|
Lectio iii: Francisca nobilis
matrona Romana, ab ineunte ætate illustria dedit virtutum exempla: etenim
pueriles ludos et illecebras mundi respuens, solitudine et oratione magnopere
delectabatur. Undecim annos nata, virginitatem suam Deo consecrare, et
monasterium ingredi proposuit: parentum tamen voluntati humiliter
obtemperans, Laurentio de Pontianis, juveni æque diviti ac nobili nupsit. In
matrimonio arctioris vitæ propositum, quantum licuit, semper retinuit: a
spectaculis, conviviis, aliisque hujusmodi oblectamentis abhorrens, lanea ac
vulgari veste utens, et quidquid a domesticis curis supererat temporis,
orationi aut proximorum utilitati tribuens: in id vero maxima sollicitudine
incumbens, ut matronas Romanas a pompis sæculi et ornatus vanitate revocaret.
Quapropter domum Oblatarum, sub regula
sancti Benedicti, congregationis Montis Oliveti, adhuc viro alligata, in Urbe
instituit. Viri exsilium, bonorum jacturam, ac universæ domus mœrorem non
modo constantissime toleravit: sed gratias agens cum beato Job, illud
frequenter usurpabat: Dominus dedit, Dominus abstulit: sit nomen Domini
benedictum. Viro defuncto, ad prædictam Oblatarum domum convolans, nudis
pedibus, fune ad collum alligato, humi prostrata, multis cum lacrimis earum
numero adscribi suppliciter postulavit. Voti compos facta, licet esset omnium mater,
non alio tamen quam ancillæ, vilissimæque feminæ, et immunditiæ vasculi
titulo gloriabatur. Quam vilem sui existimationem et verbo declaravit et
exemplo: sæpe enim e suburbana vinea revertens, et lignorum fascem proprio
capiti impositum deferens, vel eisdem onustum agens per Urbem asellum,
pauperibus subveniebat, in quos étiam largas eleemosynas erogabat:
ægrotantesque in xenodochiis visitans, non corporali tantum cibo, sed
salutaribus monitis recreabat. Corpus suum vigiliis, jejuniis, cilicio,
ferreo cingulo, crebrisque flagellis in servitutem redigere jugiter
satagebat. Cibum illi semel in die herbæ et legumina, aqua potum præbuit. Hos
tamen corporis cruciatus aliquando confessarii mandato, a cujus ore nutuque
pendebat, modice temperavit. Divina mysteria, præsertim vero Christi Domini
passionem, tanto mentis ardore, tantaque lacrimarum vi contemplabatur, ut præ
doloris magnitudine pene confici videretur. Sæpe étiam cum oraret, maxime
sumpto sanctissimæ Eucharistiæ sacramento, spiritu in Deum elevata, ac
cælestium contemplatione rapta, immobilis permanebat. Quapropter humani
generis hostis variis eam contumeliis ac verberibus a proposito dimovere
conabatur: quem tamen illa imperterrita semper elusit; Angeli præsertim
præsidio, cujus familiari consuetudine gloriosum de eo triumphum reportavit.
Gratia curationum et prophetiæ dono enituit, quo et futura prædixit, et
cordium secreta penetravit. Non semel aquæ, vel per rivum decurrentes, vel e
cælo labentes, intactam prorsus, dum Deo vacaret, reliquerunt. Modica panis
fragmenta, quæ vix tribus sororibus reficiendis fuissent satis, sic ejus
precibus Dominus multiplicavit, ut quindecim inde exsaturatis, tantum
superfuerit, ut canistrum impleverit: et aliquando earumdem sororum, extra
Urbem mense Januario ligna parantium, sitim recentis uvæ racemis ex vitæ in
arbore pendentibus mirabiliter obtentis, abunde expleverit. Denique meritis
et miraculis clara, migravit ad Dominum, anno ætatis suæ quinquagesimo sexto.
Quam Paulus quintus Pontifex Maximus in
Sanctorum numerum retulit.
|
Reading 3: The noble Roman matron Frances was born in
the year 1384, and was a pattern of godliness from her earliest years. As a
child she shrank from games, and set no store by the amusements of the world,
but delighted to be continually alone and engaged in prayer. At the age of
eleven years she desired to consecrate her virginity to God, and to enter a
convent, but humbly yielded obedience to the wishes of her parents, and was
married to Lawrence de' Pontiani, a young man whose rank was equal to his
wealth. As a wife she persevered, as far as she lawfully could, in her
determination to lead an austere life; she abstained as much as possible from
going to shows, feasts, and such like amusements, dressed plainly in woollen
stuffs, and spent in prayer or the service of her neighbour whatever time she
did not occupy with her duties as mistress of her husband's house. She strove
earnestly to wean the married women of Rome from the vanities of the world
and the frivolities of dress. To this end she founded during her husband's
lifetime the Sisterhood of the Oblates, under the rule of the Benedictine
congregation called of the Mount of Olives. When it pleased God, (in the year
1413,) that her husband should be banished, all her goods taken away, and her
home ruined, she meekly bowed down before His holy will, often repeating the
words of the blessed Job The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed
be the name of the Lord. On her husband's death she (in 1437) betook herself
immediately to the house of the Oblates, and, with her feet bare and a rope
round her neck, threw herself down on the threshold, entreating the sisters
with tears to receive her into their number. When she obtained her wish,
although she was the mother of them all, she would be among them only as one
that served, glorying rather to be called the most degraded of women and a
vessel of uncleanness. Her lowly esteem of herself was shown both by her word
and example. She passed often through the city from a vineyard in the country
carrying a bundle of sticks on her head, or driving an ass laden with
faggots; she succoured the needy, for whom she collected large alms, and
visited the sick in the hospitals, ministering to them both food for the body
and exhortations healthful for their souls. She strove continually to bring
her body into subjection by watchings, fastings, haircloth, the wearing of an
iron girdle, and the often use of a scourge. She never ate but once a day,
and then only vegetables, and she took no drink but water. These severities
she however sometimes relaxed, in obedience to her confessor, on whose word
and wishes she framed her customs. So great was her mental realisation of the
things of God, and chiefly of the sufferings of the Lord Christ, and so
abundant her tears in contemplating them, that she seemed sometimes about to
sink under her grief. Often when she was engaged in prayer, and principally
after she had received the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, her spirit
became altogether lifted up to God, and she remained motionless, carried away
by the thought of heavenly things. The enemy of man assailed her with diverse
reproaches and buffetings to break her off her intent, but she feared him
not, and with the help of an Angel whom God gave her to be her familiar
friend, she won a noble victory over the tempter. God glorified her with the
gifts of healing and of prophecy, whereby she foretold things to come, and
saw the secrets of the hearts of men. More than once while her thoughts were
busy in God she remained unwet by streams or rain. When there was left only
bread enough for three sisters, the Lord at her prayers was pleased so to
multiply it, that fifteen had enough, and the basket was filled again with
the fragments. In the month of January also, when the sisters were gathering
sticks in the country, and were thirsty, she satisfied them abundantly with
bunches of fresh grapes from a tree. She departed to be with the Lord, famous
for good works and miracles, in the fifty-sixth year of her age, (upon the
9th day of March, in the year of our Lord 1440.) The Supreme Pontiff Paul V.
caused her to be numbered among the saints.
|
