The Grand Prior of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, His Eminence Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Cardinal-Deacon of the Church of Sant’Agnese in Agone, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Bailiff Grand Cross of Justice of the Constantinian Order, is the chief prelate of the Constantinian Order. He presided on Sunday 21 January 2024 at 12.15 pm, in Rome at his church of Sant’Agnese in Agone in the Piazza Navona, at the solemn Eucharistic Concelebration on the anniversary of the liturgical memory of Saint Agnes, one of the first Christian martyrs.
Concelebrating were the Rector, Monsignor Paolo Schiavon, Titular Bishop of Trevi, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus of Rome; Monsignor Marcello Bartolucci, Titular Archbishop of Bevagna, Secretary Emeritus of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints; and four priests of the Diocese of Rome.
The Sant’Agnese Choir in Piazza Navona, directed by Maestro Paolo Teodori, with organist Marco Puzoni, sang during the liturgy.
A representation of the Delegation of Rome and Vatican City of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George participated. Among the knights in attendance were HSH Prince Maurizio Ferrante Gonzaga of Vodice di Vescovato, Knight Grand Cross of Justice; the Vicar Delegate, Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Schlitzer, Knight Grand Cross of Merit; the Liaison for the Castelli Romani Section, Engineer Franco Iacobini, Knight Jure Sanguinis; and the Liaison for Charitable Activities, Prof. Luca Mazzola, Knight of Office.
In his homily, focused on the 12-year-old martyr Saint Agnes as an example for today’s youth, Cardinal Müller noted that “atheistic gender ideology confuses young people about their male or female identity and they are seduced by medical companies to mutilate their bodies in exchange for a lot of money. It doesn’t take great wit to understand the perfidious propaganda that euphemistically disguises these crimes against humanity as ‘free choice of gender’.” Instead, said Cardinal Müller, “the human being is a natural unity of soul and body. By joyfully accepting the sincere yes that the Creator has given to my spiritual and physical existence in space and time, I can also accept myself. I am a creature of God, I am a son or daughter of the Father, I am a brother or sister of the only begotten Son of God Jesus Christ, and I am a friend of the Holy Spirit.”
Cardinal Müller observed that “the deadly lie of the new paganism can only be exposed and overcome by the truth of God ‘because the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord’ (Rom 6:23)”.
“If this Word of Scripture is true,” continued Cardinal Müller, “then the conclusion is: no priest of Christ can bless in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit a sin that is directed against the nature of man created from God. It’s true: God loves everyone. But we must add: God does not love everything, but hates sin, because it drags us to eternal death. For this reason we must not interpret divine love according to human interests, but rather as a manifestation of His mercy through Jesus Christ. God himself reveals to us the reason and meaning of His love for sinners as the only way of salvation (…).
True worship of God and authentic chastity of mind and body are mutually dependent. The worship of the idols of sex, money and power has – as the Apostle explains – a self-destructive consequence for our thinking and our behavior and will inevitably lead to mental and spiritual death (…). Saint Agnes, whom we venerate today, was a Christian martyr during the final stages of persecution in the Roman Empire. This virgin and martyr is the ideal of new life in God, our Creator and Redeemer. We do not need a sexual idol of the old and new paganism as the object of our desire to anesthetize the nihilistic feeling of the absence of God. All over the world, Catholics admire the twelve-year-old Roman for her heroism and celebrate her as a Saint and champion of Christian youth. (…) Chastity as a Christian virtue, which arises from the adoration of the one and true God as creator and author of our life, means recognizing the positive meaning of corporeality in general and of male and female sexuality in particular. God created human beings as man and woman. They have been blessed in Christ with all the blessings of His Spirit, so that in conjugal love they can manifest His love and transmit life in the succession of generations in the mutual love of parents and children. In this way, spouses and parents cooperate in God’s universal salvific will.”
Cardinal Müller concluded: “May Saint Agnes help us to discern the truth of God and the lies of the new paganism, and in particular we entrust children and young people to her intercession, so that they can rejoice in their nature and become good Christians. Saint Agnes, be an example for our children and young people and pray to God our Lord for them.”
Agnes was born in Rome to Christian parents, of an illustrious patrician family, in the 3rd century. When she was still twelve years old, persecution broke out and many of the faithful abandoned the faith. Agnes, who had decided to offer her virginity to the Lord, was denounced as a Christian by the son of the prefect of Rome, who fell in love with her but was rejected. She was exhibited naked at the Circo Agonale, near what is now Piazza Navona. According to tradition, a man who tried to approach her fell dead before he could touch her and just as miraculously was resurrected through the saint’s intercession. She was thrown into the fire, but the fire was extinguished due to her prayers, and she was then pierced with a sword in the throat, in the way in which lambs were killed. For this reason in iconography she is often depicted with a sheep or a lamb, symbols of candor and sacrifice. The date of her death is not certain. Some place it between 249 and 251 A.D. during the persecution unleashed by the Emperor Decius. Others placed it in 304 during the persecution of Diocletian.
Her name is included in the Roman Canon. In the Roman Martyrology, the writing of Saint Jerome reported this about her: “Memory of Saint Agnes, virgin and martyr, who, while still a girl, gave Rome the supreme testimony of faith and consecrated the fame of her chastity with martyrdom. Thus she overcame both her tender age and the tyrant, acquiring vast admiration from among the people and obtaining even greater glory from God. On this day the deposition of her body is celebrated.”
