Agnes, the daughter of a noble Roman family who had become a
Christian, was martyred at the age of twelve or thirteen during
a persecution of Christians when she openly declared her belief.
Her name is in the Roman Canon, and in the earliest Church
calendar (354 AD), her feast was assigned to January 21, on
which all accounts of her death agree. Agnes was martyred in
304, in the persecution of Diocletian, or possibly earlier, in a
third century persecution. According to very early accounts, her
enraged persecuters attempted to burn Agnes, and when this
failed, they decapitated her. Testimony to her courageous
witness was given in early accounts. An account of her martyrdom
was written by Saint Ambrose (340-387) in "De Virginibus", and
Pope Damasus (ca. 304-384) extolled the heroism and virtue of
the young girl, reportedly telling in a poem how she bravely
faced fire, concerned only that her stripped body be covered by
her long hair. The Pope also wrote an inscription to her on a
marble slab, which can still b