JANUARY 21 SANT'AGNESE
PRAYERS TO SANT'AGNESE
O admirable Sant'Agnese,
what great exultation you felt when at the tender age of thirteen,
sentenced by Aspasio to be burned alive,
you saw the flames divide around you,
leave yourself unharmed and rush instead against those who desired your death!
For the great spiritual joy with which you received the extreme blow,
by exhorting the executioner yourself to stick in your chest
the sword that was to make your sacrifice,
obtain for all of us the grace to sustain all persecutions with edifying serenity
and the crosses with which the Lord wanted to try
and to grow ever more in love of God to seal with the death of the righteous
a life of mortification and sacrifice.
Amen.
You, a thousand times blessed, or most pure Sant'Agnese,
you consecrated yourself to Jesus as soon as you were able to know him.
No flattery, no vanity in the world, has won you.
To keep yourself worthy of your faith, you challenged martyrdom.
At thirteen, Jesus gave you immediate reward
freeing you from the flames of the stake
that have invested the wicked who wanted your death.
Make, O Saint Agnes, that my faith is unshakable
to any proof that Jesus wants to send me,
and be accepted by me with love.
So I can one day own with you
eternal bliss. Amen.
What a beautiful triumph your admirable Sant'Agnese was,
when condemned by Aspasio to be
burnt alive in the tender age of thirteen,
you saw the flames divide around you
to leave you unharmed in the middle, and then pounce
against the wicked who desired your death!
Oh for that heavenly joy with which you received
the final blow, animating the executioner yourself
to plant in your bosom the sword he was to perform
your sacrifice, ask all of us for grace
to support with edifying resignation
all the persecutions and crosses with which he liked
to the Lord to try, and to go on growing
in his love to seal with the death of the righteous
a constantly mortified life.
Glorious virgin S.Agnese, you who, in the middle
to a pagan Rome, you knew how to keep yourself pure and innocent and,
which white dove, you flew over, without smearing you,
on the mud of worldly corruption: you who,
in the midst of the errors of paganism, you knew how to keep
and keep the precious treasure of the Christian faith:
you who, at just 13 years old, had the courage to support martyrdom,
rather than failing to holy virginity,
that you had consecrated and devoted to Jesus: deh! for merits
of your divine Bridegroom, and for yours, take me under yours
sweet and powerful patronage. Let me keep myself
always pure and chaste amidst the assaults of passions
and in the midst of the corruption of the century:
let it keep the flame of faith alive
in the midst of the world's indifference and disbelief:
finally, let me be willing to submit to anyone
discomfort or suffering rather than failing in my duty.
Amen.