Saint Frances of Rome

Religious, founder: “Oblate of Tor de' Specchi"

Santa Francesca Romana, celebrated on March 9

Best wishes to those who have the honor and privilege of wearing this sacred name, like Francesca Ruberto

Childhood

In 1378 the double election of Urban VI and the antipope Clement VII opened the Great Schism: for forty years two or even three popes fought for the throne of Peter. 

The institutional wound at the supreme summit of Christianity had religious, but also political consequences, devastating for the West and for Rome, which was its symbolic center. Francesca was born in this city in 1384, whose life would be profoundly marked by these terrible events.

I genitori della futura santa, Paolo Bussa e Iacobella dei Roffredeschi,  di nobile e antica famiglia del rione di Parione,  abitavano in una casa posta sulla odierna via dell’Anima, e la bambina venne battezzata e cresimata nella vicina chiesa di S. Agnese in Agone.

We know nothing of his training: he certainly learned to read, while it is less certain that he also knew how to write. From an early age Francesca stood out for her strong spiritual inclinations: she lived in her house isolating herself like a hermit, immersed in penance, prayer and devout reading, practicing a singular form of monastic asceticism within the home.

The marriage

Desiderosa di votarsi completamente a God nella verginità, nel 1395 o nel 1396, all’età di dodici anni, venne data in sposa contro la sua volontà a Lorenzo Ponziani, appartenente a una ricca famiglia di bovattieri del rione di Trastevere, proprietari di numeroso bestiame e di vasti possedimenti agricoli nel contado.

Their palace in Ponterotto stood near the basilica of S. Cecilia, where the family had its noble tomb. Despite the privileged position, the married life of Francesca fu segnata da molti dolori e gravi difficoltà famigliari.  Perse due sons in tenerissima età, a causa di una epidemia.

Nel 1408-09 o nel 1413-14, durante una delle occupazioni armate di Roma da parte delle truppe napoletane, i Ponziani pagarono un prezzo molto alto per la loro fedeltà alla Church e agli Orsini contro il re Ladislao d’Angiò-Durazzo e i Colonna:  Lorenzo, il marito di Francesca, fu ferito tanto gravemente da rimanerne infermo per tutta la vita, il cognato Paluzzo esiliato, il son Battista, ancora fanciullo, preso in ostaggio.

Fu la stessa madre che, per obbedire al comando del confessore, condusse il bambino in Campidoglio, dove risiedeva il conte di Troia, luogotenente del re di Napoli,  e dopo aver affidato la vita del son alla Madonna dell’Aracoeli lo consegnò ai nemici. Ma quando i soldati tentarono di issare il fanciullo su un cavallo per portarlo via, l’animale indietreggiò, rifiutando in ogni modo di farsi montare.  Stupiti e forse un po’ superstiziosi, i soldati del conte decisero di liberare il bambino e lo riconsegnarono alla madre.  Gli antichi biografi di Francesca sottolineano che essa sopportò sempre con pazienza i dolori, le disgrazie, i rovesci economici e finanziari della sua famiglia.

But in the saint's tribulations they also highlight the suffering of an entire city, oppressed by tyranny, divided, perpetually in crisis due to the absence of an effective government.

Charity and humility

Even if Francesca continued to carry within her the ancient nostalgia of the cloister and was always fascinated by the hermitic life, she lived the choice of the desert in her heart and in her mind and placed herself completely at the service of others.

Comprese che il pieno ritiro nel monastero non era la sola condizione per raggiungere la perfezione, e che anche i laici dovevano sentirsi impegnati in questa ricerca. Ci si poteva santificare anche rimanendo nel secolo, attraverso una vita semplice e povera, aperta all’love fraterno.

This was the hope that animated Francesca and marked her life with a duality of experiences, between retreat in contemplation and very active dedication to others.
From the beginning of her married life she carried out an intense charitable and welfare work in favor of the poor and the sick.

He worked in the hospitals of S. Maria in Cappella, S. Cecilia, S. Spirito in Sassia. He always left his house open to the needs of those who turned to it for alms, even going so far, in times of famine, of emptying the barn and cellars to feed the needy. Francesca, however, was not satisfied with exercising compassion towards the poor: she herself wanted to experience their condition.

Wife of a noble and rich man, she renounced all the ornaments dear to female vanity, to wear simple and rough clothes. She sold the items of her rich trousseau and with the proceeds of her had clothes sewn for the poor. She was also able to grasp some essential instances of Franciscanism, such as the value of personal poverty and the deep spiritual meaning of begging.

Insieme alla cognata Vannozza Ponziani, era solita  recarsi in pellegrinaggio nelle basiliche romane e spesso, in queste occasioni, non esitava a sedersi sui gradini della chiesa per mescolarsi agli altri mendicanti: con umiltà profondissima chiedeva anche lei l’elemosina del pane,  pronta a  ricevere “con giubilo e letizia incredibile” anche gli insulti e il disprezzo.

