Sainte Agnès d'Assise
Sœur de Sainte Claire
d'Assise (+ 1253)
Sœur cadette de sainte
Claire, elle dut vaincre les oppositions violentes de sa famille pour
embrasser cette vie de pauvreté à la suite du "Petit Pauvre". Après
quelques années à Assise, elle ira gouverner à Florence l'un des
monastères des "Pauvres Dames" de saint
François. Elle le fit avec bonté pour sa communauté et charité pour
les pauvres. Elle fonda également des monastères à Venise et à Mantoue. Elle
revint mourir à Assise, à Saint Damien, selon son plus cher désir.
À Assise en Ombrie, au
monastère de Saint-Damien, en 1253, sainte Agnès, vierge. Sœur cadette de
sainte Claire, elle la suivit dans la fleur de sa jeunesse et, sous la conduite
de saint François, embrassa de tout son cœur la pauvreté.
Martyrologe romain
Michel Corneille l'Ancien. Vocation de la bienheureuse Agnès d'Assise qui rejoint au couvent sa sœur sainte Claire en prière, Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Saint-Flour
Profile
Daughter of Count
Favorino Scifi and Blessed Hortulana, she was raised in a series of castles in
and around Assisi, Italy.
Younger sister of Saint Clare
of Assisi, and her first follower, leaving home two weeks after Clare to
join the Benedictines at
San Angelo di Panzo at age fifteen. The family tried to bring Agnes back by
force, dragging her from the monastery,
but her body became so heavy that several knights could
not budge her. Her uncle Monaldo tried to beat her, but was temporarily
paralyzed. The family then left Agnes and Clare in
peace.
In 1221 a
group of Benedictine nuns in
Monticelli asked to become Poor
Clares, and Saint Francis assigned
Agnes as their abbess.
Agnes wrote about how much she missed Clare and
the other nuns at
San Damiano, and after establishing other Poor Clare monasteries in
northern Italy,
Agnes was recalled in 1253 when Clare was dying.
Agnes followed Clare in death three
months later.
Born
16
November 1253 at
the monastery of
San Damiano of natural causes
buried in
the Santa Chiara church, Assisi, Italy
miracles reported
at her tomb
1753 by Pope Benedict
XIV (cultus
confirmed)
–
in Italy
young Poor Clare nun holding
a book
with Saint Clare
of Assisi
being dragged by her hair
from a convent
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Catholic
Encyclopedia, by Paschal Robinson
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Dictionary of Saints, by John Delaney
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
Saints
and Their Attributes, by Helen Roeder
other
sites in english
images
video
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
MLA
Citation
“Saint Agnes of
Assisi“. CatholicSaints.Info. 3 February 2024. Web. 17 November 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-agnes-of-assisi/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-agnes-of-assisi/
St. Agnes of Assisi
St. Agnes was the sister
of St. Clare and her first follower. When Agnes left home two weeks after
Clare’s departure, their family attempted to bring Agnes back by force. They
tried to drag her out of the monastery, but all of a sudden her body became so
heavy that several knights could not budge it. Her uncle Monaldo tried to
strike her but was temporarily paralyzed. The knights then left Agnes and Clare
in peace.
Agnes matched her sister
in devotion to prayer and in willingness to endure the strict penances which
characterized their lives at San Damiano. In 1221 a group of Benedictine nuns
in Monticelli (near Florence) asked to become Poor Clares. St. Clare sent Agnes
to become abbess of that monastery. Agnes soon wrote a rather sad letter about
how much she missed Clare and the other nuns at San Damiano. After establishing
other Poor Clare monasteries in northern Italy, Agnes was recalled to San
Damiano in 1253 when Clare was dying.
Agnes followed Clare in
death three months later. Agnes was canonized in 1753.
