Friday, March 2, First Week of Lent
Extreme right: Agnes on the 50-crown Czech banknote; her father King Ottokar was on the demonetized 20-crown bill.
ST. AGNES (ANEZKA) OF BOHEMIA (1205-1282), Poor Clare nun
She was the daughter of the King of Bohemia and was betrothed at age 3 to a duke who died three years later. Growing up,
she felt a strong religious calling. After declining offers of marriage from King Henry VII of Germany and Henry III of England,
she had to appeal to Pope Gregory IX to refuse the proposal of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, who replied that he would
not be offended to be turned down for 'the King of heaven'. Agnes built a hospital for the poor and a convent for the new
Franciscan order in Prague. Then in 1236, she and seven other noblewomen set up the first Poor Clares community in Bohemia.
St. Clare herself sent five sisters from San Damiano to help them set up, and wrote at least four letters to Agnes counseling
her on being an abbess. Agnes preferred to call herself 'senior sister'. Besides her untiring work for the poor, she became
known for her strict rule of poverty, obedience and mortification. She led her community for 46 years until she died, inspiring
great devotion among her people. She was canonized by John Paul II in 1989, and Benedict XVI remembered her during his
visit to the Czech Republic on the 20th anniversary of her canonization in 2009.
Readings for today's Mass:
usccb.org/bible/readings/030212.cfm
No bulletins today from the Vatican, other than
an announcement of an episcopal resignation in Brazil.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 03/03/2012 00:00]