Agnes, † beginning of 4th c. under Diocletian at the age of twelve (so Augustine and Ambrose report); patroness of Christian virtue confronted by political and social violence; represented with a martyr's palm and a lamb (her name in Latin [agnus] = lamb); the wool from two lambs blessed today will be used to make the pallia which will be blessed by the pope on 29 June; Metropolitans, however, will receive those pallia in a separate ceremony within their home dioceses from the Apostolic Nuncio; mentioned in the Roman Canon