Agnes of Montepulciano

St. Agnes of Montepulciano, O.P.
Saint Agnes miraculously receiving the Blessed Sacrament from an angel
Born	28 January 1268 Montepulciano, Papal States
Died	20 April 1317 Montepulciano, Papal States
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church (Dominican Order)
Canonized	1726 by Pope Benedict XIII
Major shrine	, Montepulicano, Siena, Italy
Feast	20 April
Attributes	Lily and a lamb

Agnes of Montepulciano, O.P. (1268 – 1317), was a Dominican prioress in medieval Tuscany, who was known as a miracle worker during her lifetime. She is honored as a saint by the Catholic Church.

Agnes was born in 1268 into the noble Segni family in Gracciano, a frazione of Montepulciano, then part of the Papal States. At the age of nine, she convinced her parents to allow her to enter a Franciscan monastery of women in the city known as the "Sisters of the Sack", after the rough religious habit they wore. they live a simple, contemplative life. She received the permission of the pope to be accepted into this life at such a young age, normally against Church law.

In 1281, the lord of the castle of Proceno, a fief of Orvieto, invited the nuns of Montepulciano to send some of their Sisters to Proceno to found a new monastery. Agnes was among the nuns sent to found this new community. At the age of fourteen, she was appointed bursar.

In 1288 Agnes, despite her youth at only 20 years of age, was noted for her devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and deep life of prayer, and was elected as the abbess of the community. There she gained a reputation for performing miracles: people suffering from mental and physical ailments seemed cured by her presence. She was reported to have "multiplied loaves", creating many from a few on numerous occasions, recalling the Gospel miracle of the loaves and fishes. She herself, however, suffered severe bouts of illness which lasted long periods of time.