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Basilica of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura

Saints & Tombs Not Applicable
Rome, Italy 7th century Feast day: January 21

The burial place of St. Agnes.

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The Story

The Basilica of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura (St. Agnes Outside the Walls) stands on the Via Nomentana in Rome, above the catacombs where the young martyr Agnes was laid to rest. According to the traditional account, Agnes was only twelve or thirteen when she was put to death for her faith around the year 304, having refused marriage because she had given herself wholly to Christ. Her courage made her one of the most celebrated martyrs of the early Church. She is named in the Roman Canon of the Mass, and her name, echoing both the Latin agnus (lamb) and the Greek hagne (pure), made the lamb her enduring symbol. Constantine's daughter Constantina raised the first great funerary basilica beside Agnes's tomb in the 4th century; the adjacent mausoleum of Santa Costanza still stands. The present basilica was built by Pope Honorius I in the 7th century directly over the tomb, and its golden apse mosaic of St. Agnes amid flames and the sword remains one of Rome's treasures. The relics of St. Agnes and of St. Emerentiana rest beneath the high altar. Each year on her feast, January 21, two lambs are blessed at the basilica; their wool is woven into the pallia that the pope confers on new metropolitan archbishops, binding this young martyr's memory to the Church's living communion. Pilgrims may also descend into the Catacombs of Sant'Agnese beneath the church.

Church Recognition

Sant'Agnese fuori le mura is a minor basilica built over the martyr's tomb by Pope Honorius I in the 7th century; St. Agnes is commemorated in the Roman Canon, and the annual blessing of lambs for the archbishops' pallia continues at her shrine.

Catholic Teaching

St. Agnes's shrine embodies the Church's teaching on martyrdom as the supreme witness to Christ (CCC 2473) and on consecrated virginity as a sign of undivided love for God (CCC 922-924), while the veneration of her relics expresses the communion of saints (CCC 946-962; 1674).

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Practical

Additional Information

Pilgrims venerate the relics of St. Agnes and St. Emerentiana beneath the high altar, admire the 7th-century apse mosaic, and may visit the Catacombs of Sant'Agnese and the nearby mausoleum of Santa Costanza. Devotion peaks on January 21, when lambs are blessed for the wool of the archbishops' pallia.

Go Deeper

Early witnesses to St. Agnes include St. Ambrose's On Virgins and the hymns of Prudentius; see also the Catechism on martyrdom (CCC 2473) and consecrated virginity (CCC 922-924), and the basilica's guides to the Catacombs of Sant'Agnese.

Location

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In the Area

Other sacred sites within 40 miles.