The blessing of the lambs on Sant’Agnese’s feast connects early Christian memory with living Catholic tradition in Rome.

The lambs — carried in baskets dressed in white with red roses for St. Agnes’ virginity and martyrdom — were later blessed in ...

Adding some sweetness to the usual general audience-focused Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV was presented with two lambs Jan. 21 as ...

In a traditional ceremony marking the feast of Saint Agnes, Pope Benedict blessed a pair of lambs whose wool will be used to make palliums for the Church's new metropolitan archbishops. On Jan. 21, ...

Because of the nature of her martyrdom, the Church honors St. Agnes as the patron saint of girls, chastity, virgins, and victims of rape. A lamb is wreathed in flowers during a special Mass for the ...

Two chaste white lambs pomped with ribbons looked at the Pope last week, on the anniversary of St. Agnes’ deathday. They had just come from blessing in the Church of St. Agnes on the Via Nomen-tana, ...

Two lambs were presented to Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday on the liturgical feast of St. Agnes, in keeping with an ancient ...

Pope Leo XIV blesses two lambs in the Urban VIII Chapel at the Vatican Jan. 21, 2026, the feast of St. Agnes. The lambs are bound and placed in baskets to prevent them from running away. The wool from ...