The thaumaturge

A fundamental and characteristic aspect of Francesca's charitable commitment is represented by her ability to cure the ills of the body and soul. In Rome she was well known for her powers

thaumaturgical: in fact she had a remarkable ability to cure various types of diseases, resorting to simple means, prepared by herself with commonly used ingredients, linked to an ancient patrimony of female wisdom and popular experiences and practices: decoctions, ointments, herbal poultices.

As a therapist, however, Francesca had a particular specialization, linked to an intense gynecological and obstetric activity.

Her industriousness in this field was rooted in precise social customs: this type of help was in fact part of the complex of typically female obligations and duties.

Wife and mother

Despite the intense charitable and welfare activity, Francesca was a solicitous and attentive wife and mother, who never put her spiritual needs and contemplative practices before availability towards her family.

Throughout her married life she always maintained the governance of her large house in Trastevere, without ever escaping domestic duties or the hard manual work on the Ponziani farm. Her guardian angel was always close to her and guided her with her light in the night hours, when she attended to her tasks.

But he punished her by denying her sight when annoyed by the excessive weight of daily chores, she shied away from her duties to read and pray. In this episode an important trait of Francesca's spiritual personality emerges. She went through the conflict between full acceptance of her female destiny and the search for higher and more rewarding spiritual experiences, but she also understood that true perfection had to be found precisely in the solid balance between the family and social spheres and the religious one.

The oblation

Around 1425 Francesca's life underwent a decisive turning point.

After 28 years of marriage, Lorenzo Ponziani accepted his wife's wishes, agreeing to lead a chaste life in marriage. Francesca did not leave her husband, indeed she continued to live with him until her death in 1436, sharing the last difficult years of illness and physical suffering, assisting and treating him until the end of her life.

If outwardly there were no great changes in his existence, the turning point that his inner life underwent was instead profound and significant. In fact, in the biography of the Olivetan Ippolito it is underlined that the change of state gave rise to two important events. Precisely starting from this period Francesca began to have frequent ecstasies and obtained the gift of visions, on the other hand she became the point of reference for a group of women who, motivated by an intense devotional commitment, gathered around the blessed, first in a free and spontaneous association, then on a common purpose of life.

On 15 August 1425, on the solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin, Francesca, accompanied by nine members, pronounced the solemn formula of oblation in the basilica of S. Maria Nova, officiated by the Olivetan monks.

From the outset, the group was therefore characterized by a precise reference to the values ​​of Benedictine spirituality, even if for a few years the oblates continued to live in their own families. Only in 1433 was a house purchased on the western side of the Campidoglio, where they retired to lead a life in common.

Francesca joined them after her husband's death in 1436 and assumed the government of the community, providing like a mother for all the material and spiritual needs of her daughters.
Francesca remained at Tor de' Specchi for four years: exhausted by the vigils, fasting and incessant penance, she died peacefully on the evening of 9 March in Palazzo Ponziani, reciting the Office of the Virgin, to whose cult she had always remained devoted.

The mystique

La biografia di santa Francesca Romana è documentata da un ricco dossier agiografico, che comprende gli atti dei processi di canonizzazione, la Vita dell’olivetano Ippolito (1452-1453), ma soprattutto  i Tractati in volgare e in latino redatti tra il 1440 e il 1447 da Giovanni Mattiotti, rettore della cappella dell’Angelo nella basilica di S. Maria in Trastevere e confessore di Francesca negli ultimi undici anni della sua vita, in un periodo che fu fortemente segnato dai problemi di disciplina e regolamentazione spirituale di Tor de’ Specchi, oltre che dalle preoccupazioni per le sorti di Roma e della Church, attraversata dalle drammatiche vicende del concilio di Basilea.

The Roman priest was a privileged witness to this decisive chapter in the life of the saint, and in the book he referred to her mystical experiences, the battles she engaged in with the devil, the visions of hell and purgatory.

Eucharistic devotion

The chapel of the Angel was in fact the main theater of ecstasy, because Francesca was generally subject to mystical raptures during mass, immediately after receiving communion, which was the center of her religious practice. In the grip of a strong spiritual concentration, she would lose contact with the surrounding reality for a few hours, but sometimes even for several days.

These states had varying degrees of depth and intensity. Mattiotti distinguishes between immobile and mobile ecstasy.

Nel primo caso, la veggente rimaneva muta e ferma come una statua, completamente indifferente a tutte le sollecitazioni di ordine fisico: era il momento della somma pace e della quiete perfetta. Durante le estasi mobili, invece, cantava, danzava predicava pubblicamente nell’ambone della chiesa, discutendo di teologia con la stessa profondità di un dottore. 

