Part 3 (2/2)
They went on picturing to themselves the ed their occupations under siether they made out a complete rule of life
Absorbed in the subject, Vannozza exclaimed, with childlike simplicity, ”But what should we have to eat, sister?” and Francesca replied, ”We should search for fruits in the desert, dearest; and God would surely not let us seek in vain” As she said these words they rose to return horew out of a ruined wall on one side of the garden there fell at her feet a quince of the largest size andin Vannozza's path
The sisters looked at each other in silent astonish but a ht these apples to maturity at this unwonted season The taste of the fruit was as excellent as its colour was beautiful They were divided ast the members of the family, ondered at the marvels which seemed continually to attend the steps of Francesca She was profoundly grateful for such favours, but probably marvelled less than others at their occurrence Her youth; the simplicity of her faith; her total abstraction frohts; her continual study and meditation of the Holy Scriptures and of the lives of the Saints,--must have necessarily familiarised her mind with such ideas It could not seem incredible to her, that the God who in less favoured times, and under a severer dispensation, had so often suspended the laws of nature, in order to support, to guide, and to instruct His people; that the Saviour who had turned water into wine by a single word, and withered the unprofitable fig-tree by a look,--should at all times display the same power in favour of His children, in ways not a whit more marvellous or mysterious
Cecilia eration in the ed their husbands to interfere, and by their authority to oblige them to mix more with the world But Paluzzo and Lorenzo had too deep an esteees they derived fro a restraint on their actions
Since they had come into the family, and united their pious efforts for their own and others' spiritual iiven way to theconcord The servants, moved by their example, performed their duties with exemplary zeal, frequented the churches and the sacraments, and abstained froly entreated their ive up her fruitless atte women liberty to follow the rule of life they had adopted; and thus put an end to the kindly h
About this tins, but always on the watch, was perainst Francesca and her sister-in-law in a way to which he often had recourse, and which, while it seemed to display a momentary power over their bodies, only proved in the end that a stronger one than he was always at hand to defeat his malice, and snatch froone to St Peter's on an intensely hot day in July, in the year 1399
Absorbed in prayer, they had hardly noticed the lapse of time, and twelve o'clock had struck when they set out on their way home In order to avoid observation, and the marks of veneration which the people lavished upon them as soon as they set eyes on the two saints (as they always called them), they chose the rew intolerable The sultry air seeue, their mouths parched with thirst, they reached the church of St Leonardo; and holding each other's hands, approached the brink of the river, in order to cool their burning lips and throbbing heads with a little water As they bent over the stream for that purpose, a violent blow from an invisible arm was aimed at Francesca, and hurled her into the Tiber Vannozza fell with her; and, clasped in each other's arms, they were rapidly carried away by the current, and saw no means of escape ”They were lovely in their lives, and in their deaths they were not divided,” rave, which seemed inevitable, sed up on that day the two brides of the Ponziani But it was not the will of God that they should perish Human aid was not at hand; the stream was rapid, the current deep, and the eddies curled around them; but they called upon God with one voice, and in an instant the waters, as if instinct with life, and obedient to a heavenly coently to the shore, and deposited thein of the river
About this time also a supernatural favour of the uardian angel, as one day to accompany her, not by an invisible presence only, as in the case of all Christians, but, by a rare privilege of grace, in a visible foran to reveal himself to her by the most watchful observance of her conduct At all tihtest faults were noticed and punished by this still invisible, but now evidently present monitor At the least imperfection in her conduct, before she had time to accuse and to condemn herself, she felt the blow of a uardian; and the sound of that mystical chastisement was audible to others also Great was the astonish of God's dealings with this chosen soul Once, when she had abstained through hu the course of a very frivolous and useless conversation, the warning was inflicted with such severity that she bore thedays