SOURCE : http://www.ucatholic.com/saints/saint-agnes-of-assisi/
Book of Saints –
Agnes of Assisi
Article
AGNES OF ASSISI (Blessed)
Virgin (November 16) (13th century) The sister of Saint Clare and one of the
first to embrace the religious life under the Rule of Saint Francis, as a Poor
Clare or Minoress. Saint Francis placed her as Abbess over the convent of these
nuns which he had founded at Florence. She returned to Assisi in 1253 to assist
at the death-bed of her holy sister, and three months later rejoined her in
Heaven. On earth they shared the same tomb.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate. “Agnes
of Assisi”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 13 May 2012.
Web. 17 November 2024.
<http://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-agnes-of-assisi/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-agnes-of-assisi/
New
Catholic Dictionary – Saint Agnes of Assisi
Article
Greek: agnos, lamb.
Born Assisi, Italy,
c.1198; died there,
1253. She was a younger sister of Saint Clare, and in spite of opposition
adopted a life of poverty and was chosen by Saint Francis to found and govern a
community of Poor Clares at Monticelli, near Florence. From there she
established several monasteries in
the north of Italy.
Relics in church of Saint Clare, Assisi. Feast, 16
November.
MLA
Citation
“Saint Agnes of
Assisi”. New Catholic Dictionary. CatholicSaints.Info. 28
July 2012.
Web. 17 November 2024.
<http://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-saint-agnes-of-assisi/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-saint-agnes-of-assisi/
António de
Oliveira Bernardes (1660–1732), Chegada de Santa Inês de Assis
ao Convento, circa 1697, Quadro na Igreja de Santa Clara, em Évora,
Portugal / GONÇALVES,
Susana Cavaleiro Ferreira Nobre (2013). A arte do retrato em Portugal no
tempo do barroco (1683-1750): conceitos, tipologias e protagonistas.
Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras
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.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1179
St. Agnes of Assisi
Younger sister of St.
Clare and Abbess of
the Poor
Ladies, born at Assisi,
1197, or 1198; died 1253. She was the younger daughter of
Count Favorino Scifi.
Her saintly mother, Blessed Hortulana, belonged to the
noble family of
the Fiumi, and her cousin Rufino was one of the celebrated "Three Companions"
of St.
Francis. Agnes's childhood was passed 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, moved by the preaching and
example of St.
Francis, had left her father's home to follow the way
of life taught by the Saint. Sixteen days later Agnes repaired
to the monastery of St.
Angelo in Panso, where the Benedictine nuns had
afforded Clare temporary shelter, and resolved to share her sister's
life of poverty and penance. At this step the fury of
Count Favorino knew no
bounds. He sent his brother Monaldo, with several relatives and some armed
followers, to St. Angelo to force Agnes, if persuasion failed, to
return home. The conflict which followed is related in detail in the
"Chronicles of the Twenty-four Generals." Monaldo, beside
himself with rage, drew his sword to strike the young girl, but his arm
dropped, withered and useless, by his side; others dragged Agnes out of
the monastery by
the hair, striking her, and even kicking her repeatedly. Presently St.
Clare came to the rescue, and of a sudden Agnes's body became so
heavy that the soldiers having tried in vain to carry her off, dropped her,
half dead, in a field near the monastery. Overcome by
a spiritual power against which physical force availed
not, Agnes's relatives were obliged to
withdraw and to allow her to remain with St. Clare. St.
Francis, who was overjoyed at Agnes's heroic resistance to the
entreaties and threats of her pursuers, presently cut off her hair and gave her
the habit of Poverty. Soon after, he established the two sisters
at St. Damian's, in a small rude dwelling adjoining the humble sanctuary which
he had helped to rebuild with his own hands. There several other noble ladies of Assisi joined Clare and
Agnes, and thus began the Order
of the Poor Ladies of St. Damian's, or Poor
Clares, as these Franciscan nuns afterwards
came to be called. From the outset of her religious
life, Agnes was distinguished for such an eminent degree
of virtue that her companions declared she seemed to have discovered
a new road to perfection known only to herself. As abbess,
she ruled with loving kindness and knew how
to make the practice of virtue bright and attractive to her subjects.
