April 20th – St. Agnes of Monte Pulciano, Visionary

[Weedy]

April 20th – St. Agnes of Monte Pulciano, Visionary
(1274-1317)

Saint Agnes was born in Italy in 1274, a gentle future glory of the
Order of Saint Dominic. Her father was an eminent Christian who dwelt
in the village of Gracciano Vecchio, near the Lake of Perugia in
central Italy. On the very day of her birth a first miracle announced
to those present that this was a predestined child: mysterious burning
torches appeared, shining brilliantly near her crib. Already at the
age of four the little girl used to retire in solitude to pray to
Jesus, her love.

When she was nine she asked her parents to enter a monastery; they
opposed this wish, not certain of the will of God. But after she had
prayed fervently that opinions might be changed, she was allowed to
join the Sisters of Monte Pulciano who were living under the Rule of
Saint Augustine. They soon venerated her as resembling an angel of
paradise. When she reached the age of 14, to test her they assigned to
her the prosaic duties of stewardess of her monastery, an office in
which she would have to provide for the material needs of the Sisters
and keep accounts; they wanted to see whether these occupations would
detach her from her spirit of uninterrupted prayer. They were edified
to see her carry out her duties cheerfully, in perfect obedience,
without murmuring in any way and without her piety being in any way
altered. Whenever a Sister needed any service, the response of Saint
Agnes was always characterized by grace and charity.

Saint Agnes already had the reputation of sanctity; a number of
persons had seen her raised in the air nearly two feet above ground.
And when the residents of Procena, a neighboring town, decided to
build a monastery for their daughters, they came to ask for her as its
first Superior. She was at that time fifteen years old, and her
humility was affrighted by this request. But she was commanded by the
Sovereign Pontiff to accept the office as proposed. This experience
would prepare her for a later important work, that of founding a large
monastery in honor of the Mother of God at Monte Pulciano; the Blessed
Virgin had already appeared to her and told her that it would be
founded on faith in the Most High and undivided Trinity.

As the years passed, it occurred sometimes that where she knelt in
prayer, flowers sprang up -- violets, lilies and roses. One year,
during the night of the Assumption, the Mother of the Saviour appeared
to her again and placed the Infant Jesus in her arms. Saint Agnes
succeeded in founding the foretold monastery, in which she presided
over twenty cloistered Dominican Sisters; an Angel had told her to
establish it under the Rule of Saint Dominic.

During her last illness, she was sent to bathe in curative waters;
during her journey there she brought back to life a child who had
drowned. Her health did not improve, but a spring welled up nearby
which cured others and was named the water of Saint Agnes. Saint Agnes
returned to her monastery and prepared for death. She died at the age
of 43 on April 20, 1317. Miracles occurred at her tomb, as they had
during her lifetime, and she was beatified in 1534, canonized in 1726.
Her first biographer was Raymond of Capua, the confessor of Saint
Catherine of Siena.

Many stories grew up around Agnes.

Her birth was announced by flying lights surrounding her family's house.

As a child, while walking through a field, she was attacked by a large
number of crows; she announced that they were devils, trying to keep
her away from the land; years later, it was the site of her convent.

She was known to levitate up to two feet in the air while praying.

She received Communion from an angel, and had visions of the Virgin Mary.

She held the infant Jesus in one of these visions; when she woke from
her trance she found she was holding the small gold crucifix the
Christ child had worn.

On the day she was chosen abbess as a teenager, small white crosses
showered softly onto her and the congregation.

She could feed the convent with a handful of bread, once she'd prayed over it.

Where she knelt to pray, violets, lilies and roses would suddenly bloom.

While being treated for her terminal illness, she brought a drowned
child back from the dead.

At the site of her treatment, a spring welled up that did not help her
health, but healed many other people.


Bible Quote:
In the multitude of words there shall not want sin: but he that refraineth
his lips is most wise. [Proverbs 10:19] DRV

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Wash Me With Your Precious Blood

See, O merciful God, what return
I, Your thankless servant, have made
for the innumerable favours
and the wonderful love You have shown me!
What wrongs I have done, what good left undone!
Wash away, I beg You, these faults and stains
with Your precious blood, most kind Redeemer,
and make up for my poverty by applying Your merits.
Give me the protection I need to amend my life.
I give and surrender myself wholly to You,
and offer You all I possess,
with the prayer that You bestow Your grace on me,
so that I may be able to devote and employ
all the thinking power of my mind
and the strength of my body in Your holy service,
who are God blessed for ever and ever. Amen
By St. Peter Canisius S.J. (1521-1597)