Such a rapid advance in holiness, such new and ever-increasing virtues, were the results of this supernatural tuition, that Satan now attempted to seduce her by the wiliest of his artifices, the master-piece of his art, his favourite sin,--”the pride that apes hue revelations of God's peculiar love for her soul, awakened in Francesca's ht, that it ht be better to conceal them from her director, or at least to acquaint hiht in her behalf; and accordingly, the next ti the signal grace which had been vouchsafed to her At the very instant she was thrown prostrate on the ground, and recognised the hand of her heavenly rievous error into which she was falling In that short e it; and with intense contrition she confessed to her director the false huerous reserve, with perfect openness revealed to his with her soul, and explained to hi of what had just taken place Don Antonio listened with astonishratitude, and thus addressed her: ”You have just escaped frohter; for those who ai fro the risk of delusion By your estions of Satan, who, under the se to awaken in you a secret and baneful pride You would have been led by degrees to over-estimate these supernatural favours, to deerace, but rewards due to your rant theant and unauthorised austerities in order to secure their continuance, and to distinguish yourself in your own and others' sight I should have forbidden you to practise theuidance, to take one confessor after another, until you had found one weak or blind enough to approve your self-will; and then the arch-eneht, would have ht have fallen from one error into another, and made shi+pwreck of your faith Such has been the doard course ofto a false hu of pride--and has ended in sin and perdition”
Froainst every species of pride and self-reliance, however disguised and refined She related her faults and teraces she received and the favours she obtained, with the sae of sixteen that she was thus advanced in the science of the saints; and every day her virtues and her piety increased
CHAPTER IV
THE BIRTH OF FRANCESCA'S FIRST CHILD--HER CARE IN HIS EDUCATION--SHE UNDERTAKES THE MANAGEMENT OF HER FATHER-IN-LAW'S HOUSEHOLD--A FAMINE AND PESTILENCE IN ROME--FRANCESCA'S LABOURS FOB THE SICK AND POOR--THE MIRACLES WROUGHT IN HER BEHALF
The year 1400 was opening under melancholy auspices Boniface IX was at thatthe jubilee, the periodical recurrence of which at the end of every fifty years had been decreed by Clement VI in 1350; but Roes were not wanting of still dom of Naples, between Louis of Anjou and Ladislas Durazzo, were agitating the whole of Italy; and the capital of the Christian world was exposed to all the fury of the contending parties The powerful faction of the Colonnas, in arainst the Pope, invaded the Capitol at the head of a nuents on horseback and on foot; and the air resounded with the cries of ”Long live the people! Death to the tyrant Boniface IX!”
On that day the signal was given for a division of parties, which led shortly afterwards to the appalling tragedy which decied her streets with blood
Lorenzo Ponziano, froreat possessions, as well as fron Pontiff, was especially marked out as an enemy by the adverse faction But while on every side the stor, and the aspect of public affairs each day ranted to him which for the last five years he had ardently desired The expectation of an heir to the family of Ponziano filled hiht
Francesca, in theto God the child she was about to bear; and offered up her every little act of devotion in its behalf, with the hope of drawing down the Divine blessing on its future existence In the same year she was happily delivered of a son, as immediately baptised in the church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, and received the name of Giovanni Baptista
It was not at that time the custom for ladies of rank to nurse their children; but Francesca set aside all such considerations, and never consented to forego a e She did not intrust her child for a moment to the care of others, afraid that, in her absence, the utterance of unworthy sentiments, bad manners and habits, which even in infancy may cause impressions not easily eradicated, should taint with the least evil the heart and mind of her son It is remarkable how careful the holy mothers which we read of in the lives of the Saints appear to have been of the circu the infancy of their children,--that period during which we are apt to suppose that no iiven or received Are we not perhaps in error on that point?--Asa certain deposit in our minds, which comes into play when called forth by association, so, hts, sounds, and words, not understood at the ties on the mind of an infant, which, however diroith it as it expands? There have been curious psychological instances of na as it were under a peculiar condition of the nervous system, and which could only be traced to ies of existence
