Agnes of Rome

Born into Roman nobility in 291 and raised Christian, Agnes drew high-ranking suitors by adolescence. When she rejected them for her faith, they turned persecution on her: dragged naked to a brothel, then tried and sentenced to die. Attempts to burn her at the stake failed, so she was beheaded on 21 January 304, at twelve or thirteen. Days later her foster-sister Emerentiana was stoned to death while praying at the tomb. The 4th-century theologian Ambrose wrote an early account stressing her youth and resolve. Since the Middle Ages she has been shown with long hair, a lamb, a sword, and a palm…