Each year, on the day of St. Agnes (January 21), lambs are presented to
the Holy Father for the blessing of the wool. According to the tradition,
the lambs also receive the blessing in the Roman church of St. Agnes
Outside-the-walls, which stands over the catacomb where the saint is
buried. The wool of the lambs is blessed because it is going to be used to
weave the pallia for the new metropolitan archbishops (the "pallium" is a
wool vestment worn by bishops over the chasuble). The pallia are going
to bestowed by the Pope on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29.
The lambs are raised by the Trappist Fathers of the Cistercian Order, in
the Roman Abbey of Tre Fontane, the place where Saint Paul was
martyred. St. Agnes, whose name means “lamb” in Latin, was a Roman
virgin who at the age of 12 suffered martyrdom for the sake of Christ and
her consecrated virginity. She is the patron saint of chastity, engaged
couples, and of people who suffered violence. The two lambs wear a
white and a red floral wreath, symbolizing St. Agnes' virtues of purity and
faithfulness to Christ until death. The lambs are then going to be kept and
cared for by the Benedictine sisters in the Roman Convent of St. Cecilia.
On Holy Thursday, the wool will be shorn to weave the pallia, which will be
kept in an urn at St. Peter's tomb in St. Paul's Basilica Outside-the-walls,
until June 29.
