rble, and in the temple a monument containing
the saint's body; that the sea continued thus to retire every year on
the same day, and did not return for a week, that worshippers might,
without apprehension of danger, perform their devotions in honour of
the holy martyr. In connection with these ceremonies, a most wonderful
circumstance occurred, even more strange than what has been related of
the temple. One year a mother left her young infant in the temple, and
on her return next year she found her child not only alive, but in
perfect health. Gregory of Tours and many others gave credit to this
story.

_St. Agnes_ was so great a favourite that her festivals were
celebrated with more than ordinary pomp. She was descended from a
Roman family of rank and opulence, and endowed by nature with great
personal beauty. She was beheaded at the early age of thirteen, in the
year 306. By the sentence of her judge, she was ordered to be treated
in a most shameful manner, but through a providential interposition
she was saved from the ignominy her persecutors intended for her.
After that event the Roman women worshipped her. The parents of St.
Agnes were blessed with a vision while praying at her tomb, in which
she appeared to them in white raiment, with a lamb standing by her
side, being the universally acknowledged emblem of innocence. On the
fast held on St. Agnes's Day, two of the whitest lambs that could be
procured were presented at her altar, and afterwards carefully reared
until they were shorn. Their wool was then hallowed, and converted
into white cloth for holy garments. Rural virgins were said to
practise singular rites, in keeping St. Agnes's Fast, for the purpose
of discovering their future husbands.

In the time of Liberius, a Roman of wealth and rank, named John,
having no children, resolved to make a gift of his whole substance to
the Holy Virgin. With the consent of his wife, the entire estate was
therefore conveyed to Mary, whom they thenceforth jointly entreated in
their prayers to let them know by some token in what manner she chose
to dispose of it. Their prayers were heard. On the night of the 4th
August, when the heat was great at Rome, there was a miraculous fall
of snow, which covered part of the Esquiline Mount. The same night
John and his wife were advised in their dreams to build a church on
the ground which they should find covered with snow. Next morning they
went to acquaint Pope Liberius with what