In 1219, Agnes, despite her youth, was chosen by St.
Francis to found and govern a community of the Poor
Ladies at Monticelli, near Florence,
which in course of time became
almost as famous as St. Damian's. A letter written by St. Agnes
to Clare after this separation is still extant, touchingly beautiful
in its simplicity and affection. Nothing perhaps in
Agnes's character is more striking and attractive than
her loving fidelity to Clare's ideals and her undying
loyalty in upholding the latter in her lifelong and arduous struggle for
Seraphic Poverty. Full of zeal for
the spread of the Order, Agnes established
from Monticelli several monasteries of
the Poor
Ladies in the north of Italy,
including those of Mantua, Venice,
and Padua, all of which observed the same fidelity to the teaching
of St.
Francis and St. Clare. In 1253 Agnes was summoned to St.
Damian's during the last illness of St. Clare, and assisted at the
latter's triumphant death and funeral. On 16 November of the same year she
followed St. Clare to her eternal reward. Her
mother Hortulana and her younger sister Beatrice, both of whom
had followed Clare and Agnes into the Order, had already passed
away. The precious remains of St. Agnes repose near the body of her
mother and sisters, in the church of
St. Clare at Assisi. God,
Who had favoured Agnes with many heavenly manifestations
during life, glorified her tomb after
death by numerous miracles. Benedict
XIV permitted the Order of St. Francis to
celebrate her feast.
It is kept on 16 November, as a double of the second class.
Robinson, Paschal. "St.
Agnes of Assisi." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New
York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 11 Aug.
2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01213a.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Paul T. Crowley. Dedicated to
Mother Mary Frances, PCC, Abbess, Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of
Guadalupe, Roswell, NM.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2023 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01213a.htm
Agnes of Assisi, Poor Clare V (AC)
Born in Assisi, Italy, c. 1197; died 1253; cultus confirmed by Benedict XIV.
Saint Agnes is the younger sister of Saint Clare. When she was 15, she joined
Clare at the Benedictine convent of Sant'Angelo di Panzo near Assisi,
determined to follow her sister's life of poverty and penance, resisted her
relative's attempts to force her to return home, and was given the habit by
Saint Francis and sent to San Damiano with Clare, thus founding the Poor
Clares.
She was made abbess of
the Poor Clares convent at Monticelli near Florence by Francis in 1219,
established convents at Mantua, Venice, and Padua, and supported her sister's
struggle for poverty in their order.
Agnes was with Clare at
her death in San Damiano and herself died three months later, on November 16,
reportedly as predicted by Clare. Many miracles have been reported at her tomb
in Santa Chiara church in Assisi (Benedictines, Delaney).
In art Agnes is portrayed as a young nun in the habit of a Poor Clare (brown or grey habit, black veil lined with white) holding a book. Sometimes she is shown with her elder sister Saint Clare or with her brothers dragging her by the hair from their sister's convent. Venerated in Assisi, Florence, and Monticelli (Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1116.shtml
St. Agnes of Assisi
Feast Day: November 19
Caterina was born in
Assisi, Italy, around 1197 or 1198. She was the younger daughter of a royal
family. Caterina was very close to her older sister, Clare, and they spent most
their time together. The sisters heard St. Francis of Assisi preach, and they
wanted to imitate his example of living a simple life of service to others.
When they told their father that they wanted to live like Francis, he said he
would never allow it to happen.
One night, Clare snuck
out of the house and went to live at a Benedictine convent. Two weeks later,
Caterina joined her. The family went to the convent to force the sisters to
return home, but the sisters refused to leave, even when soldiers tried to
force them to do so. They were sure that God was calling them to this new life.
The young women traded their jeweled belts for knotted ropes and they cut their
hair short. With Francis’ leadership, they founded an order of nuns called the
Poor Clares, and Caterina was given the name Agnes.
