SAINT FRANCES OF ROME

SAINT FRANCES OF ROME




Saint Frances of Rome
Was a MUCH LOVED
Wonder working ROMAN Saint


She was
A person of means
With a keen sense
Of social responsibility
And mystic


And an INSPIRATIONAL leader
Who founded
A Benedictine order
Of women-OBLATES
Without vows
DEDICATED to the
SERVICE of the poor


She was married
To Lorenzo Ponziano
At the age of 13
Although she really
Desired to be a nun


In the same household
Lived her husband's brother
And his wife


These two
Shared Frances' ideas
And together the two young wives
DEVOTED themselves
To relieving
The distress of Rome's poor
ESPECIALLY in hospitals


In 1400
She bore the first
Of her six children
To whom
She was constantly devoted
And the next year
Took over charge
Of the whole household


She was NEVER known
To have a quarrel
In her forty years
of married life
To Lorenzo Ponziano


She LOVE AND SERVED Christ
In a special was
And her advice
To the ladies she inspired
Was that a married woman
MUST not forget
She is a home maker
And that


“She must SOMETIMES
Leave God
At the altar
To find him
IN her housework”


In 1408
THEY were singled out
For their prominent support
Of the popes


But Frances
Continued under DIFFICULT circumstances
And much suffering
To minister to the poor


AMONG her sorrows
Was the death
Of a nine-year-old son
And a teenage daughter
Her husband's banishment
And the plunder
Of family estates


In 1425
AFTER the death of her two children
SHE FOUNDED
A society of DEVOUT women
Under the rule
Of Saint Benedict


And after her husband's death
In 1436 Frances entered the community
And became its superior
For the remaining four years
Of her life


Various revelations-visions
And STRANGE illness
Are recorded of this
PARTICULARLY GENTLE Saint


Including her CONTINUOUS vision
Of several years
Of her GUARDIAN ANGEL


For this reason
She was NAMED
THE PATRON SAINT OF MOTORISTS


And she is also
Patroness of Benedictine OBLATES


She was canonized in 1608
And her feast day is MARCH 9^th


Robert P. Wallman
4-7-14






Ps 3-9-20