My second edition copy of The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian begins the entry on Saint Agnes with these words, “She has been venerated as a virgin in Rome since the 4th cent., but the early legends of her martyrdom vary considerably, and nothing certain can be deduced as to the date or manner of her death.”[1] By contrast, the authorized biographical sketch for her commemoration in Lesser Feasts and Fasts begins, “As a child of twelve years, Agnes suffered for her faith, in Rome, during the cruel persecution of the Emperor Diocletian.”[2] I think the point, as it were, goes to the Oxford Dictionary.
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