St. Agnes of Montepulciano

St. Agnes of Montepulciano was born about 1268 at Gracciano near Montepulciano in Tuscany, Italy, and entered religious life as a young girl, so remarkable for her piety and gravity that, according to her life, she was made superior of a convent while still very young, by special dispensation. She later founded a monastery at Montepulciano, which she brought under the Rule of St. Dominic, becoming its prioress.

Renowned for her life of severe austerity, subsisting for long periods on bread and water and sleeping upon the ground, she was above all a woman of profound prayer and deep devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to the infant Christ. Many mystical graces and miracles were reported of her during her lifetime and after her death, and her body was found to be incorrupt. She was greatly venerated by St. Catherine of Siena, who came in pilgrimage to her tomb. She died at Montepulciano on 20 April 1317 and was canonized in 1726. Her memory is kept on 20 April.