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| Saint Agnes of Montepulciano | |
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| Born | c. 1268, Montepulciano in Tuscany |
| Died | c. 1317, Montepulciano in Tuscany |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Canonized | 1726 by Benedict XIII |
| Feast | 20 April |
Saint Agnes of Montepulciano (in Italian: Agnese Segni di Montepulciano) (1268 – 1317) was born into a noble family in Gracciano, a small village near Montepulciano in Tuscany, Italy where, at the age of nine she entered the monastery.
Some four years later the administration of the castle of Proceno, a fief of Orvieto, invited the nuns of Montepulciano to send some of their sisters to Proceno to found a new monastery. In 1288 Agnes, despite her youth, was selected as prioress. There she gained a reputation for performing miracles: people suffering from mental and physical ailments seemed cured by her mere presence and she was reported to have multiplied loaves—recalling the miracle of the loaves and fishes—on a number of occasions.
Later, probably in 1306, she established a convent of Dominican nuns in Gracciano over which she presided until her death.
It is said that after her death her body remained incorrupt, rather than decomposing, and that a perfumed liquid flowed from her hands and feet. Raimondo da Capua, confessor to Saint Catherine of Siena, wrote an account of Agnese some fifty years later; Catherine referred to her as "Our mother, the glorious Agnes."
She was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726. Her feast day is April 20.
See also
References
- This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.
- Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. The Penguin Dictionary of Saints. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-140-51312-4.
- santiebeati.it :: Sant' Agnese Segni di Montepulciano (Italian)
- Santi e beati venerati in Sant’Agostino di Recanati (Italian)
