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Elizabeth A.Sackler Center for Feminist Art

Agnes (Hildegarde of Bingen group)

b. 1211, Prague; d. 1282, Prague

Saint Agnes of Bohemia was born the daughter of King Otakar I (ruled 1198–1230). She was engaged at a young age to the son of Holy Roman emperor Frederick II, but she broke it off and returned to Prague, where she dedicated the rest of her life to religious pursuits, charitable works, and ministering to the poor. Agnes became part of the Franciscan religious order known as the Poor Clares. The patron saint of Bohemia, she founded an abbey and a hospital. She was canonized in 1989.