BLESSING OF BABY LAMBS FOR FEAST OF ST. AGNES

VATICAN CITY, JAN 19, 1999 (VIS) - This morning in the Sala del Tronetto, or Little Throne Room, Pope John Paul blessed two baby lambs whose wool will be used to make the palliums to be bestowed on new metropolitan archbishops in St. Peter's on the June 29th feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles.

For centuries lambs have been blessed each year by the pontiff on the January 21 feast of St. Agnes, for whom the traditional symbol is a lamb. This virgin-martyr died about 350 and is buried in the basilica named for her on Rome's Via Nomentana.

The lambs are raised by the Trappist Fathers of the Abbey of the Three Fountains and, when shorn, their wool is made into the palliums by the Sisters of St. Cecelia.

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