St. Agnes of Montepulciano
In 1374, St. Catherine of Siena received a divine revelation that she would experience a glory in Heaven equal to that of St. Agnes of Montepulciano (c. 1268-1317). This significant detail highlights the spiritual greatness of this lesser-known mystic. St. Catherine became devoted to St. Agnes, in part because of the biography written by her spiritual director, Blessed Raymond of Capua (c. 1330-1399), who began chronicling Agnes' life when he became the confessor at the Montepulciano monastery where St. Agnes spent her final years.
St. Agnes' life was filled with miraculous events, beginning with her birth when a sudden appearance of burning candles lit up her room. From a young age, she exhibited a deep spirit of prayer and joined the "sackcloth nuns" at the age of nine, named after their rough habits.
Under the guidance of Sister Margaret, the novices' teacher, Agnes' piety flourished. She was observed levitating on multiple occasions and once, during her intense meditation on the Passion of Jesus, divine love lifted her to embrace the crucifix on the altar. When she was still a teenager, Our Lady gave her three small stones and told her that she would build a monastery in her honor, founded on unwavering faith and acknowledgment of the highest and indivisible Trinity.
Young Agnes was renowned for her holiness, and at the age of fifteen, she was appointed abbess of a new monastery founded by the "sackcloth nuns" in nearby Proceno (province of Viterbo). She assumed the role with Pope Martin IV's dispensation and out of obedience. During the investiture ceremony, the bishop's solemn blessing caused manna in the shape of a cross to fall upon the altar.
St. Agnes participated remarkably in Jesus' sufferings, and her soul longed to unite with Him. On one Assumption night, the Blessed Virgin appeared to her, holding the divine Child, and offered Him for Agnes to kiss. When she had to part with Him, she grasped the small cross He wore around His neck, which is now preserved and venerated on her feast day.
St. Agnes' twenty-year stay in Proceno was marked by severe penances, leading to illness that worsened upon her return to Montepulciano. However, she remembered her heavenly Mother's request and founded the Santa Maria Novella monastery in 1306 with the Bishop of Arezzo's permission, which became a center for Dominican spirituality.
St. Agnes' journey to holiness was marked by a blend of love and suffering, evident in the numerous angelic apparitions she experienced. In Montepulciano, an angel mystically guided her to an olive tree on nine consecutive Sundays, where she drank from the chalice of the Passion. To address her health issues, she was sent to the Chianciano thermal baths but remained unhealed. However, a new spring (named after her) miraculously emerged, healing a young girl with a severe wound.
As she lay on her deathbed, St. Agnes consoled her grieving sisters, urging them to rejoice in her impending union with her divine Bridegroom and remain faithful to Him. The Church of Saint Agnes in Montepulciano still houses her incorrupt body in a glass case.
Today’s Mass Collect
O God, who called your handmaid blessed St. Agnes of Montepulciano, to seek you before all else, grant that, serving you, through her example and intercession, with a pure and humble heart, we may come at last to your eternal glory.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.
The Dominicana Journal - Reasons to Read the Life of St. Agnes of Montepulciano
Read the article here.