Agapa, Agape, Agapes, and Agapia seem to be forms of the same name, generally called Agape.
St. Agapa, Nov. 20, V., is mentioned in the Martyrologium Richenoviense, i.e. the copy of the Mart. of St. Jerome used in the old German monastery of Reichenau. AA.SS.
SS. Agape (l) Pistis, and Elpis, Sept. 17, VV. MM. Faith (1), Hope, and Charity (q.v.) are so called in the Byzantine Church. Neale, Holy Eastern Church.
St. Agape (2), Feb. 15. V. M. 273. Patron of Terano. A disciple of St. Valentine, bishop of Interamna. There are several places called Interamna; this is probably Terano. She and her companions led a religions life there, and were put to death soon after their master. The inhabitants hold the festival of their patrons, of whom Valentine is chief, on four days, Feb. 14, 15, 16, 17. R.M. AA.SS. Jacobilli says St. Agape's house was not at Terano, but at a place called Fra le Torri, outside the town of Terni; that the house was built in 255 by St. Valentine; that with Agape were her sister, St. Thionia or Teonia, and 33 nuns, the chief of whom were SS. Chionia, Castula, and Sungca. (Santi dell' Umbria, iii. 265.) St. Domnina (1) seems to be one of those honoured with them, but Jacobilli places her martyrdom three centuries later, in the time of Totila.
SS. Agape (3) and Chionia, April 3, and Irene, April 5. c. 304. Famous martyrs in the tenth persecution, which occurred in the time of Diocletian. Their names are in the Roman Martyrology as martyrs at Thessalonica. The legend comes down to us in different forms. I give one from the Flos Sanctorum; a second from the Ada Sanctorum, where Henschenius derives it from an ancient Life of St. Anastasia; and a third from Baillet (April 1), who considers their authentic Acts, published by Ruinart, more reliable than the authority followed by Henschenius.
Vega, in the Flos Sanctorum, says that SS. Agape, Chionia, and Irene or Yrnea were the maids of St. Anastasia, and shared her imprisonment. Instead of putting them immediately to death—as recorded in the story of St. Anastasia—the governor thought them too beautiful for such a fate, and determined to save them as slaves for himself. As they despised his clemency and admiration, he shut them up in a kitchen. When he went to visit them, they became invisible. The pots and pans took their forms, so that the three saints remained unmolested while the deluded governor embraced and kissed the unresisting kitchen utensils till his face and clothes were black and dirty. When he came out his servants took him for a devil, struck him with their fists and sticks, and then ran away from him. He went to the Emperor to complain of their conduct, but every one thought he was mad, and began to beat him, spit at him, and throw sticks and stones at him. The devil had so completely deceived him that he could not see his own disfigurement, nor understand the reason of all this ill treatment. He thought he and his clothes were white and clean, and as everybody told him the contrary he supposed himself bewitched by the three girls. He next ordered their clothes to be taken off. This was found impossible; the more the servants pulled, the tighter the saints' garments stuck to them. At last the governor, exhausted and puzzled, fell asleep, and slept so long and so soundly, and snored so loudly that no one could awake him, and if the devil hasn't taken him he is snoring there still. The throe Christian maidens were put to death.
The second version of the story is as follows:—
When St. Chrysogonus was sent to Aquileia by Diocletian, St. Anastasia, his disciple and friend, followed him to visit the imprisoned Christians and bury the martyrs there as she had done at Rome. Chrysogonus was beheaded at Aqua Gradata (Grao, in Friuli), and his body thrown into the sea. It was soon washed ashore at a place called Adsaltus, a small estate where three sisters, Christians, named Agape, Chionia, and Irene, lived with an aged priest named Zoilus. They took up the body of the martyr, and buried it with great care