Francesca, in obedience to her director, as well as guided by her own sense of duty,her usual mode of life, and occupied herself with the care of her child in preference to all other observances of charity or of devotion She did not coious exercises, in order to tend and to nurse the little creature whoift of God, and whose careful training the best offering she could make in return The joy which she had felt in her infant's birth was randson was placed in his arms, exclaimed in the words of St Simeon, ”Lord, now lettest Thou thy servant depart in peace;” and the words seem to have been prophetic, for he died almost imnese, in the Piazza Nuova At a later period, when that church was reconstructed, his remains were transported to the cloisters of Tor Di Specchi, where the simple inscription, ”Here lies Paul Bussa,”
remains to this day Francesca, in pursuance of her desire, not only to exclude evil, but to infuse good dispositions at the earliest possible period into her baby's soul, lost no opportunity of iion Before he could speak, she used to repeat to him every day the Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary, clasp his little hands together, and direct his eyes to heaven, and to the ies of Jesus and Mary, whose names were of course the first words he learned to utter She checked in hie, every ebullition of self-will, obstinacy, and anger; and later, of deceit, envy, and ih she had the ed in passionate caresses, and never left unchastised any of his faults, or gave way in any instance to his tears and impatience When others objected that it was absurd to expect self-command from a creature whose reason was not developed, she maintained that habits of self-control are to be acquired at the earliest age, and that the benefit thus obtained extends to the whole of life The child thus trained lived to prove the wisdom of her views, and became in difficult times the support of his family and an honour to their name
About a year after the birth of Giovanni Baptista, Cecilia, Lorenzo's mother, died Andreazzo Ponziano, and both his sons, fully conscious of the prudence and virtue of Francesca, resolved to place her at the head of the house, and to commit to her alone the superintendence of their doement of the household Distressed at the proposal, she pleaded her youth and inexperience, and urged that Vannozza, as the wife of the eldest brother, was as a matter of course entitled to that position Vannozza, however, pleaded with such eagerness that it was her most anxious desire not to occupy it, and that all she wished was to be Francesca's disciple and coeneral ied to comply Noas that her merit shone conspicuously Placed at the head of the htiness, or of self-complacency, ever revealed itself in her looks or in her actions She was never heard to speak a harsh or i from every person in her house the proper fulfilentlest ed theence, and watched over their souls redee and persuasive, that it seldoe the hours of their labour with so much order and skill, that each had sufficient leisure to hear Mass, to attend the parochial instructions on Sundays and holidays, to frequent the Sacra the whole of a Christian's duty If by any chance (and it was a rare one in a house thus governed) a quarrel arose between any of the servants, she was always ready to cory passions, and reconcile differences If, in so doing, she had occasion to speak hat she considered undue severity to one of the parties, she would iise with tears, and in the huiveness
This extreenerate into weakness; and she could testify the uty when offences were coainst God It was intolerable to her that His Divine Majesty should be insulted in her abode; and she, the gentlest andof woreatest firentle with Lorenzo; and one of them after dinner drew froic Lorenzo took it up, and was exa it with some curiosity, when his wife stole noiselessly behind him, took it out of his hands, and threw it into the fire Nettled by this proceeding, her husband reproached her in rather bitter teruest; but she, as habitually subret the destruction of what ht have proved to ned to the flames in the same manner every bad book that came in her way
Her tender charity was evinced when any of the inmates of the palace were ill She was then the affectionate nurse of the sufferers, and spent whole nights by their bedside Nothing ever discouraged or wearied her; the lowest servant in the house was attended to, as if she had been her own mother or sister More anxious still for their soul's health than their body's, she was known to go out herself alone at night in search of a priest when a sudden case of danger had occurred beneath her roof Her charity was in one instance miraculously rewarded by a direct interposition of Providence, in a , her dear sister Vannozza's existence seeerously ill, and had been for days unable to s any food; the very sight of it caused her intolerable nausea; and from sheer exhaustion her life was reduced to so low an ebb, that the worst was apprehended On Francesca's inquiring if she could think of any thing which she could iine it possible to eat, she named a certain fish, which was not in season at that time The markets were scoured by the servants, but naturally in vain, and they returned e by the bedside of her friend, betook herself, with arduous faith and childlike simplicity, to prayer
