Ss. Boniface and Aglae

Aglae, a rich and noble woman of Rome known for her charity, and Boniface, the honest and open-handed steward of her estates, lived together in sin, and both came to repent of it. She sent him to the East to bring back the relics of martyrs, and at Tarsus in Cilicia, seeing Christians tortured for their faith, he declared that he was one of them, and was put to death, about 290. His companions brought his body home to Rome, where Aglae received it as a martyr’s, gave away all she had, and lived the rest of her life in penance and prayer. The Church keeps the two together as witnesses that repentance restores what sin had lost. Feast: December 19.