Francis put Clare in
charge of the new order. As more and more women joined them, Francis asked
Agnes to establish a new convent in another town. Later, she founded convents
in three other cities in Italy. The Poor Clare nuns owned nothing and depended
on contributions for their food. Agnes’ life was a prayerful example for all
the sisters in her order. She led them in being faithful to the teaching of
Jesus and St. Francis. She died just a few months after her sister, Clare, in
1253. The church honored her as a saint in 1753.
St. Agnes of Assisi
teaches us to live the first beatitude: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Instead of caring so much about
materials possessions and the things we own, we can imitate St. Agnes. We can
put all our trust in showing our love for God.
SOURCE : http://saintsresource.com/saint-index/st-agnes-of-assisi/
Saints
Bonaventure, Agnes of Assisi, Margaret of Hungary and Louis of Toulouse, San
Domenico, Siena
Agnes of Assisi
St Agnes (1197/8 – 1253)
was born the daughter of a Count at Assisi in Italy. She was the younger sister
of St Clare of Assisi. Her childhood was spent at her father’s Palace and
Castle.
Sixteen days after St
Clare secretly left her home to become a follower of St Francis, St Agnes also
ran off to share in her sister’s life. Despite her father’s many efforts to
force her to return, he finally came to the realisation that something
Divine prevented it.
St Francis established a
cloistered life for St Agnes and St Clare. Other women joined them, becoming
known as the Poor Clares; an Order whose members lived in extreme poverty.
St Agnes was appointed
Abbess of one of their communities, ruling with extraordinary kindness while
living a life of holiness. She nursed her elder sister, St Clare, prior to her
death on 11th August 1253. She died shortly afterwards, on the 16th Nov 1253.
Her remains are interred with her sister at the Basilica of St Clare in Assisi.
St Agnes’ Feast Day
is the 16th November.
St Agnes of Assisi:
Permit me, Divine Jesus,
to come closer to You, that my whole soul may do homage to the greatness of
Your Majesty; that my heart, with its tenderest affections, may acknowledge Thy
infinite love. (Extract
from prayers by St Clare)
Glory be to the…
SOURCE : https://www.daily-prayers.org/saints-library/agnes-of-assisi-2/
St Agnes of Assisi (16th November)
Umbria: Home Cities History Art Hagiography Contact
Assisi: Home History Art Saints Walks Monuments Museums
St Agnes (Agnese di
Favarone di Offreduccio) was the younger sister of St
Clare. She joined St Clare during her short stay at Sant
Angelo in Panzo on Mount Subasio in ca. 1212, resisting her family's
violent attempt to remove her. St Francis then cut off her hair to reflect
her new religious status and she went with St Clare to found the community
at San Damiano.
In 1219, St Clare sent St
Agnes to found a new community at Santa Maria di Monticelli outside
Florence. She was the abbess there until 1253, when she returned to San
Damiano attend the dying St Clare. She died at San Damiano a few months
later and was buried there. Her remains were taken to Santa Chiara in 1257 and are currently
interred under the altar of the Cappella di Sant' Agnese there.
St Agnes was never
formally canonised, but Pope Benedict XIV (1740-58) gave permission
to the Franciscans for the celebration her feast.
SOURCE : https://www.keytoumbria.com/Assisi/St_Agnes.html
Saint Agnes
of Assisi of the Second Order
Article
Saint Agnes, the younger
sister of Saint Clare, foundress of the Poor Ladies, was born at Assisi, about
the year 1197. Under the loving care of her pious mother, and encouraged by the
example of her saintly sister, her mind and heart were directed to God and
heavenly things, so that she became remarkable for her angelic purity, fervent
piety, and a love of God which enabled her to perform heroic acts of virtue.
Agnes was strongly
attached to her sister Clare, and was greatly grieved when the latter left her
father’s home to embrace a life of poverty and penance under the guidance of
Saint Francis, and at the same time she was moved by her courage in resisting
the opposition of her relatives. Clare, on her part, longed to have her sister
as a companion in religious life, and began to beg God that “as she had been of
one mind with her sister in the world, so they might now be one heart and soul
in his Divine Service in the cloister.” How God heard her prayer, is
beautifully told in the “Life and Legend of the Lady Saint Clare.”
