Saint Agnes!

For those who follow the old calendar, we know that she had two feast days and the second feast day was one of my favorite aspects of the rite.  Before the butchering of the Roman Rite in recent times, not only did she have a feast day today (Jan. 21) but also on the eighth day (Jan. 28).  She had an unofficial octave which shows you have much the Church thought about her and how pivotal she is in the life of the Church.  The ninth reading at Mattins (or third reading in the pre-Pius X Office) office is one of my favorites in the Roman Rite and I will list it below even though it will be prayed by the Church on the 28th.

" Beata Agnes, parentibus ad ejus sepulcrum assidue vigilantibus, quadam nocte choro virginum comitata cum apparuisset, sic ad eos locuta dicitur: Ne me parentes mortuam lugeatis: nam una cum his virginibus vivo apud illum in caelis, quem in terris tota mente dilexi. Cum aliquot post annos Constantia, Constantini imperatoris filia, insanabili ulceri medicinam quaerens, nondum Christiana ad idem sepulcrum accessisset; obdormiscens sibi audire visa est vocem hanc Agnetis: Constanter age Constantia: crede in Jesum Christum Filium Dei, qui te sanam faciet. Quae sanata, paulo post una cum multis ex familia imperatoris baptismum suscipiens, ibi ecclesiam nomine beatae Agnetis aedificavit."

" The night when the parents of the blessed Agnes were watching at her grave, she appeared to them in company with a band of virgins, and said to them Father and Mother, weep not for me as though I were dead; for now these virgins and I live together in Him Whose love was my whole life upon earth. Some years afterwards, Constance, the daughter of the Emperor Constantine, being sick of an incurable ulcer, betook herself to the said grave, although she was not yet a Christian, and as she lay by it and slept, she seemed to hear the voice of Agnes, saying to her Constance, be of good courage believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God, and He will make thee whole. The Princess, being healed, was baptized, along with many others of the Emperor's family and household, and afterwards built over the grave of the blessed Agnes a Church named in her honour."

I will post this again on her octave day.  Pray for us, St. Agnes!