(4TH CENT.)
[In some authors on Jan. 28th; in others, on Feb. 17th; in others,
on Feb, 25th; also on Feb. 18th. Authority:--The Acts of S. Agnes,
attributed to S. Ambrose, but of questionable authenticity; and the
apocryphal Acts of SS. John and Paul.]
S. Constantia, daughter of Constantine the Great, was afflicted with a
distressing disease, apparently scrofula. The Roman general,
Gallicanus, being much in favour with Contantine, and having lost his
wife, was offered Constantia in marriage by the emperor. Gallicanus
was called off to oppose an inroad of the barbarians on Thrace, and he
vowed, if he obtained the victory, to accept the faith of Christ. He
succeeded in repulsing the enemy, and returned to Rome to find that
Constantia had been healed of her scrofula at the tomb of S. Agnes,
and that she had persuaded his three daughters, Augusta, Attica, and
Artemia, to live with her, as consecrated virgins, near the shrine of
the virgin martyr, to whose intercession she attributed her cure. It
is difficult to decide what shadow of historical foundation there is
for this story.