World

SAINT PROFILE: AGNES OF ASSISI

Died Circa 304; Feast- January 21

By Catholic News Service     1/23/2018

Moved by the example of St. Francis of Assisi and her older sister, St. Clare of Assisi, Caterina Offreduccio left home at 15 to become a nun committed to living in radical poverty. She joined Clare at a Benedictine convent while their convent at San Damiano was under construction, and took the name Agnes. One account says her family’s violent effort to retrieve her was thwarted by a miracle, but this was omitted from her canonization documents. Around 1220, Clare became the abbess of a new foundation of Poor Clares near Florence, and supervised their expansion to Mantua, Padua and Venice. She also supported Clare’s struggle for the order to continue in complete poverty. The sisters are buried together in Assisi.