On the day of her liturgical memory, January 21, the liturgy reports this antiphon to the Magnificat: “Stans beata Agnes in medio flammae, expansis manibus, orabat ad Dominum: Omnipotens, adorande, colende, tremende, benedico te et glorifico nomen tuum in aeternum.” (Saint Agnes, standing in the middle of the fire, opening her hands, prayed to the Lord: Almighty, worthy of adoration, praise and fear, I bless you and glorify your name forever).
The church of Sant’Agnese in Agone (See: https://www.santagneseinagone.org/origini/) is located in the Piazza Navona in Rome, in the place where, according to legend, Saint Agnes suffered martyrdom.
The church had a first design in 1652 by Girolamo Rainaldi (1570-1655) in Baroque style. The client was Pope Innocent X Pamphili, whose funerary monument is located inside the church. The Pamphili family had large possessions in the square and the church must have been a kind of private chapel attached to the family palace located next door.
In the years 1653-1657 the construction continued under the direction of Francesco Borromini. Borromini partially changed the original project; among other things he increased the distance between the two towers integrated into the façade and designed the layout of the concave façade to give more prominence to the dome.
In 1672 the construction was completed by Carlo Rainaldi (1611-1691), the son of the architect who had begun the work.
The façade, characterized by its retreat in the central part and by the curved lateral parts, is between the two bell towers, both culminating in a conical roof bearing crosses. On the façade, devoid of decorations other than the garlands between the pilasters, there are three portals, with the central one larger than the others.
The dome, the work of Giovanni Maria Baratta (drum) and Carlo Rainaldi (lantern), is decorated at the base with pairs of Corinthian pillars alternating with large rectangular windows. The plumes of the dome, painted between 1667 and 1671 by Giovan Battista Gaulli (known as Baciccio) are dedicated to the four cardinal virtues; the fresco of the dome, however (the work of Ciro Ferri and Sebastiano Corbellini who completed it) depicts Saint Agnes introduced to the Glory of Paradise.
The inside of the church follows a Greek cross plan. The four short arms of the nave, the apse and the transepts, richly decorated with golden stucco in the vaults, meet in the central octagon, where there are four altars dedicated to Sant’Alessio, Santa Ermenziana, Sant’Eustachio and Santa Cecilia, with marble altarpieces and statues respectively by Giovanni Francesco Rossi, Leonardo Reti, Melchiorre Cafà and Antonio Raggi. The columns that frame them are in red Cottanello marble. The transepts are dedicated to St. Agnes and St. Sebastian. The accelerated marble perspectives are by Costanzo de Peris.
The main altar was built between 1720 and 1724 based on a design by Carlo Rainaldi and houses the Holy Family altarpiece by Domenico Guidi. The elevation of the altar is built on four fluted columns in ancient green marble coming from the Arch of Marcus Aurelius in Corso. The columns end with composite capitals in golden leaf marble, which support the curvilinear entablature. The tympanum is surmounted by two stucco angels carrying the dove with the palm, a symbol of martyrdom. In the centre, three angels holding the scroll with wording taken from the Gospel “among those born of women there is none greater than John”, a phrase which is also linked to Giovanni Battista Pamphilj, who wanted the altar to be dedicated to the saint whose name it bore. Initially the altar was supposed to be dedicated to Saint Agnes and the altarpiece was supposed to contain the miracle of Saint Agnes who resurrects with prayer Procopius, who was killed by the devil. Following the death of Alessandro Algardi, who had been entrusted with the construction, Ercole Ferrata and Domenico Guidi were commissioned to create the large stucco model compliant with the one prepared by Algardi. Subsequently, however, it was decided to dedicate to the saint not the apse altar but the chapel on the north side, and it was decided to dedicate the apse altarpiece to the two Holy Families (that of Mary, Joseph and Jesus and that of Elizabeth, Zechariah and John). At the center of the composition, little John the Baptist shows Jesus a rolled up scroll. Jesus, supported by the Virgin behind him, is flooded by the light of the Holy Spirit. Above, cherubs and angels flutter among olive twigs and hold out bunches of dates.
The crypt, or sacellum infimum, is the only surviving part of the primitive church built on the site of the martyrdom of Saint Agnes. It is accessed from the Chapel of Saint Agnes (a work by Borromini) via the staircase located on the right of the Altar. It is believed to be the place where Agnes was killed; for this reason it is a place venerated by the faithful since the 7th century. The crypt is divided into three rooms built from the halls of the stadium of the Emperor Domitian (inaugurated in 86 AD). The stadium is modeled in its shape from the current Piazza Navona. In 1653 Borromini, who took over the direction of the works of the church of Sant’Agnese, after the necessary investigations, carried out an initial restoration of the crypt, compromised by humidity, a problem that is still present today. The crypt is subject to frequent flooding; for this reason it was also restored in 1885. The paintings inspired by the life of the saint are today almost completely ruined and illegible, due to the high humidity of the rooms.
ABOVE: Cardinal Müller delivering his homily
BELOW: Photos of the Mass and of the interior and exterior of the Church of Sant’Agnese in Agone, Rome. The oil painting of the martyrdom of St. Agnes was painted by Juan Vicente Massip in 1540 (The Prado, Madrid)
