AGAPE, IRENE and CHIONE, saints, martyrs. Sisters who were martyred under the emperor Diocletian in the year 304 at Thessalonica. Their feast is celebrated on April 3. When the decree of persecution was published in their city, they fled to the mountains; but after not much time had passed, they returned to their own homes, were captured, and brought before the tribunal, where they were examined three times about their faith. The authentic Acts of these three interrogations are preserved in a Greek text studied and published for the first time by Pio Franchi de’ Cavalieri. Finally, the three sisters were condemned to be burned: Agape and Chione on April 19, and Irene, the youngest, probably on the 5th of the same month.
Bibl.: Martyr. Romanum, p. 123; P. Franchi de’ Cavalieri, Note agiografiche (Studi e Testi, IX), Rome 1902, pp. 3-19; H. Delehaye, Les passions des martyrs et les genres littéraires, Brussels 1921, pp. 141-43. Cesario van Hulst