Saints and Relics Saturday: Saint Agnes

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The Church of St. Agnes in Agone contains the relic of a young martyr — Saint Agnes — whose story is one of the most moving and historically grounded in all of Rome.

Saint Agnes was murdered during the persecutions of Diocletian in the year 304 AD. She was originally buried outside the city walls along the Via Nomentana, where the church Sant’Agnese fuori le Mura still holds the rest of her body today. During the 17th century, her head was translated to this church in Piazza Navona, and it is now enshrined in a side chapel near the entrance.

Whatever your views on saints and relics, here at Sant’Agnese you are in the presence of a real young woman, murdered for her faith centuries ago — and that alone makes this place worthy of both a visit and contemplation.

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