St. Agnes of Rome: patron saint for women with hair loss?

and Damian, St. Roch of Montpellier, St. Rosalia, St. Sebastian, St. Thecla of Iconium), erysipelas (St. Martin of Tours, St. Andrew), snake bite (St. Paul the Apostle, St. Peter the Apostle, St. Patrick), skin wounds (St. Margaret of Antiochia), skin diseases in general (St. Bartholomew, St. Peregrine). Nevertheless, there is no patron saint for hair loss, though there are 4 patron saints for hairdressers and stylists (St. Cosmas and Damian, St. Louis IX, St. Martin de Porres and St. Mary Magdalen). For 3 reasons, St. Agnes of Rome would seem appropriate as patron saint for women with hair loss and for trichologists, respectively: (1) the saint’s historical passio, (2) her attributes in Christian iconography and (3) her feast day. St. Agnes is a virgin martyr saint of the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Catholic Churches. She is also acknowledged in the Church of England and the Anglican Communion as well as in Eastern Orthodoxy. According to the legend [3] , St. Agnes was a member of the Roman nobility born in 291 and raised in a Christian family. She suffered martyrdom during the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian (284–305), on January 21, 304. The prefect Sempronius wished Agnes to marry his son, and on Agnes’ refusal he condemned her to death. As Roman law did not permit the execution of virgins, Sempronius dragged Agnes naked through the streets to Roman Catholic tradition has made saints the patrons or protectors of various aspects of human life, and they are invoked for particular reasons [1] . Sometimes this is a result of actual facts, e.g. St. Blaise is invoked for throat ailments because he saved a child from suffocation due to a fish bone stuck in his throat; sometimes it is based on a detail of martyrdom, e.g. St. Laurence is invoked for burns because he was put to death by being roasted on a gridiron, and some instances result from the figurative tradition, e.g. St. Bartholomew is invoked for skin diseases since images of his martyrdom depict him with his skin draped over his arm. The number of patron saints for skin diseases is large, and the dermatological conditions for which saints may be invoked include [2] : leprosy (St. Vincent de Paul), skin rash (St. Rose of Lima), pox (St. Matthew, St. Rita of Cascia, St. Saturninus of Toulouse), skin burns (St. John the Evangelist, St. Florian, St. Laurence of Rome), ergotism (St. Anthony the Abbot), sexually transmitted infections (St. Apollinaris, St. Denis), skin ulceration (St. Charles Borromeo), scab (St. Ignatius of Antioch), dog bite (St. Hubert, St. Vitus, St. Walburga), cancer (St. Agatha, St. Peregrine), plague (St. Aloysius Gonzaga, St. Anne, St. Benedict, St. Bruno the Carthusian, St. Christopher, St. Cyprian, St. Francis Xavier, St. Gregory the Great, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Cosmas Published online: April 29, 2009