The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1903-02-13

comp ny S comm TO tea.
Edwin L. sabin- in the Woman's Home
Companion.
THE LEGEND OF ST. AGNES.
The eve of St. Agnes, whose festival
falls upon January 81, has for centuries
been deemed a period of prophetic prom
| Use. for maidens in search of a husband,
and there are almost as many charms
| approved by tradition for that date as
for the more widely observed Halloween.
An ancient method of divination di-
rected that upon st. Agnes Night you
take a row of pins and pull out every
one, one after another, sticking them in
your sleeve and saying meanwhile a
Pater Noster. Then you shall dream of
him Tor herr you shall marry"
A still more elaborate method was 10:
a maiden to leave her home and go to :,
strange locality. When she retired to
| right leg stocking and knit the left gar
ter around it, saying:
/ l knit this knot, this knot I knit.
To know the thing I know not yet;
That I may see the man that shall my hus-
band be.
| NOL III Iii JEST u "OlOL LIZ
But what he weareth every day.;
That l tomorrow may him ken
From among all other men.
At the conclusion of this invocation
she was to lie down on her back, with
hands under her head. and her future
spouse would appear in a dream. and
! claim her with a kiss. This charm was
more certain if the maid went supperless
to bed. 1t is Keats who has made the
subject ever memorable in literature by
his exquisite poem of "The Eve of st.
Agnes,' and the thoughtful Madeline who
"sighed for Agnes dreams, the sweetest
of the year"
Then
They told her how, upon St. Agnes Eve,
Young virgins might have visions of de-
light,
And soft a~dorings from their loves receive
Ppon the honeyed middle of the night.
II ceremonies due they did Alright.
as supperless to bed they must retire.
Nor look behind. nor sideways, but require
OF heaven. with upward eyes, for ali that
they desire.
Another dream charm for St. Agnes
eve was to take a sprig of rosemary and
another of thyme and sprinkle them
thrice with water. Then place one in
each shoe and, standing them on each
side of the bed, repeat
st. Agnes, that's to lovers kind,
Come ease the trouble of my mind
In the north of Scotland the lads and
lassies used to convene at midnight, then
one by n take themselves to a field of
grain, where they would repeat:
Agnes sweet and Agnes fair,
Hither, hither now repair;
Benny Agnes, let me see
The lad Tor lass) who is to marry me.
On the return home, it was confidently
expected to view in a mirror the shadow
of the destined one.
While the trial of the dumb cake is not
confined to St. Agnes eve alone, it is al
ways a feature of divinauion among the
maidens anxious to see what fate has in
store for them.
1t is made by a group of girls, three
being considered a particularly lucky
number. Its component parts are equal
portions of flour and salt, with water
enough to mix into a cake. This is then
kneaded, baked and "eaten up clean'' IN
solemn silence, and whatever the thirst
of the OWNERS, no drop of liquid is to be
swallowed before morning, lest the charm
be broken.
Of all the saints in Rome-and their
enumeration is a. task one does not care
to undertake offhand-there is none so
dear to women, young and old, of high
and low degree, as Agnes, martyr, saint.
patroness of maidenhood and modesty.
Take it any day you please, and strolling
by the venerable old chhurch called ~
her name, on the west side of the Piazza
Navona, you will discern not only the
steps of the upper church, but those de-
scerding to the subterranean chapel as
we'll. filled with a crowd of kneeling wor-
shippers. Some of these peasant women
have their market baskets by their side,
others their distaffs in hand;/ but ali
alike are begging the intercession of the
dear saint who stands so close to tempt-
cd ~Womanhood.
So ancient is the worship paid to st.
| Agnes that next to the apostles and
evangelists there is no saint whose efigy
is older. 1t is found in the antique YES.
sells of glass and earthen ware used by
the Christians in the early part of the
third century, with her name inscribed.
In n of thes images, however, nor yet
in the mosaics in the apse of "Sant
-Agnesi," the venerable church beyond the
Porta Pia, erected, according to tradi-
ton, by Constantine the Great at the
request of his daughter: Cohstantia, is the
lamb introduced, which in later times has
been her inseparable companion in the
myriad forms of art dedicated to her.
Sometimes in the old effgies she is de-
picted bearing the palm of martyr, and
again she holds a branch of olive with
the palm and is crowned with olive.
Next to the Madonna, St. Agnes seems
to have appealed most to the masters of
| all schools of art.
In the rare engraving by Martin
Schoen she is represented as looking
down meek1y.
In a picture by Andrea del Sarto, at
Pisa, she is the martyr seated partly
yelled, holding the palm in her right
hand. with the other around the neck of
a lamb. The drapery is amber and violet,
and the exquisite features are said to be
those of the idealized head of Del Sarto's
beautiful but worthless wife.