Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 1.djvu/50

36 Jentsch gives a German translation of four letters from St. Clara to Agnes of Bohemia. The first runs thus—

"Clara, the unworthy servant of Jesus Christ, and the sisters of the convent of St. Damian, send their holy greeting to the high-born and honoured Agnes, daughter of the mighty and invincible king of Bohemia, and wish her, with all respect and ardour, the glory of eternal blessedness.

"The knowledge of your virtues which has spread over most of the earth has come also to our ears in Italy, O noble princess, and we rejoice over it much in the Lord, I and all those who do the will of God and try to serve our Lord Jesus Christ faithfully. It is, then, true that you have trodden under foot the most envied magnificence of the world, the greatest honours, and the throne of the most noble Emperor whom you might have married as befitted your royal station and his; that you have embraced holy poverty with your whole soul, and desire the mortification of the flesh, and the humble position of our Saviour, whom you have chosen for ever for your inheritance. Trust! He with His grace will always preserve the costly treasure of your purity. His power exceeds all other power. He is more lovable than aught else. His beauty puts all else that is beautiful in the shade. His love satisfies all desires and counterbalances all burdens." And so on.

Saint Clara, in a second letter to Agnes, says among other things—

"Thanks, thanks eternally to the Author of all good, the Spring of all perfection and of all heavenly gifts, for the many virtues with which He has adorned your soul. It is He who sanctifies you, and who has raised you to that state of perfection that His eyes can see in you nothing that can give Him pain. Happy are you, for this holiness will cause Him to bid you share with Him the eternal joy in Paradise where He sits upon His star-built throne. What you now have, keep; what you do, continue doing; and never rest in the spiritual race which you have undertaken. Try without ceasing to attain that perfectness to which the Spirit of God has called you, so that you may always fulfil your vows to the Almighty, and that you may obey more faithfully the commands of the Lord."

St. Agnes (22) Blanbakin or Blannbekin. † 1315. A Béguine in Austria, who had extraordinary revelations or delusions, not fit for publication. Potthast says her Life is a very rare book, because her visions were not considered edifying, and it was forbidden to be read or sold. Mas Latrie, Trésor.

St. Agnes (23) of Montepulciano, April 28, V. Abbess. O.S.F., O.S.A., O.S.D. 1268-1317. Reprosonted (1) holding the Infant Christ in her arms, in remembrance of a legend that He gave her a little cross from His neck; (2) lifting up her foot after death for   to kiss; (3) in an open tomb, with sick persons praying around. Daughter of Lorenzo do Segni. Born at the village of Graciano Vecchio, near the town of Montepulciano, in Tuscany. Lorenzo and his wife would have preferred to remain in their village, had it not been for Agnes's great wish to join a society of religious women, and attend the services of the Church. At the age of nine it seemed to her a sin to put off following her vocation, as she believed God had decreed that as the one path by which she might be saved. Her parents were willing to let her become a nun, but wished to defer her separation from them. They were, however much impressed by an accident which befell her, and yielded to her wish to retire at once from the world. The first nuns she joined followed the rule of St. Francis, and were called "Sisters of the Sack," in derisive allusion to their coarse clothing. In this nunnery Agnes had raptures and ecstasies in which Christ, the Virgin Mary, and angels appeared to her. It was even said that, to satisfy her longing to visit the Holy Land, an angel brought her a clod of earth from the foot of the cross of Christ, marked with drops of blood; and that showers of manna fell upon her while she prayed.

The inhabitants of Proceno, near Orvieto, hearing of the sanctity of the sisters of Montepulciano, begged that