St.
Agnes
Feast Day: January 21
Imagine the scene. You are a girl, 12 years old, living in the year 304 AD. Christian persecution is rampid. You are given a choice. Give up your faith and live. Don't give up your faith and die. Agnes, a beautiful young girl, was taken before a Roman judge who tried to persuade her to recant her faith - but she refused. He threatened her with fire and torture, but she did not flinch. Then he had her stripped at a brothel and urged young men to seduce her. She replied to the men: "You may stain your sword with my blood, but you will never profane my body that I have consecrated to Christ." Only one boy tried to touch her; legend has it that he was struck blind, and that Agnes healed him.
The Roman officials ordered her execution. Agnes was taken to the Stadium of Domitian, where she dramatically and courageously faced a soldier who hacked her to death with a sword. St. Ambrose once said that Agnes "taught adults the meaning of valor while she was still a child." She is the patron saint of girls.
St.
Thomas Aquinas
Feast Day: January 28
St. Thomas Aquinas is considered one of the most brilliant minds in the Church's rich history. But did you know that when Thomas wanted to join the Dominicans in 1244 his brothers imprisoned him in a castle? They even tempted him with a prostitute, trying to dissuade him from a religious vocation. After a year Thomas escaped and entered studies to become a Dominican priest.
While studying, Thomas received the nickname "The Dumb Ox." Why? One story told is that Thomas, a very hefty fellow, didn't say much in the classroom so other fellow students thought that he was naive and not too bright. One day, some students told Thomas that there was "an ox flying outside." Thomas jumped out of his chair to look out the window, only to be laughed at by his fellow students. However, one of the professors, St. Albert the Great, predicted that one day, "the dumb ox would be heard all over the world."
St. Thomas eventually wrote the most detailed and systematic work on Christian doctrine, the Summa Theologica. However, he left his work unfinished. An experience at Mass persuaded him to stop writing. He said "all I have written seems to me like straw compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me."
Thomas died a year later. He was canonized in 1323. He is the patron
saint of students and schools.
By Fr. Jerry Vincke
Director of Bethany House, Youth Retreat Center for the Diocese of Lansing
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