Jan 21: Of Saint Agnes, and a “Gorgeous Angel”

I had Saint Agnes, Virgin and Martyr, on my mind this morning.  It was her feast day, after all, and she is one of the earliest known women martyrs of the city of Rome (evidence of her martyrdom goes back to the mid-fourth century). She is also one of the seven women whose names are lifted up in the Roman Canon.

Yet when I glanced through the pages of my newspaper this morning, another feminine figure superimposed itself over Saint Agnes: another “inspiring symbol of faith,” if the ad for this “stunning limited edition angel figurine” is to be believed. The picture of this angel together with the description provided in the ad evoked an angelic version of a deluxe Barbie: “tiny waist,” “fluid elegance,” lovely features,” and “luxurious satin” described the unbelievably tall, slender figure in a flowing, white, sleeveless-dress and a posture that accentuated (without over-accentuating!) her breasts. My gender-attentive interests were arrested by this ad. I was just about ready to add the ad to my vast collection of “images of femininity used to advertize specific commodities,” in this case, angel figurines. {Angels, after all, are en vogue in our culture of diffuse spiritualities which has difficulties with anything religious that is too concrete and specific}.

Before I added this “gorgeous angel” – “We expect demand to be strong. Reply today!” — to my collection, however, it struck me that the narrative that developed around the early Roman martyr Saint Agnes was maybe not that different from the one attached to the angel figurine. Agnes’s story too became embellished with particular images of femininity: especially beauty, virginity and purity, to name but the most prominent. I began to wonder: why is it so difficult simply to stay with the basics? In the case of Saint Agnes: a young Roman girl who, during a period of persecution in the late second or early third century, chose death rather than a life bought at the price of denying her faith? Whether she was gorgeous or not, whether she was saved by an angel (with a tiny waist?!) when put into a brothel or not, and whether she died being executed like a lamb or not, doesn’t really matter that much, at least not to me.