“She (Clare) had a sister
younger than herself, whom she wished firmly should be converted, and in all
the prayers she made she prayed first with all her heart and with all her
strength to our Lord, that as in the world they had been of one mind, He would
convert her, that they might serve God together with one accord. Sweetly Saint
Clare prayed the Father of Mercy that Agnes, her sister, whom she had left at
the house of her father, should hate to remain in the world and that she should
taste the sweetness of God, so that she should have heart for nothing but God
only in such a manner that in company with one another they should remain
together and give their virginity to the King of glory. Marvelously these two
sisters loved each other, and they were very sorrowful, and the one more than
the other, at their separation. But our Lord granted very quickly to this noble
suppliant the first gift that she asked, for it was what pleased Him much.
After the seventh (sixteenth) day of Saint Clare’s conversion came Agnes, her
sister, to her and discovered to her her secret, for she said quite openly that
she desired God. And when she heard it she embraced her with joy and said: “My
sweet sister, I give thanks to God, who has heard me for thee, for whom I had
much trouble. I know that thy conversion is marvelous.”
Agnes had left the house
of her father to join her sister. Her constancy, however, was to be tried as
had been that of Clare. Her father, Count Favorino Scifi, was beside himself
with anger and indignation when he learned of the flight of his daughter. He
sent his brother, with a number of relatives and armed followers, to the
convent of San Angelo, where the sisters were staying, to force Agnes, if
persuasion failed, to return home. “They,” as the chronicler tells us, “went
all furious to the place where the good maidens were, twelve of the nearest
kin. But they did not show outwardly the malice that they had within their
hearts, and they gave to understand that they came for peace. And when they
came within they did not use force with Saint Clare, for they knew well they
could gain nothing, so they turned to Agnes and said to her: ‘What doest thou?
Return at once with us to thy home.’ And she answered them that never would she
depart from the company of Saint Clare, her sister. And then an outrageous man
took her by her hair and began to drag her without. And the others took her by
the arms and lifted her and thus carried her off. And she began to cry, ‘Ah,
sweet sister, help me. Suffer not that I be torn from the company of Jesus
Christ’ But the traitors dragged the maiden in spite of her into the mountains
and tore her hair and her coat. And sweet Clare set herself to prayer and the
Holy Spirit made her (Agnes) to weigh so heavy that it seemed as if her body
was fastened to the earth, nor, by any means, could they move her. . . . . Then
one of her kin lifted his hand to strike her cruelly, but suddenly a great pain
seized him and it endured for a long time afterwards. After Agnes had suffered
this, Saint Clare came swiftly and prayed those who were there that they should
depart and suffer her to care for her sister Agnes, who lay all disarrayed upon
the ground. So they departed with distress of mind. And the gentle Agnes arose
right gladly and went with her dear and much-beloved sister, and from then
onward she set herself to serve God perfectly.”
When Saint Francis learnt
of the heroic resistance of Agnes to the entreaties and violence of her
relatives, he was filled with joy, and gave her the habit of poverty and
consecrated her to God.
The two sisters, whom
Saint Francis soon established at Saint Damian’s, now began their life of
poverty, self-denial, and prayer, which was to attract so many God-fearing
souls and to effect so much good for the Church. From the very beginning of her
religious life, Agnes devoted herself with such zeal to the practice of virtue
that she was looked upon with admiration by the saintly souls who had found a
refuge at Saint Damian’s. Her obedience was most exact, her humility proof
against every attack of selflove. Though she was severe toward herself and
given to the practice of the most austere penance, she was full of gentleness,
kindness, and charity toward others. Her fervor in prayer and in contemplation
of the divine truths can not be described. She often spent entire nights in
prayer, and was so carried away by the fervor of her devotion as to be rapt in
ecstasy. One night, as she was praying in a remote corner of the choir, she
fell into an ecstasy, and her sister Clare saw her raised from the ground and
with a triple crown shining upon her brow. Agnes was also favored with visits
from the Infant Jesus, to whom she had a most tender devotion.
