*Why is virginity celebrated? In our day and age virginity is celebrated in absentia; namely, chastity and purity are held in low regard and the right to engage in sexual activity is not only expected, but promoted, even among minors. But the Catholic Church holds that virginity and chastity and self-restraint in the face of overwhelming societal promotion of self-indulgence are not only commendable, but holy and graced by God. Marriage between a man and a woman is the proper relationship of sexual love with its complementary unity and openness to procreation.
Today’s saint respected virginity AND marriage to the point of offering herself up for martyrdom in witness to her love for Jesus. St. Agnes was about twelve years old when she was arrested. Although there are many legends that surround her passion and death, the core of the stories conveys the truth of her holiness. She was soon to be able to be married when she refused propositions because she had consecrated her virginity to Jesus. She was reported to the authorities during the reign of Diocletian, the most comprehensive persecution in the ancient world, in AD 304. The judge of her trial tried to get her to give up her faith and threatened her with fire and torture. She was stripped at a brothel and threatened with rape. She was executed in a stadium by being hacked to death with a sword.
We have a modern martyr just like St. Agnes in St. Maria Goretti, who was eleven years old when she was killed for not giving in to lustful advances. Martyrdom is a gift for those who love God enough to suffer the ultimate sacrifice, life. St. Agnes, St. Maria Goretti, and others have offered their lives for the sake of love of God, the true offering of virginity.
*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_Joseph%27s_Catholic_Church_(Central_City,_Kentucky)_-_stained_glass,_St._Agnes,_detail.jpg
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