January 21
Prayer to St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr
O Little St. Agnes, so young and yet made so strong and wise by the power of God, protect by your prayers all the young people of every place whose goodness and purity are threatened by the evils and impurities of this world.
Give them strength in temptation and a true repentance when they fail. Help them to find true Christian friends to accompany them in following the Lamb of God and finding safe pastures in His Church and in her holy sacraments.
May you lead us to the wedding banquet of heaven to rejoice with you and all the holy virgin martyrs in Christ who lives and reigns forever and ever.
Amen
O Sweetest Lord Jesus Christ, source of all virtues, lover of virgins,
most powerful conqueror of demons, most severe extirpator of vice!
deign to cast Thine eyes upon my weakness, and through the intercession of Mary most blessed,
Mother and Virgin, and of Thy beloved spouse St. Agnes,
glorious virgin and martyr, grant me the aid of Thy heavenly grace,
in order that I may learn to despise all earthly things, and to love what is heavenly;
to oppose vice and to be proof against temptation;
to walk firmly in the path of virtue, not to seek honors, to shun pleasures,
to bewail my past offenses, to keep far from the occasions of evil,
to keep free from bad habits, to seek the company of the good,
and persevere in righteousness, so that, by the assistance of Thy grace,
I may deserve the crown of eternal life, together with St. Agnes and all the saints,
forever and ever, in Thy kingdom. Amen.
ST AGNES
St. Agnes is among the most widely venerated martyrs of the Church in East and West. She was a martyr to chastity, which her persecutors at Rome tried to destroy by sentencing her to live in a house of prostitution. God miraculously protected her virtue, and gave her victory over sin and death, even at the tender age of twelve. St. Ambrose of Milan composed hymns and homilies in her honor. Her name, symbolic of her innocence, means “lamb.” Her feast in the Roman rite is January 21st.