When she raised her head, thebefore her; and the first morsel of it that Vannozza eat restored her to health
She had been about a year at the head of her father-in-law's house, when Roe of famine and pestilence The Ponziani were immensely rich, and their palace furnished with every kind of provisions Francesca forbade her servants to send away a single poor person without relieving their wants; and not content with this, she sought them out herself, invited them to come to her, andShe exhorted thes with patience, to return to God and to their religious duties, and to strive by fervent prayer to appease the Divine wrath, provoked by the criable in their visits to the hospitals and the out-of-the-way corners of the city
Andreazzo Ponziano, a good man, but not a saint, was alarhter-in-law, and feared that it would end in producing a fa froreater security, afraid perhaps of yielding to their entreaties, which he was not accusto whatever corn he possessed beyond as required for the daily consu, therefore, ree heap of straw The provident old man followed the same plan with his cellar, and sold all the wine it contained, with the exception of one cask, which was reserved for his own and his children's use
Meanwhile the scarcity went on increasing every day, and the nu wretches in proportion Franceses, unable tothenance, and resolved with Vannozza to go into the streets and beg for the poor Then were seen those two noble and lovely woates of the palace, following the rich in the public places, pleading with tears the cause of the sufferers, gladly receiving the abundant alladly the sneers, the repulses, the insulting words that often fell to their share in these pilgriht At every side,--on the pave crowds of persons, barely clothed with a few tattered rags, haggard with hunger, wasted with fever, and calling upon death to end their sufferings It was a grievous, a horrible sight,--one that well-nigh broke the heart of our saint Thewere in her ears; the expression of their ghastly faces haunted her day and night
She would have gladly shed her blood for them, and fed them with her life A sudden inspiration came over her one day: ”Co to Vannozza, and to Clara, a favourite and pious servant of theirs; ”Cost the strae rains of corn for the poor” And on their knees for several hours those patient, loving women sifted the straw, and by dint of labour collected about aaway in triumph, when the God who caused the 's oil not to fail, and rievous faranary just as they were carrying off their hard-earned treasure, and, looking about hi there a ht yellow corn, so shi+ning and so full, says Francesca's earliest biographer, that it seeh it had been raised in Paradise, and reaped there by angels In silent astonishment he pointed out to them the miraculous supply, and must have felt in that hour what such virtue as his wife's and his sister's could even in this world win of h; the sick wanted wine They cahosts, just risen froed men and delicate children, mothers with infants at their breasts, poor worn-out priests sinking with exhaustion, and yet willing to assist others, they had recourse to her for a little wine to strengthen theive, save out of the single cask in the cellar She gave it, nevertheless; and day after day drew from it, till not a drop was left Andreazzo, provoked, waxed very wroth; he had never before been angry with Francesca, but now he stormed and raved at her; he had been to the cellar to see the wine drawn for that day's use, and not a drop was in the cask ”Charity indeed!” he exclaiins at home; a pretty sort of virtue this, which, under the pretext of assisting strangers, introduces penury and privation into the er in bitter reproaches; Lorenzo and Paluzzo were also inclined to take his part, and joined in severely blaentle voice and quiete-feast of Cana turned to her Son and said, ”They have no wine,” doubtless with an inward assurance that God would befriend her in an extraordinary, but not to her an unprecedented o to the cellar; h God's mercy, that the cask may be full by this time” They followed her with an involuntary sub the spot, saw her turn the cock of the barrel, out of which there instantly flowed the ed to be superior to any he had ever tasted
The venerable old hter-in-law, and, with tears in his eyes, exclaimed,