And now she was to be
transferred from her beloved Saint Damian’s, separated from her sister and
companions, that she might dispense of her riches and assist other heroic souls
in their resolve to serve God according to the ideals of Saint Francis and
Saint Clare.
In 1219, the Benedictine
nuns of Florence solicited for their convent of Monticelli the favor of being
incorporated with the Sisters of Saint Damian’s, and Agnes, despite her youth,
was sent to introduce and confirm the austere mode of life observed by Saint
Clare and her spiritual daughters. She humbly accepted the commission, though
she keenly felt the separation from her beloved sister and the quiet convent of
Saint Damian. The saints repudiate none of the legitimate affections, but, with
the grace of God, they ennoble and purify them. The sacrifice of the Saint
received an abundant reward. She succeeded so well, by her wise rule, and
especially by the example of her holy life, in solidly planting the spirit of
poverty, penance, and recollection in the convent of Monticelli, that it became
almost as famous as Saint Damian’s. She also founded convents in several cities
of northern Italy, notably those of Mantua, Padua, and Venice, and everywhere
guided the Sisters in the exact observance of the teachings of Saint Francis
and Saint Clare.
After governing her
community for more than thirty years, she was summoned in 1253, to Saint
Damian’s to assist her sister Clare during her last illness. In the midst of
her grief, she was consoled by the words of Clare, “Weep not. Thou wilt soon
follow me, not without first receiving great consolations.”
Agnes assisted at the
triumphal obsequies of Saint Clare, and witnessed the miracles wrought at her
tomb. The prediction of her holy sister soon came to pass. Three months after
Clare’s death, she followed her to her eternal reward, on November 16, 1253. In
1260, her body was entombed in the church of Saint Clare, at Assisi. She was
glorified after death by many miracles. Pope Benedict XIV permitted the Orders
of Saint Francis to celebrate her feast.
MLA
Citation
Franciscan
Herald, November 1913. CatholicSaints.Info.
8 January 2023. Web. 17 November 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-agnes-of-assisi-of-the-second-order/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-agnes-of-assisi-of-the-second-order/
Saint
Agnes of Assisi, Flemish painting, 15th cent.
Medeltida
altartavla från Danvikens hospital. Ursprungligen fanns målningen troligtvis i
Klara kloster. Klara bär på lampa, Hortolana bär ett litet kors och Agnes av
Assisi bär en bok.
Sankta
Klara, Hortolana och Agnes av Assisi
Medeltida
altartavla från Danvikens hospital. Ursprungligen fanns målningen troligtvis i
Klara kloster. Klara bär på lampa, Hortolana bär ett litet kors och Agnes av
Assisi bär en bok. Fotografi av Lennart Karlsson, Historiska museet.
circa 1500. (https://stockholmskallan.stockholm.se/post/21970)
Sant' Agnese di
Assisi Vergine
Festa: 16 novembre
Assisi, Perugia, 1197 -
16 novembre 1253
Caterina di Favarone di
Offreduccio, sorella di Chiara, nasce in Assisi (Perugia) nel 1197.A quindici
anni volle seguire la sorella e abbracciò l’ideale di povertà francescana.
Resistette con forza sovrumana alle lusinghe, alle minacce e alle percosse dei
parenti che volevano distoglierla dal suo proposito. Dopo essere rimasta per
circa dieci anni a San Damiano, fu mandata come abbadessa a Firenze, nel
monastero di Monticelli. Guidò le sorelle con prudenza e amore, dando per prima
l’esempio di austera povertà e di operosità. Ebbe anche il conforto di
consolazioni e visioni celesti. Ritornata ad Assisi, assistette alla morte
della sorella e si spense poco dopo, il 16 novembre 1253. Benedetto XIV la
dichiarò santail 6 novembre 1751, confermandone l’antichissimo culto. Il suo
corpo riposa nella basilica di Santa Chiara.
