We have been doing this for 1400+ years in Rome! Watch closely—because one of the Church’s most ancient traditions (6th century) begins with two lambs. 🐑 Every year on Jan. 21, the feast of St. Agnes, a ritual unfolds linking martyrdom, papal authority, and centuries of faith. In the Basilica of St. Agnes Outside the Walls, lambs are blessed whose wool will later be woven into the pallia—the white bands worn by new metropolitan archbishops as a sign of communion with the Pope. The symbolism begins with Agnes herself. Her name recalls both the Greek haghnòs, meaning “pure,” and the Latin agnus, meaning “lamb.” Tradition holds that the young Roman martyr, killed in the early fourth century, was executed by a sword to the throat—the same way lambs were slaughtered. In Christian art, she is often shown with a lamb and a palm branch, signs of innocence and martyrdom. This link between Agnes and lambs is ancient. Sources from the fourth century already mention a lamb placed at her tomb on her feast day as a way of identifying the saint. By the sixth century, the blessing of lambs at her tomb is explicitly attested—a practice that continues today. The lambs blessed on Jan. 21 provide the wool for the pallium, a narrow white band marked with black silk crosses. It symbolizes both honor and jurisdiction, expressing the bond between the Pope and the metropolitan archbishops who shepherd local Churches around the world. Each year, the pallia are blessed by the Pope on June 29, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. After the blessing, the lambs are entrusted to the Benedictine nuns of St. Cecilia in Trastevere. There, they are cared for tenderly until shearing time in the spring, when the nuns begin the careful work—washing, carding, spinning, and weaving by hand—of transforming raw wool into sacred vestments. Delivered on June 24, the feast of St. John the Baptist, who pointed to Christ as the Lamb of God, the pallia remind the Church that even the smallest signs can carry the weight of history—and the quiet language of faith. Pope Leo XIV then blessed and gave a pallium to each of the 35 metropolitan archbishops named this year. #catholictiktok #popeleoxiv #tradition - @cruxstationalis