond nature is from the   
   Author of nature. ....   
      
   "She stands, she prays, she bends down her neck. You can see the executioner   
   tremble, as though he himself has been condemned. His right hand is shaking,   
   his face grows pale. He fears the peril of another, while the maiden fears   
   not for her own danger. You have then in one victim a twofold martyrdom, of   
   chastity and religion. She both remained a virgin and she obtained   
   martyrdom."   
      
      
   Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)   
      
   St. Ambrose's commentary on St. Agnes has a literary value that is both   
   profound and very beautiful because it is all composed of contrasts. Through   
   the use of these contrasts, St. Ambrose shows the points he wants to   
   emphasize.   
      
   First, there is the contrast between her age and the martyrdom. She is too   
   young to be condemned to death because at such a young age no one can   
   deserve such a punishment. And yet she is already ripe for the victory. The   
   one who is not mature in years is nonetheless ripe to win the victory. It is   
   a glory. The immaturity of the years and maturity of the virtue.   
      
   The second contrast: She is unready for combat, but ripe for the crown. A   
   young girl at that time did not have any conditions to fight, yet she won   
   the highest of all the laurels, which is the crown of martyrdom.   
      
   The third contrast: She is so young that she is still under the guardianship   
   of others. The law does not consider her capable of governing herself. All   
   present admired her because she was a witness of the Godhead, even though   
   she was still a minor who could not be a witness of anything in a court of   
   human law. Her word would not have any value in a normal process of law, yet   
   she has impressed everyone with her defense of Our Lord.   
      
   In addition to this, there are the contrasts that one can find in the actual   
   martyrdom. She advances joyfully, with unhesitating step, to the place from   
   which all people naturally flee.   
      
   Another contrast: her adornment is not artificially plaited tresses but   
   rather Jesus Christ, because He is the true adornment, the real beauty of   
   the soul who consecrates itself to Him.   
      
   Another contrast: she is not crowned with flower wreaths like the other   
   young Roman girls of her time, but with purity. That purity in her is   
   splendorous and makes a kind of halo around her head.   
      
   There are still other contrasts. All are weeping to see a young girl who   
   will be killed. But she is not. It is a glorious contrast, because she is   
   thirsting for Heaven, and not for earth. Along those lines, everyone is   
   astonished that she can so easily give up a life that has hardly begun. Yet   
   she sacrifices this life as if she had already lived and enjoyed it fully.   
      
   And what is the reason for all these contrasts? It is because St. Ambrose is   
   trying to emphasize that there is something absurd in her martyrdom. For it   
   would be natural for her to do the very opposite of what she is doing. The   
   reason that she acts as she does with a strength that is beyond nature is   
   because such strength can only come from the Author of nature itself. What   
   is beyond nature is what is more that the merely natural. What is more than   
   nature here is the One who is its author. God revealed Himself in the   
   sanctity of St. Agnes and in the miracle of her death.   
      
   She goes forward and bends her head. She sees the executioner trembling as   
   if he were the one who was condemned. But she - the condemned one - is calm   
   and steady.   
      
   His right hand is shaking, his face pale. He fears the peril of another,   
   while the maiden fears not for her own danger. The executioner trembles with   
   fear to use the tools of punishment. But she has no fear of the executioner.   
      
   You have then in one victim a twofold martyrdom, of chastity and religion.   
   She both remained a virgin and she obtained martyrdom.   
      
   This is the magnificent commentary of St. Ambrose on St. Agnes.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Lord God almighty, Father of Jesus Christ, your dear Son through whom we   
   have come to know you, God of the angels and powers, God of all creation,   
   God of those who live in your presence, the race of the just: I bless you.   
   You have considered me worthy of this day and hour, worthy to be numbered   
   with the martyrs and to drink the cup of your Anointed One, and thus to rise   
   and live forever, body and soul, in the incorruptibility of the Holy Spirit.   
   --Saint Polycarp of Smyrna, Bishop and Martyr, his prayer before his   
   martyrdom.   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. St.   
   Matthew 5:9   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Official Prayer for the Church Unity Octave | (to be recited each day)   
      
   ANTIPHON: That they may all be one, as Thou, Father, in Me and I in Thee;   
   that they may also be one in Us; that the world may believe that Thou hast   
   sent Me. - (John 17:21)   
      
   V. I say unto thee that thou art Peter,   
   R And upon this Rock I will build My Church   
      
   Let us pray: O Lord Jesus Christ, Who saidst unto Thine Apostles: Peace I   
   leave with you, My peace I give to you: regard not our sins, but the faith   
   of Thy Church, and vouchsafe to grant unto Her that peace and unity which   
   are agreeable to Thy Will. Who livest and reignest God forever and ever.   
   Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)