Saint Agnes of Montepulciano's complete God-confidence

Synthèse :

Agnes Segni was born near Lake Trasimeno, in a small village called Gracciano Vecchio, around 1270, into an honest and noble family. 

The artworks often depict Agnes accompanied by a lamb: this is an allusion to her name and to the divine election which, according to the research of Blessed Raymond of Capua, was manifested at birth by a bright light around her cradle. At the age of four, she often retired to a solitary place, where she was found kneeling in prayer. Around the age of nine, she was the leader of a group of friends, whom she took to visit nearby churches. One day, a murder (flock) of crows swooped down on the little band and attacked Agnes in particular. According to Raymond of Capua, they were an army of demons presiding over a nearby brothel. The invocation of the name of Jesus putthem to flight.

Agnes desired to give herself to the heavenly Spouse who had reserved her for himself and whom she had long loved back. According to Raymond of Capua, her parents miraculously gave in to her request. She entered the Sacco nuns ("Sisters of the sack"), near Montepulciano, at the tender age of 9. These women lived under the rule of Saint Augustine. Agnes was given the task of bursar (treasurer) when she was only fourteen. This may seem very young to us, but let's not forget that life was short in those days and that trials quickly hardened characters: a young girl could legally get married at the age of twelve. Agnes took great care to ensure that her sisters had everything they needed. However, this distracted her from the silent prayer she was so fond of.

Around this time, the Blessed Virgin appeared to her and gave her three stones, the symbol of a convent that she asked her to build. She would guide her in this undertaking. The three stones that are sometimes depicted at her feet in iconography allude to this. The inhabitants of Procena, not far from Aqua Pendente, in the province of Orvieto, attracted by her reputation for holiness and the miracles that she performed, came to ask her to be the founder and prioress of a convent they were planning to build for their daughters. In a spirit of sacrifice, because she knew it wasn't the convent Our Lady had told her about, Agnes accepted. She then denied herself even more, probably so as not to take pride in her new state. As a reward, the Blessed Virgin appeared to her again on the night of the Assumption and placed the Child Jesus in her arms.

As she was warned by an angel that the time was approaching when the Mother of Jesus expected her to carry out the mission entrusted to her in the past, the inhabitants of Montepulciano, who had come as a delegation, begged her to return to her native town to found a convent, where many young girls would be willing to come under her guidance. The convent was quickly built and, following a vision, Agnes and her new companions took the habit of the nuns of Saint Dominic. The saint showed herself to be a miracle worker. But an illness, from which she nevertheless asked to be cured in order to please her sisters, put her in danger of death. Blessed Raymond of Capua wrote that Jesus had told her that she would soon die. Then, in ecstasy, she cried out: "My beloved is mine and I am his!"

Agnes died on 20 April 1317. Her tomb immediately became a place of pilgrimage.The future Saint Catherine of Siena went there: encouraged by Raymond of Capua, who was her spiritual director from 1374 to 1380 (he was then confessor to the convents of the order in Siena), Catherine took Agnes as a model of holiness for herself. In his Life of Saint Catherine of Siena (Legendamaior, book II, ch. 17, n. 16-20), Raymond of Capua recounts how Catherine venerated Agnes' incorrupt body and the miracles that took place there.

However, it was not until 1532 that Pope Clement VII authorised the celebration of the liturgical feast of Agnes in the Montepulciano area. Pope Clement VIII, who granted the feast of Agnes to the Order of Friars Preachers in 1601, beatified her in 1608, and Benedict XIII, a Dominican himself, canonised her in 1726.

Au-delà des raisons d'y croire :

Trust in God, or God-confidence, is based on the theological virtue of faith, as the account of the beginnings of the convent of Montepulciano shows: "After those three days of hunger, when they had gone without bread, Agnes raised her eyes to me, bathed in the light of the most holy faith: "Father," she said to me, "my Lord and eternal spouse, did you order me to take these virgins out of their parents' house only to let them die of hunger? Lord, provide for their needs! "It was I who inspired her to make this request. It was my pleasure to test her faith, and I was pleased by her humble prayer." (Dialogues, XV,  n. 149). Faith inclines the intellect to adhere to the message that God delivers to it through the Church: is not God absolute truth, who can neither err nor lie? Faith leads to hope, another supernatural (God-given) and theological (having God as its object) virtue. Since God loves me and is all-powerful, he will never abandon me in the difficulties and trials of earthly life; on the contrary, he will give me everything I need to serve him faithfully in this life and love him for ever in Heaven.

It is important to note that Christian hope is not human hope. The latter is based on human criteria: confidence in human wealth or strength, or in friends, etc. But these supports can intentionally or unintentionally fail the person who relies on them. This is not the case with the Christian virtue of hope, because God does not disappoint those who put their trust in him. This is why Jesus Christ confided to Saint Catherine of Siena about Agnes: "These are the means that my providence uses towards my servants, towards those who are poor voluntarily, and not only voluntarily but spiritually; for without this spiritual intention, their poverty would be of no use to them. The philosophers, too, for love of knowledge and the desire to acquire it, despised riches and became poor voluntarily. Their natural light was enough to teach them that the worries of this world's riches would prevent them from acquiring this science, the possession of which was the goal assigned to their intelligence as the end of their efforts. But since this desire to be poor was not spiritual, was not inspired by the glory and honour of my name, they did not obtain through it the life of grace or perfection; they were entitled only to eternal death" (ibid.) The virtue of hope, when it reaches its highest degree, although it does not in fact neglect any human means, ultimately relies only on God, because it knows that the world around us (as well as ourselves) is in the hands of God, who is the creator and master of all things. Under the action of the love of God that acts in the soul, the Christian virtue of hope detaches the soul from the things of the earth to focus all its desires on God alone. These desires, contrary to what today's nihilistic philosophy asserts, are not in vain, because God has promised to himself to man as a reward, and he does not go back on his word.

Aller plus loin :

The Life of Saint Agnes of Montepulciano by Bl. Raymond of Capua OP (Author), Sr. Mary Martin Jacobs OP (Translator), CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (October 11, 2012)

En savoir plus :

• The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena by St. Catherine of Siena, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (November 20, 2018)