Sacred Calendar

The Roman year ordered for memory, penance, feasts, saints, and the daily pilgrimage of the faithful.

Calendar standard

Pre-1955 Roman usage

The calendar follows the universal Roman year under the rubrics of Pope St. Pius X, with the Roman Martyrology preserved as a distinct daily witness.

The day is presented for prayer, recollection, study, and perseverance in the City.

Daily observance

Today in the City of God

The Church keeps this day in holy time. The Pilgrim's Companion gathers the feast, daily quote, Martyrology, meditation, prayer, and related chapters into one daily path through the City.

Daily observance

St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr, for the Second Time

Wednesday, January 28, 2026

Season: Time after Epiphany

The day is set within the Roman year so its feast, Martyrology, daily quote, prayer, and reading path may be received together without blurring their proper sources.

Today's pilgrimage

St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr, for the Second Time

Rank: Simple

Color: red

Quote for the day

St. John

These follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.

Apocalypse 14:4, Douay-Rheims

Roman Martyrology

Roman Martyrology - January 28

At Rome, the second feast of St. Agnes. — In the same place, St. Flavian, martyr, who suffered under Diocletian. — At Apollonia, the holy martyrs Thyrsus, Leucius, and Callinicus, who were made to undergo various torments in the time of the emperor Decius. Thyrsus and Callinicus consummated their martyrdom by being beheaded; Leucius, being called by a heavenly voice, yielded his soul to God. — In Thebais, the holy martyrs Leonides and his companions, who obtained the palm of martyrdom in the time of Diocletian. — At Alexandria, the commemoration of many holy martyrs, who, whilst they were at Mass in the church on this day, were put to death in various manners by the followers of Syrian, an Arian general. — Also, St. Cyril, bishop of the same city, a most celebrated defender of the Catholic faith, who rested in peace with a great reputation for learning and sanctity. — At Saragossa, St. Valerius, bishop. — At Cuenca, in Spain, the birthday of St. Julian, bishop, who went to his God with the reputation of working miracles, after bestowing the goods of the Church on the poor, and, like the Apostles, supporting himself by the work of his hands. — In the monastery of Kheims, the demise of a holy priest named John, a man of God. — In Palestine, St. James, a hermit, who hid himself a long time in a sepulchre to do penance for a fault he had committed, and being celebrated for miracles, departed for heaven.

Highlighted saint

St. Agnes, for the Second Time

The virgin martyr remembered again by the Roman Church.

The Roman calendar returns to St. Agnes on this day, honoring her again after her principal feast.

This second remembrance teaches that purity and courage need repetition. The soul hears once and forgets; the Church repeats holy things so they can enter the will and shape the life.

St. Agnes is not merely an image of youthful innocence. She is a witness that Christ has rights over the body, the imagination, affection, speech, and every promise of earthly advantage.

Virtue to practice

Repeated fidelity to purity.

Error to resist

The impatience that hears a lesson on chastity once and then returns to careless habits.

For the pilgrim in exile

Let St. Agnes teach you again without embarrassment. The Church repeats because souls are forgetful, and purity is worth guarding every day.

Imitate today

  • Renew a concrete resolution for purity.
  • Guard the imagination and speech.
  • Pray for young souls exposed to corruption.

Sources

  • St. Andrew Daily Missal, January 28.
  • Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, January 28.

Meditation

The Coming of the King

The mystery of the coming of Christ teaches the pilgrim to wait without surrender, to recognize divine humility, and to adore the King where He truly appears. Sacred time trains hope, but hope must remain disciplined by doctrine and worship.

Prayer

The day should become prayer.

O Lord, let the saints of this day teach me how doctrine becomes life, how virtue endures trial, and how fidelity resists the errors of its age.

Thought for the pilgrim

The saints are living teachers of doctrine and virtue.

Practice

The day should become obedience.

Imitate one concrete virtue from today's saint, even if only in a small hidden act.

Source notes

Universal Roman Calendar under the rubrics of Pope St. Pius X

Fasting and abstinence according to the laws observed in 1952

Daily quotations and pilgrimage excerpts should come from Scripture, Fathers, Doctors, saints, traditional popes before 1958, traditional catechisms, approved devotional works, or received liturgical texts.

The Roman Martyrology, Baltimore, 1916, published by John Murphy Company; the local 1916 text is displayed and traceable to its source lines.

  • St. Andrew Daily Missal, Liturgical Calendar, pp. xvii–xxviii.