Conflicts with the devil

The mystical enclosure of the chapel, a sacred space that exorcised demonic power, contrasted with the room of the blessed, the hidden and separate cell, but exposed to the aggressions of the evil one, who persecuted Francesca to remove her from prayer and subject her to real battles that they left exhausted.

All these supernatural facts also had a strong somatic quality and led to real physical transformations, in an alternation of celestial lights and smells and unheard-of tortures. The celestial gift of visions was not in fact free, but constituted the culmination of an arduous ascetic journey.

Spiritual motherhood

La spiritualità di Francesca, nutrita dalle letture devote e da una intensa pratica sacramentale,  è tutta incentrata sul mistero dell’Incarnazione, della realtà di un God-uomo, un God incarnato, che è nato da una donna, è vissuto ed è stato toccato dal dolore. 

Una visione in particolare si presenta spesso agli occhi della santa:  Christ le appare in sembianze umane, segnato dalle piaghe della crocefissione, da cui escono raggi luminosi che irraggiano tutta l’umanità.  Questa immagine si situa al punto di confluenza di vari percorsi: essa accoglie la pietà cristocentrica dei francescani, ma al tempo stesso l’essenza della lezione monastica di God come luce, bellezza, gloria della trascendenza.

Il Christ trafitto delle visioni non ha perduto nulla della regale maestà del Pantokrator, del God altissimo dei monaci, Redentore e Salvatore del mondo.   Della grande tradizione mistica femminile trecentesca di eredità francescana Francesca assimilò profondamente la  pratica ascetica della continua memoria passionis Christi, la devozione al sangue, agli emblemi della passione, alla corona di spine, alle piaghe. Ed essa stessa fu una stigmatizzata che portò a lungo sul proprio costato una piaga dolorosa, segno visibile della piena conformità corporale e spirituale con le sofferenze patite dal Signore. 

And yet, the painful dimension is not as essential and characteristic of Francesca's mysticism as that of spiritual motherhood, which she lived with great intensity.

Colpita dolorosamente negli affetti umani, essa sublimò misticamente la sua sofferenza di madre nella condizione spirituale di “madre di Jesus”.
Il suo love speciale per il Bambino si esprime in numerose visioni del Natale, dell’Adorazione dei Magi, della Presentazione al Tempio. Forse, l’immagine che più di ogni altra rivela la sua intimità anche dolce e gioiosa con il divino è quella di Francesca che stringe tra le sue braccia il Bambino, lo culla e lo riscalda con il suo manto, oppure gioca con lui. 

Rarely has this theme, which also had ancient roots in the beginning of the Beguine tradition, found an intensity of accents, a more complete and touching expression in the writings of Gertrude of Helfta than in Francesca's visions.

The angelic vision

Furthermore, the saint's ability to deeply penetrate the mysticism of the angelic world, cultured and perceived under many aspects, is remarkable.

In the book of visions the angels are remembered in the context of a vision of the divine maiestas in heaven, and their function in the celestial liturgy is valued, in the glory of heaven. In demonic duels the angels are the fighters for the salvation of souls and adversaries of the devil. In purgatory, however, their task is that of spiritual nurses, in charge of the itinerary of purification and expiation of souls.

Francesca marked an important stage in the history of angelology, not so much from a doctrinal and theological point of view, as for her ability to value a concrete and unique relationship of friendship with her guardian angel. This invisible spiritual guide has a very strong impact on every man's earthly existence: support and comfort in life's difficulties, guide and protection on the way, companion in the phase of detachment and removal from mortal life, master in preparation for the future.

The Prophetess

In the confessor's book, however, another dimension of Francesca's mysticism emerges, the prophetic one.

Donna di silenzio e di nascondimento, essa non rinunciò ad intervenire anche su alcuni problemi decisivi della Church del proprio tempo, inviando messaggi divinamente ispirati a papa Eugene IV so that in the course of the Basel crisis he would find a communion of intent with the bishops.

Francesca's pleas and prayers arose from the fear that the pope's intransigence could in some way create further fractures in the ecclesial structure, causing a new schism that would have had dramatic consequences.

In questo modo, Francesca raccolse l’eredità di altre grandi donne che a Roma erano vissute e avevano operato, dando una testimonianza appassionata d’love per la sua città e la Church,  e insieme invocando la necessità urgente di riforma.

If Bridget of Sweden and Catherine of Siena had been the prophetesses of Avignon, Francesca Romana was the prophetess of the Council of Basel. For this reason, despite her word having reached us through the writings of Giovanni Mattiotti, Francesca can be considered one of the greatest spiritual voices of the end of the Middle Ages.

S. Francesca Romana is considered co-patron of Rome; she is invoked as protector from plagues and for the liberation of souls from Purgatory.

In 1925 Pope Pius XI (Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, 1922-1939) designated her the patroness of motorists. 

Meaning of the name Francesco/a: “free man” (ancient German).

source © Tor de' Specchi – Monastery of the Oblates of Santa Francesca Romana