AGAPE, IRENE and CHIONE, saints, martyrs. — Sisters, martyred under the emperor Diocleziano in 304 at Tessalonica. Feast on 3 April. When the decree of persecution was published in their city, they fled to the mountains; but after a short time they returned to their homes, were captured, and brought before the tribunal, where they were examined three times regarding 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 the stake: Agape and Chione on 1 April, Irene, the youngest, probably on the 5th of the same month.
BIBL.: Martyr. Romanum, p. 123; P. Franchi de' Cavalieri, Nuove 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