Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.
Saint Frances Of Rome.
Widow.
Feast Day 9 March.
Double.
White Vestments.
Saint Frances of Rome giving alms.
Artist: Giovanni Battista Gaulli (1639–1709).
Date: 1675.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Saint Frances, a noble Roman lady, showed forth the strength of virtues mentioned in the Epistle. She was betrothed at the age of eleven to Lorenzo de Ponziani, and was, for forty years, the type of a perfect Christian spouse.
Avoiding festivities, wearing the simplest apparel, devoting to Prayer and to the care of The Poor all her spare time after she had accomplished her domestic duties, she Founded, at Rome, The House of The Oblates of The Congregation of Mount Olivet, under The Rule of Saint Benedict (1433).
After the death of her husband, she retired there in order to purchase, at the price of all her possessions, “The Precious Pearl of Eternal Life” (Gospel). Having, thus, become “The Spouse of Christ” (Tract), she acquired, by the continual contemplation of The Passion of Jesus, the Divine Energy which enabled her to obtain a perfect mastery over her senses.
To sustain her in her terrible encounters with The Spirit of Evil, God favoured her with the visible presence of her Guardian Angel, with whom she conversed familiarly (Collect). She died in 1440.
Her body is kept in Rome in the Church of Santa Maria Nuova, near The Forum, also called after her name, and, of which, Pope Pius XI made a Lenten Stational Church in 1934 (Thursday in Passion Week in Lent).
At this Holy Season of Penance, let us, like Saint Frances, imitate the life, full of sacrifice, of The Saviour.
Mass: Cognóvi.
Commemoration: In Lent. Of The Feria.
Last Gospel: In Lent. Of The Feria.
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