St Agnes and Other Child Martyrs

As we celebrate the memorial of St Agnes of it is a fine thing to contemplate the bravery and zeal of which the young may be capable.

Our priest this morning talked about how very little is known with any certainty of some of the early Christian martyrs, and how there have been times when  sensible Catholic were tempted to dismiss not just the details, but their entire stories as myth. One supposed fact clearly mitigating against the truth of Agnes's cult was here extreme youth when she was executed.

After all, he mused, cocking an eyebrow ironically, who would kill a child over religion?