St. Agnes of Assisi

Feastday: November 16
Death: 1253

Abbess and miracle worker, the younger sister of St. Clare of Assisi. Born in Assisi, Agnes was the youngest daughter of Count Favorino Scifi and Countess Hortulana (now Blessed). On March 18, 1212, Clare renounced her inheritance and family and founded the Poor Clares, the Franciscan cloistered Order. Agnes joined her sixteen days later at the Benedictine cloister of St. Angelo in Panso, where they received their initial training. Her father, Count Favorino, sent armed men to carry Agnes away. She was badly beaten but was not taken back to her father because of the miraculous efforts of Clare. Agnes was accepted by St. Francis and placed in St. Damian's. She and Clare were soon joined by other noblewomen of Assisi, and there Agnes achieved perfection as a religious at a young age. She was eventually named abbess, and in 1219, was sent by St. Francis to direct the Poor Clares at Monticelli, near Florence. Agnes wrote a letter to Clare, and this surviving document clearly demonstrates her love of poverty and her loyalty to Clare's ideals. Agnes also established Poor Clares in Mantua, Padua, and Venice. In 1253, she was summoned to Clare's deathbed and assisted at her funeral. Agnes followed quickly as Clare had predicted, dying three months later, on November 16 of the same year. Her mother, Hortulana, and a younger sister, Beatrice, had already died, and Agnes was buried near them in the Church of St. Clare of Assisi.

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Christian saint

Agnes of Assisi (1197 or 1198 – 16 November 1253) was a younger sister of Clare of Assisi and one of the first abbesses of the Order of Poor Ladies (now the Poor Clares).

Life

She was a younger daughter of Count Favorino Scifi. Her birth name was probably Caterina; she took the name of Agnes when she became a nun. Her mother, Ortolana, who also would join the order founded by her daughters, belonged to the noble family of the Fiumi. Their cousin Rufino Scifi was one of the original "Three Companions" of Francis of Assisi. Agnes spent her childhood between her father's palace in the city and his castle of Sasso Rosso on Mount Subasio.

On 18 March 1212, her eldest sister Clare, inspired by the example of Francis of Assisi, left their father's home in secret to become a follower of Francis. Sixteen days later, Agnes ran off to the Church of St. Angelo di Panzo where Francis had brought her sister, resolved to share Clare's life of poverty and penance. Angry at the loss of two of his daughters, their father sent his brother Monaldo and several relatives and armed followers to the monastery to force Agnes, if persuasion failed, to return home.

Arrival of Saint Agnes of Assisi at the Convent, António de Oliveira Bernardes, 1697

Monaldo drew his sword to strike his niece, but his arm allegedly dropped to his side, withered and useless. The others dragged Agnes out of the monastery by her hair, striking and kicking her repeatedly. Agnes' body reportedly became so heavy, perhaps due to the help of her sister, that her assailants dropped her in a field nearby. Agnes' relatives, purportedly realizing that something divine protected her, allowed the sisters to remain together. Francis himself cut her hair and gave her the religious habit, in recognition of Agnes' dedication.

Francis later established a cloister for Clare and Agnes at the rural chapel of San Damiano, where they were soon joined by other noblewomen of the city, and the Order of Poor Ladies, later known as the Poor Clares, began, with Clare as its abbess. In 1221, a group of Benedictine nuns in Monticelli near Florence asked to become Poor Ladies. Agnes was chosen to lead the new community. Although life in the Florentine convent was harmonious and without faction, she missed her sister greatly.

She later went on to establish other communities of the order, including those of Mantua, Venice, and Padua. Agnes was said to be very virtuous, and as abbess she ruled with a benevolent kindness, knowing how to make the practice of virtue appealing to her sisters.

In 1253, Agnes returned to Assisi to nurse her sister Clare during the latter's illness, and shortly thereafter died herself, on 16 November 1253. Her remains were interred with those of her sister at the Basilica of St. Clare at Assisi.

Agnes' feast day is the anniversary of her death, 16 November.

Notes

1. ^ Robinson, Paschal. "St. Agnes of Assisi." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 6 January 2020 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
2. ^ Arnald of Sarrant. Chronicle of the Twenty-Four Generals of the Order of Friars Minor, (Noel Muscat ofm, trans.) Ordo Fratrum Minorum. Malta, 2010
3. ^ Foley O.F.M., Leonard. "St. Agnes of Assisi", Saint of the Day, Franciscan Media
4. ^ "Agnes of Assisi", SAints Resource, RCL Benziger
5. ^ Monks of Ramsgate. “Agnes of Assisi”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 13 May 2012 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
6. ^ “Saint Agnes of Assisi”. New Catholic Dictionary. CatholicSaints.Info. 28 July 2012

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Agnes of Assisi". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

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