Etimologia: Agnese =
pura, casta, dal greco
Martirologio
Romano: Ad Assisi in Umbria nel convento di San Damiano, santa Agnese,
vergine, che, seguendo nel fiore della giovinezza le orme di sua sorella santa
Chiara, abbracciò con tutto il cuore la povertà sotto la guida di san
Francesco.
Nel coro del poverissimo conventino di San Damiano, presso Assisi, si possono ancora leggere i nomi delle prime compagne che seguirono Santa Chiara e l'esempio di San Francesco sulla via della totale rinunzia e dell'assoluta povertà.
Sono nomi molto belli, di donne e fanciulle di Assisi, che si direbbero quasi simbolici di quelle " colombe deargentate " che a San Damiano ebbero il primo nido: Ortolana, Agnese, Beatrice, Pacifica, Benvenuta, Cristiana, Amata, Illuminata, Consolata...
I primi tre nomi appartengono a tre donne della stessa famiglia di Santa Chiara: quello di Ortolana alla madre; quelli di Agnese e di Beatrice a due sorelle.
Agnese era la sorella minore di Chiara, e giunse a San Damiano sedici giorni dopo che Francesco, nel 1212, aveva assegnato alla sorella maggiore l'umilissimo conventino come luogo di penitenza e primo nucleo dei Secondo Ordine francescano.
Poco dopo vi giunse l'altra sorella, Beatrice, e poco dopo ancora la madre, Ortolana.
Agnese di Assisi fu così la più fedele seguace della sorella Chiara, che fu a sua volta la seguace più fedele di San Francesco. Visse nell'ombra luminosa della sorella, assoggettandosi dolcemente al suo dolce coman-do, sempre obbediente e sempre affettuosa.
Già il suo nome di Agnese, derivato da quello di agnus, agnello, e portato da migliaia di donne e da molte Sante, dopo l'antica Martire romana, ce la dipinge mite e mansueta, senza però farci dimenticare che anche a lei, come alla sorella maggiore, va attribuita una fermezza di carattere eccezionale e quasi virile, soprattutto nell'osservanza più rigorosa della Regola francescana nella sua più assoluta durezza.
La leggenda ha insistito, con abbondanza di particolari, sui contrasti tra la decisione delle due fanciulle, Chiara e Agnese, e quella della famiglia, che non voleva permettere il loro abbandono del mondo e quale abbandono!
Certo è che il fatto dovette suscitare un enorme scandalo nella buona società di Assisi, soprattutto perché le due sorelle non cedettero ad insistenze né a violenze, e restarono a San Damiano, seguite anzi dall'altra sorella e dalla Madre.
Veramente, Agnese non vi restò a lungo. Per quanto straziata dal distacco (ci è restata, per quanto di dubbia autenticità, una sua commoventissima lettera di commiato), obbedì alla sorella come sempre le avrebbe obbedito, per recarsi a Firenze, nel 1219, a fondarvi il secondo convento delle Clarisse, quello di Monticelli.
A Monticelli, Agnese fu superiora degna del proprio nome e della propria famiglia, affettuosa con le sue Clarisse e caritatevole verso il prossimo quanto era inflessibile verso se stessa, tenacemente attaccata ai voti francescani, soprattutto a quello dell'assoluta povertà.
Visse - di pane e di acqua, con un rude cilicio intorno ai teneri fianchi -
fino al 1253, quando morì a San Damiano, secondo il suo vivissimo desiderio,
tre mesi dopo la sorella Chiara. Aveva cinquantasei anni, essendo appena
quindicenne quando si era fatta tagliare i lunghi capelli di avvenente
fanciulla assisiate.
La data di culto per la Chiesa universale è il 16 novembre, mentre l'ordine
francescano, le Clarisse e la città di Assisi la ricordano il 19 novembre.
