HILARY TIDE. 21 



JAN. 21. St. Agnes, virgin and martyr, a.d. 304. 



St. Michiosus, bishop of Tarragon. 

 St. Vivian of Scotland. 

 St. Epiphanius, bishop of Pavia. 

 St. PubUus, bishop and martyr. 



Obs. St. Agnes suffered martyrdom so young, and with such 

 fortitude, that the tongues and pens of all nations, says St. Jerom, 

 are employed to celebrate her praise. St. Ambrose, and also St. 

 Augustine, state that she was only thirteen years when she suffered 

 dea°h for the cause of Christianity, and her refusal to yield to the 

 solicitations of the infamous panders of the tyrant. She is recorded 

 by the authors who wrote her life to have received, in the tenth 

 persecution of Dioclesian, " the everlasting crown of martyrdom, 

 and the never fading laurel of virginity." 



There is an evident connexion' between the name of Agnes and 

 the Latin word Agnus; and, in corroboration thereof, it maybe 

 mentioned, that on the legendary account of St. Agnes appearing 

 to her parents in a vision after her death with a lamb by her side, the 

 figures which painters have drawn of her are usually accompanied 

 by a lamb. In the church built on the place of her martyrdom, the 

 priest of the church of St. Peter's ad Vincula annually blesses two 

 lambs, whose wool is afterwards made use of by the nuns of St. 

 Lawrence to make paUiasses. 



Black Hellebore Hellehorus niger flowers. 

 This plant, called black, and by the Greeks EWsBopq fxt^aq, only 

 from the colour of its roots and seeds, begins to shew its white 

 flowers above ground about Christmas : by this day they are fully 

 blown, and have been called Christmas Rose, and in German 

 Christwurtz, and also Flower of St. Agnes. In the Florllegium 

 we may read, "Even as the Flower of St. Agnes is whiter than 

 other blosomes, so was the purity of St. Agnes fairer than that of 

 most virgins ; as the Flower bloweth in the season of winter, when 

 there are few others, so did the saintlie virgin flourish in the winter 

 of adversity, and brave the storms of persecution, with few compa- 

 nions in excellency." FLor. 21. This Flower mixes agreeably with 

 those of the Star Anemony and the Viburnum in the winter's bowpot. 

 Frost and snow are most commonly the portion of northern chmes 

 on this day, which has suggested the following lines of the poet : — 

 St. Agnes' Eve, ah! bitter chill it was; 

 The Owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold. 

 The Hare limped trembhng thro' the frozen grass. 

 And silent were the Lambs in woolly fold. 

 Numb were the Vestal's fingers while she told 

 Her Rosary of Beads ; her frozed breath. 

 Like holy incense from a censor cold, 

 Seem'd taking flight for heaven without a death. 

 Past the sweet Virgin's picture while her prayer she saith. 



