St Agnes of Montepulciano--1268-1317

Young Agnes wanted to enter the convent at the age of six but her parents told her to wait until she was older. At the age of nine she was allowed to enter a Franciscan convent near her home. While in the convent she received many visions and, in one of them, our Blessed Mother gave her three stones in honor of the Trinity and told her to use them to build a convent some day. At the age of fifteen she was named abbess of the Franciscan convent in Proceno which she helped establish and which became her home for 20 years. She was called back to Montepulciano by her religious superior and asked to build a new Franciscan convent. She had a revelation from God that the new convent was to be a Dominican convent and not a Franciscan house. In 1306 the Dominican convent in Montepulciano began with the three stones that the Blessed Mother had given to Agnes earlier in her life-- and nothing else. From these humble beginning the convent was built in short time and was known as a place of prayer and peace.

Symbols of Agnes are the lamb and a book with a cross.

The whips are a sign of the self-mortification that marked her spirituality.