themselves, but never found any man who could assert that he had seen them. Bollandas, AA.SS.
St. Agatha (6), grand - princess of Russia, commemorated Feb. 7, with her daughters-in-law, SS. Mary and Christina, massacred with the other inhabitants of Vladimir by the Mongol Tartars. Agatha was the wife of George Yseyolodovitch, grand-prince of Russia (1224-1238). When the Tartars were devastating Russia in the dreadful winter of 1238, the grand-prince went to the province of Yaroslav to raise troops and obtain help from his brothers and nephews. He left his sons—Mstislaf and Vsevolod—to hold the town of Vladimir. They had in their care their wives, Mary and Christina, their mother the grand-princess Agatha, some children, and other members of the family. As the Tartars marched through the country they killed and destroyed, with brutal ferocity, "the burning towns and rifled shrines proclaimed where they had passed." Instead of living inhabitants coming and going, were corpses lying on the frozen ground, torn by wild beasts and birds of prey. At Moscow the Tartars butchered every man, woman, and child, except Vladimir, the second son of the grand-prince, and some young monks and nuns, whom they carried off with their army. On Feb. 2, 1238, they arrived before the town of Vladimir, and asked whether the grand-prince was at home. The Vladimirians, for all answer, sent a flight of arrows into their camp. The Mongols then set Agatha's son, the young prince Vladimir, in front of their line, crying out, "Do you recognize your prince?" Indeed, he was so altered by the grief and horror of his situation and the ill treatment he had received, that they hardly knew him. After a few days of brave defence, it became evident that the case was desperate. The princes, princesses, and nobles determined not to fall alive into the hands of the barbarians. Vseyolod, his wife, and a number of the most illustrious nobles and citizens assembled in the church of Our Lady. They begged Metrophanes, the bishop, to give them the monastic tonsure. This solemnity was performed in profound silence. They took leave of the world and of life, but prayed Heaven to preserye the existence, the glory, and the cherished name of Russia. On Feb. 7, the Sunday of the carniyal, after Matins, the assault began. The Tartars rushed into the new city by its four gates. Mstislaf and Vsevolod withdrew with their guard into the old town called Petcherni, where they perished at the hands of the invaders. Their mother, the grand-princess Agatha, with her daughter, her brothers, her daughters- in-law, and her granddaughter, shut themselves up in the cathedral. The Mongols set it on fire. The bishop cried aloud, "Lord! stretch out Thine inyisible arms and receive Thy servants in peace." Then he gave his blessing to all present, devoting them to death. Some were suffocated in the smoke, some were burnt, some fell by the sword of the Tartars, who broke in at last, attracted by the treasures they expected to find. The names of the three princesses, Agatha, Mary, and Christina, are given in the ancient manuscript, Lives of the Saints, "Saints of Vladimir." Karamsin, Histoire de Russie, iii. 344, 347, 402, etc.
B. Agatha (7) of Gubbio, also called Agatetta. 13th or 14th century. Nun O.S.A. in the monastery of Santa Maria, called Paradise. Jacobilli, Santi delľ Umhria.
St. Agathocila, Sept. 17, M. 1st century. Christian slave of Nicholas and Paulina, who wore apostates from Christianity. By another account she was the slave of a heathen woman and the daughter of Nicholas and Paulina, who were Christians. Her mistress treated her with great cruelty for eight years, and tried every means to induce her to renounce her religion; she used to send her barefooted in the coldest weather to gather wood. When she was locked up without food, a nightingale fed her by bringing her fruit from the trees. At last her mistress came into the prison and killed her with a red-hot iron bar. She is claimed as a Spaniard by Salazar, who says she suffered at Andujar in the year 94; but it is more
