Saint Agnes

In 1898, six Catholic families resided in Roscoe, most of which attended Sunday Mass in Richmond, the others at St. Martin. Brothers Frank and Joe Rothstein and neighbor F.W. Hilger were among the first to discuss the idea of building a church in town. Gregor Kost and Anton Schmitt were also key organizers.

Support grew, and the organizers called on Father Edward Ginther, O.S.B., to make a formal request to Bishop James Trobec of the Diocese of St. Cloud. Permission was granted, and construction began immediately. On October 18, 1898, the church was dedicated as St. Agnes Church, in honor of Bishop Trobec, who organized and served ten years as pastor at St. Agnes in St. Paul and had a special devotion to this saint.

St. Agnes of Rome was born in 291 AD and raised in a Christian family. Agnes was very beautiful and belonged to a wealthy family. Her hand in marriage was highly sought after, and she had many high ranking men chasing after her. However, Agnes made a promise to God never to stain her purity. Her love for the Lord was great and she hated sin even more than death!

Whenever a man wished to marry Agnes, she would always say, “Jesus Christ is my only Spouse.”

According to legend, the young men she turned away became so angry and insulted by her devotion to God and purity that they began to submit her name to authorities as a Christian follower. She was eventually sentenced to death and died a virgin-martyr at the age of 12 or 13.

Her feast day is celebrated on January 21, and she is the patron saint of young girls, chastity, rape survivors and the Children of Mary.