Blessed Agnes of Jesus

We have been looking at several saints from the first century of our Order, but Bl. Agnes is a Dominican from a later era. Agnes was born in France in 1602 and was one of those saints chosen by God for striking spiritual gifts from her childhood. More than simply pious or attracted to the things of God, Agnes often went into ecstasy and worked miracles. Although this can sometimes be an obstacle to entering religious life, in her case, it was the lack of dowry that was more significant—in those days, contemplative houses were often supported by the endowments the nuns were required to bring with them.

The Dominican nuns at Langeac finally agreed to take Agnes on trial. Her holiness quickly became apparent, especially her charity and humility in suffering affliction, and she became Prioress and later Novice Mistress. Among her teachings to the community and to her novices, she used to emphasize the practice of the Presence of God, always striving to be aware of His loving presence in the midst of the nuns’ everyday activities, so that all could be done for love of Him.

Bl. Agnes is especially renowned for her devotion to Our Lady and for her spiritual motherhood of Fr. Jean-Jacques Olier, the founder of the Sulpicians and part of the “French School” of spirituality along with Cardinal Berulle, St. Louis Marie de Montfort, and others. In his book, True Devotion to Mary, St. Louis Marie de Montfort says that the practice of this devotion gives to those who make use of it faithfully a great interior liberty, which is the liberty of the children of God. He illustrates this with the following story of Bl. Agnes:

When she was only seven years old and was suffering great spiritual anguish, she heard a voice telling her that if she wished to be delivered from her anguish and protected against all her enemies, she should make herself the slave of our Lord and his Blessed Mother as soon as possible. No sooner had she returned home than she gave herself completely to Jesus and Mary as their slave, although she had never known anything about this devotion before. She found an iron chain, put it round her waist and wore it till the day she died. [This chain is still venerated at the Dominican monastery at Langeac.] After this, all her sufferings and scruples disappeared and she found great peace of soul. (True Devotion, para. 170)

St. Louis Marie de Montfort then comments, “This led her [as a nun] to teach this devotion to many others who made rapid progress in it—among them, Father Olier, the founder of the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice, and several other priests and students from the same seminary.” In fact, God had given Bl. Agnes special charge of praying for Fr. Olier, and had revealed this to him in a vision. When they met later on, Agnes was influential in his spiritual growth and gave him invaluable encourage¬ment in his mission of reforming priestly education, before her early death in 1634.