Fonte : Archivio
Parrocchia
SOURCE : https://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/90359
Agnèse
Enciclopedia on line
Agnese di Assisi,
santa (Assisi 1197
- ivi 1253), sorella di s. Chiara che seguì
(1212) nel monastero di S. Angelo di Pansa, presso Assisi, poi in S. Damiano,
donde andò a Firenze come badessa del nuovo monastero delle clarisse (1219).
Culto permesso da Benedetto XIV
(1752). Festa, 16 novembre.
© Istituto della
Enciclopedia Italiana fondata da Giovanni Treccani - Riproduzione riservata
SOURCE : https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/agnese/
AGNESE d'Assisi, santa
di Riccardo Pratesi
Dizionario Biografico
degli Italiani - Volume 1 (1960)
, santa. Sorella minore di
s. Chiara, nacque ad Assisi nel 1197, figlia del nobile Favarone, ed ebbe al
battesimo il nome di Caterina. Quindicenne, lasciò anch'essa, dopo sedici
giorni dalla fuga di s. Chiara, la casa paterna. I parenti, con a capo lo zio
Monaldo (il padre doveva essere già morto, o era assente), tentarono invano di
farla recedere dal suo proposito, invadendo anche il monastero benedettino di
S. Angelo in Panso, fuori di Assisi, dove le due sorelle avevano trovato
momentaneo rifugio. Dopo che le clarisse si trasferirono a S. Damiano, A. fu
mandata a fondare un altro convento a Firenze, nel 1219 (in questa occasione
inviò una lettera, non datata, alla sorella Chiara) poi, con ogni probabilità,
anche altrove (Mantova e Venezia). Ritornata ad Assisi, in fama di essere stata
favorita di grazie e visioni celesti, morì il 27 ag. 1253, pochi Qualche tempo
dopo, le sue spoglie, come già precedentemente quelle della sorella, furono
trasportate da S. Damiano al nuovo monastero vicino alla città, denominato di
S. Chiara. Il papa Benedetto XIV ne permise il culto nel 1752; la sua festa si
celebra il 15 novembre.
Fonti e Bibl.: Tomaso da
Celano, Legenda Sanctae Clarae virginis, a cura di F. Pennacchi,
Assisi 1910, pp. 33-37, 60 s. (trad., La leggenda di S. Chiara
d'Assisi, a cura di O. Battelli, Milano 1952, pp. 43-46, 71); Vita
sororis A. germanae S. Clarae, in Analecta Franciscana, III
(1897), pp. 175-182; Leone (de Clary), L'Aureola serafica, 2 ediz., a
cura di O. G. Guzzo, VI, Venezia 1954, pp. 121-126; Z. Lazzeri, De S. A. Assisiensis
quadam reliquia et officio, in Archivum Francisc. Hist., VIII
(1915), pp.658-660; Id., Decretum approbationis hymnorum S. A.
Assisiensis, ibid., IX (1916), p. 459; Id., Il processo di
canonizzazione di S. Chiara d'Assisi, ibid., XIII (1920), pp. 435-437; L.
Wadding, Annales Minorum, I, ad Claras Aquas 1931, pp. 18 ss., 20; A.
Fortini, Nuove notizie intorno a S. Chiara d'Assisi, in Archivum
Francisc. Hist., XLVI (1953), pp. 19, 20; Id., Il nome che S. A. ebbe
nel secolo, in Chiara d'Assisi, II (1954), pp. 4. ss.; F.
Casolini, La triplice corona. Problemi della vita di S. A. di Favarone,
ibid., pp.6-12; Id., Il nome di battesimo di S. A., ibid., pp.
135 ss.
© Istituto della
Enciclopedia Italiana fondata da Giovanni Treccani - Riproduzione riservata
SOURCE : https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/santa-agnese-d-assisi_(Dizionario-Biografico)/
Voir aussi : http://www.clarissesval.ca/Agn%C3%A8s.pdf
