BLESSED AGNES OF BOHEMIA.

Blessed Agnes of Bohemia is a figure but slightly known in Franciscan story. Buried in the folios of the Acta Sanctorum of the Bollandists under the date prescribed for her remembrance, 6th March, her life-story has been scarcely remembered, and even to Franciscan students she is known only through the occasional references in the sources and especially by the reflected glory of having had four letters addressed to her by Saint Clare. Never before has her life been presented to English readers. For the last twenty years the loving devotion of followers of Saint Francis has directed the searchlight of literary criticism upon the origins of the Franciscan Order. The great aim has been, and still is, to trace patiently back the paths, often tangled and difficult, which lead to those two great figures, Saint Francis and Saint Clare, which have succeeded in casting a spell over the devotion of the Catholic Church: to learn what really is the “Franciscan spirit” and what factors led to the success of the movement which, beginning in Umbria, spread throughout the world and saved the Church. To many, the magnificence of the triple Church of San Francesco, even though it does contain the bones of the Saint, or the glory of Santa Maria degli Angeli, even though it does enshrine the Portiuncula, fail somewhat in their appeal.