33rd Week of Ordinary Time C – Wednesday – Saint Agnes of Assisi, Poor Clare

Today in the Franciscan Order, we celebrate the beautiful memorial of Saint Agnes of Assisi. Born Caterina of Duccio di Favaron around 1197, she was the younger sister of the awesome Saint Clare of Assisi. Like her sister, she was born into a noble family—one of the leading families of Assisi.

When Clare left home to follow Saint Francis at the little chapel of the Porziuncola in 1212, Agnes was deeply moved and soon followed her. Her family at first reacted violently. Her father and uncles, furious that another daughter would renounce her inheritance, stormed the Benedictine convent where Clare had taken refuge. According to early accounts, they tried to drag Agnes physically from the convent, even striking her and attempting to carry her away by force.

As tradition recounts, Agnes’s body suddenly became so heavy that the men could not move her—very reminiscent of what happened in Garabandal with the visionaries, those little girls who saw our Blessed Mother and became immovable, as if they weighed a ton. It was taken as a sign of divine providence, and the men left her in peace.

Saint Francis himself came to receive her into the new community of Poor Ladies, later known as the Poor Clares at San Damiano. Francis gave her the name Agnes, symbolizing purity and the innocence of the Lamb of God. Agnes became Clare’s closest collaborator and confidante, helping to establish new monasteries of Poor Clares throughout Italy. Around 1219, at Francis’s request, she founded the Poor Clare Monastery in Florence, and later ones in Monticelli and Venice.

She remained deeply devoted to the ideals of poverty and humility that Francis and Clare lived so radically. After Saint Clare’s death in 1253, Agnes was reportedly present at her sister’s bedside and continued her legacy. She herself died only a few months later, in November 1253, and was buried near Saint Clare in Assisi. Her cult was confirmed by Pope Benedict XIV in 1753.

Some of the key themes in the life of Saint Agnes can help illuminate our own radical desire to follow our Lord in the footsteps of Saint Francis and Saint Clare. Agnes renounced wealth, status, and security to live the Gospel freely. That is the point: we detach ourselves from material things so that we can be free in spirit, heart, soul, and mind—to truly live the Gospel.

This echoes Saint Paul’s words to the Philippians: “I consider everything as loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Phil 3:8)

Secondly, she speaks to us of spiritual sisterhood and fidelity. She stood beside Clare as a companion and co-founder, embodying not only family ties but spiritual fraternity in the Franciscan sense—a model for communal holiness.

She also speaks to us about purity and inner freedom. Her name, Agnes, meaning “lamb,” symbolizes the gentle purity of a soul totally consecrated to God, the true Bridegroom, Christ. Her virginity was not a withdrawal from life but a total belonging to Love Himself—our Lord, who is love.

Finally, she teaches us joyful renunciation. Like the Gospel’s promise, she found in poverty a hundredfold reward—peace, joy, and ultimately eternal life. Saint Agnes of Assisi teaches us that true wealth is not what we keep, but what we give away for love.

When we too can say with Saint Paul, “I have been taken possession of by Christ Jesus,” we will know the joy that nothing can take away from us.

May Saint Agnes, along with her sister Saint Clare, continue to pray for each and every one of us, so that we too may give Jesus our everything—our hearts.
And God bless you, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.