MARCH 2: SAINT OF THE DAY, NAME DAY

St. Agnes of Prague

Born in Prague in 1211 and died in the same city on March 2, 1282, Agnes of Bohemia was a Czech religious, belonging to the Order of the Poor Clares and founder of the monastery and hospital of San Francesco, as well as the founder of the order of the Crocigeri della Red Star.

She was the daughter of Ottocaro I, king of Bohemia, and of Constance of Hungary, she also had close kinship ties with the saints Ludmilla, Wenceslaus, Elizabeth, Margaret and Edvige, who was the sister-in-law of her uncle Andrew II.

She was raised by her great-aunt Edvige first in the Cistercian monastery of Trzebnica and then in that of Doksany.

At the age of eight, designated as a betrothed to Henry, son and heir of Emperor Frederick II of Swabia, she was sent to the Vienna court to be educated to be a future sovereign.

The message launched by Francis of Assisi, however, gave birth and grew in her a profound religious vocation and, supported by Pope Gregory IX, ended the engagement with Henry, retiring to Prague.

In 1232, he founded the first monastery of Friars Minor in the region in the Bohemian city, with an adjoining hospital reserved for the poor, for which he created a special lay brotherhood, called dei Crocigeri, which in 1237 was raised by the pope to the title of order. religious.

When she founded a monastery of Poor Clares in 1234 on the banks of the Vltava River, Saint Clare sent five of her religious to the place.

On 11 June of the same year, on the occasion of Pentecost, Agnese also moved to the convent, subsequently becoming its abbess and retaining this position until her death.

In 1989 she was proclaimed Saint by John Paul II, not to be confused with the second wife of Henry III of Meissen, also known as Agnes of Bohemia but died instead in 1268.

Other saints and celebrations of March 2

Santa Angela de la Cruz

Founder

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