{"id":15622,"date":"2014-01-22T13:00:58","date_gmt":"2014-01-22T18:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kathyschiffer\/?p=15622"},"modified":"2016-09-30T15:53:43","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T20:53:43","slug":"when-we-stumbled-upon-tiny-st-agnes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kathyschiffer\/2014\/01\/when-we-stumbled-upon-tiny-st-agnes\/","title":{"rendered":"When We Stumbled Upon Tiny St. Agnes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
Piazza Navona<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

It was hot, and we were tired.\u00a0 It was September 2000, our first trip to Rome, and our band of seven hearty travelers had embarked on a long walk through the streets of the city to the Piazza Navona.<\/p>\n

The Piazza stands on the site of the first-century Stadium of Domitian.\u00a0 In its center, Bernini\u2019s Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi<\/em> (Fountain of the Four Horses) is topped by the Obelisk of Domitian, brought here in pieces from the Circus of Maxentius.\u00a0 Two other fountains mark each end of the piazza:\u00a0 The Fontana del Moro marks the southern end, with a basin and four Tritons sculpted by Giacomo della Porta, with a seventeenth century addition by Bernini:\u00a0 a statue of a Moor (or African) wrestling with a dolphin.\u00a0 At the north is the Fountain of Neptune, also created by Giacomo della Porta. In the late nineteenth century, sculptor Antonio Della Bitta added a statue of Neptune to make the fountain more symmetrical with the other.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Flower stall in Piazza Navona<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Piazza Navona is a bustling location full of flower stalls, sidewalk cafes, musicians, mimes and artists.\u00a0 Tourists and locals sat along the fountains\u2019 stone retaining walls, savoring gelato or watching as artists painted on easels.\u00a0 The crowds made it difficult to pass and easy to become separated from one another.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sant\u2019Agnese in Agone<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the edge of the piazza, its door facing the Fountain of the Four Horses, was a chapel.\u00a0 We\u2019d already visited the four papal basilicas, and this small church was unimpressive by comparison; but we entered the cool space, grateful for silence and a moment of calm.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Reliquary containing the skull of St. Agnes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And there she was:\u00a0 a tiny skull in an ornamented reliquary.\u00a0 Quite by accident, we\u2019d just met St. Agnes of Rome.<\/p>\n

Little is known of the diminutive saint.\u00a0 She\u2019s believed to have been a wealthy Roman maiden who dedicated herself to God, and who was martyred at the age of 13 defending her purity. \u00a0 She is shown in art holding a lamb\u2013because\u00a0 of the similarity between her name and the Latin word for lamb, agnus.<\/p>\n

Only Agnes\u2019 skull is entombed there in Sant\u2019Agnese in Agone.\u00a0 Her bones are preserved under the high altar of the Basilica di Sant\u2019Agnese Fuori le Mura.\u00a0 It\u2019s at the Basilica where, every year on January 21, two lambs representing Agnes\u2019 purity are blessed.\u00a0 Later in the year, the wool from the lambs is used to weave the palliums, the distinctive stole-like vestment given by the pope to each new archbishop.<\/p>\n

Last year I wrote about the blessing of the lambs.\u00a0 You can read that story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 \u00a0 * \u00a0 \u00a0 * \u00a0 \u00a0 * \u00a0 \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

St. Agnes\u2019 feastday is January 21.\u00a0 She is the patron of betrothed couples and chastity.\u00a0 She is also patron of the Children of Mary, Colegio Capranica of Rome, crops and gardeners, Girl Guides, girls, rape victims and virgins.\u00a0 She is also the patron of the diocese of Rockville Centre, New York.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was hot, and we were tired.\u00a0 It was September 2000, our first trip to Rome, and our band of seven hearty travelers had embarked on a long walk through the streets of the city to the Piazza Navona. The Piazza stands on the site of the first-century Stadium of Domitian.\u00a0 In its center, Bernini\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":556,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[926,56,218,223],"tags":[1451,1450],"class_list":["post-15622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chastity","category-churches","category-rome","category-saints","tag-piazza-navona","tag-st-agnes-of-rome"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen We Stumbled Upon Tiny St. Agnes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It was hot, and we were tired.\u00a0 It was September 2000, our first trip to Rome, and our band of seven hearty travelers had embarked on a long walk through\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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