Saint Frances of Rome
Religious
- Feast Day
- March 9
- Life
- 1384–1440
- Canonized
- 1608
- Order
- Oblates of Mary (Oblates of Tor de' Specchi)
- Born
- Rome, Papal States
Francesca Bussa de' Leoni was born in 1384 in the Trastevere district of Rome to a noble family. Though she desired to enter religious life, she was given in marriage at age twelve to Lorenzo Ponziani, a wealthy Roman commander. The marriage lasted forty years and produced three children.
During the years of the Western Schism and the wars between the Roman barons and supporters of the Avignon papacy, much of her family's property was confiscated and her elder son was taken hostage. Frances responded by selling her jewels to assist the poor and converting part of her home into a hospital and granary during outbreaks of plague and famine.
In 1425, with the approval of the Olivetan Benedictines of Santa Maria Nova, she founded a community of devout Roman women called the Oblates of Mary, who took private vows but lived in their own homes serving the poor. After her husband's death in 1436, she joined the community at the house at Tor de' Specchi as its superior.
Frances died in Rome on March 9, 1440. She was canonized by Pope Paul V on May 29, 1608. Pope Pius XI declared her patron of motorists in 1925 (later confirmed in 1951), traditionally because of accounts that an angel preceded her at night with a lantern.
Saint Frances of Rome is a model of married holiness and lay consecration. By founding an oblate community of women who took private vows while remaining in their families and homes, she anticipated by centuries the modern recovery of lay consecrated life. Her witness during the wars and plagues of fifteenth-century Rome, particularly her transformation of household resources for the relief of the poor, gives the lie to any view that married life is a lesser path to sanctity.
Patronages
motorists · Benedictine oblates · widows
Catholic Churches Named After Saint Frances of Rome
20 parishes on Catholic Church Times share Saint Frances of Rome's name. Find their Mass times, confession schedules, and adoration hours:
- St. Frances of Rome Parish (Mission of Picton) — Wellington, ON
- Parrocchia S. Francesco d’Assisi al Fopponino — Milano
- Chiesa di San Francesco di Sales
- Parrocchia Catona San Francesco
- Sant Francesc de Pàola
- Sant Francesc de Sales
- Sant Francesc d'Assís
- Sant Francesc Xavier
- Sant Francesc d'Assís, de Badalona — Badalona
- Parròquia francesa de la Mare de Déu de Lourdes
- Sv. Frančišek / San Francesco
- Saint Frances Cabrini Church — San Jose, CA
- Chiesa di San Francesco
- Saint Frances Cabrini — Lorain, OH
- San Francesco — Clinton Township, MI
- St. Frances Cabrini — Parrish, FL
- St. Frances Xavier Cabrini — Springfield, IL
- St. Frances Xavier Cabrini — Crestline, CA
- Saint Frances Cabrini — West Bend, WI
- St. Frances Cabrini — Laredo, TX
Sources