St. Agnes with Her Lamb (detail; M 070) Card

Humbly seated on the ground, St. Agnes of Rome (d. 304) is clad in a vibrant, form-fitting red gown lined with grey fur. Blood red was and remains the liturgical colour for martyrs. St. Agnes met her martyrdom by decapitation at the tender age of 12 or 13 during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. + The simplicity of this detail belies the complex interplay of its visual and verbal allusions. St. Agnes holds aloft a gold wedding ring, symbol of her commitment to purity and her mystical marriage to Christ. A white lamb, her principal attribute, sits on her lap. In Christian iconography, the lamb is a symbol of innocence and sacrifice. 'Agnus', the Latin word for lamb, plays on the name Agnes. And, the name Agnes itself which comes from Greek means "chaste" or "pure". + Feast: January 21 + Image Credit (M 070): Detail of Virgo inter Virgines [in Latin; La Vierge parmi les vierges in French; The (Blessed) Virgin among Virgins in English], by The Master of the Legend of St. Lucy (fl. c. 1435-1506/1509), oil on oak panel, 67.3"x42.5" (171 cm x 108 cm), c. 1488, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, inv. 2576. From Wikimedia Commons {PD-Art|PD-Old-100}. The image file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighbouring rights.