Part 4 (1/2)
”Oh,I possess, and ained you such favour in God's sight”
The report of this miracle spread far and wide; and, in spite of her hued, as it testified to the Divine virtue of aled the rich to increase their liberality, andious awe seeht of so reat esteem in which he had always held his wife, now took the form of a profound veneration He recommended her to follow in every respect the divine inspirations she received, and left her entirely free to order her life and dispose of her ti with her director, took advantage of this per-cherished desire Selling all her rich dresses, her jewels, and her ornast a number of poor families, and froown than one of coarse dark-green cloth Her mortifications becaid, that it is difficult to conceive how her health could have sustained them without miraculous support, or how she can have found tiood works which she daily perfor in her attention to her children, that she was never known to neglect the diligent superintendence of household affairs, that she repeatedly visited the hospitals and the poor sick in their houses, that ences were to be gained, recited numerous vocal prayers, often spent hours in contearden oratory, where with Vannozza, Clara, and Rita Celli, a devout young person as admitted into their intiious subjects,--our ad will could onders all but incomprehensible to those who have not put their shoulder to the wheel in good earnest, or learnt to appreciate the priceless value of every minute of this short life
CHAPTER V
THE BIRTH OF FRANCESCA'S SECOND SON--HIS SUPERNATURAL GIFTS--THE BIRTH OF HER DAUGHTER--SATANIC ATTACKS UPON FRANCESCA---TROUBLES OF ROME--FRANCESCA'S HUSBAND IS SEVERELY WOUNDED--HER ELDEST SON, WHEN GIVEN UP AS A HOSTAGE TO THE NEAPOLlTANS, IS MIRACULOUSLY RESTORED TO HER
FRANCESCA had just attained the age of twenty when her second son was born He was baptised on the day of his birth, and received the narapher, sos have been already quoted, ifts of grace, and that the love of God was manifested in hie he thus describes hireat in soul, resplendent in beauty, angel-like in all his ways” He e, his mother's own child; for in his veriest infancy his only pleasure was to be carried into churches, or to give alious, for whoht in this lovely little infant was indescribable He was to her as one of God's own angels, and tears of joy filled her eyes as she race which he daily evinced Supernatural had been the mother's virtues, supernatural were the qualities of the child; at the age of three years old he was endoith the gift of prophecy, and the faculty of reading the un-uttered thoughts of ular instances of this power are on record He was in his mother's arms one day, when two mendicant friars approached the Ponziano Palace
Instantly stretching out his little hands, Evangelista took from Francesca the alms she ont to bestow on such visitors, and held it out to the steadfastly at one of the monks, he said to him, ”Why will you put off this holy habit? you ear a finer one; but woe to you who forget your vow of poverty”
The friar coloured and turned away; but it was soon evident that the words were prophetic, for within a short tih a simoniacal act, the unhappy elista was in his parent's roo hi him with kisses In thehold of a dagger which had been left on the table, he placed the point of it against Lorenzo's side, and said to hie melancholy smile, ”Thus will they do to you, my father” And it so happened that at the time of the invasion of Rome by the troops of Ladislas Durazzo, the lord of Ponziano was dangerously wounded in the exact place and elista was not quite three years old when his little sister Agnese was born, who in beauty, heavenly sweetness of temper, and precocious piety, proved the exact counterpart of her brother Soon after her confinement, Francesca had a vision which impressed her with the belief that God would one day clai whiteness, bearing in its beak a tiny lighted taper, enter the roo two or three circles in the air, it stooped over Agnese's cradle, touched her brow and lis, and fleay Looking upon this as a sign that the little ht her up as a precious deposit only lent her for a time, and to be delivered up at no distant period With even stricter care than she had used with her brother, if that were possible, she watched over the little girl; never leaving her for a singletowards her the offices of a servant as well as of aher out of doors except to church; teaching her to love Jesus supre her with descriptions of that dear Saviour's adorable perfections She encouraged her to observe silence, to ith her hands at stated tiht her to read in the lives of the saints of holy virgins and nese's character and turn of mind answered precisely to her mother's wishes; and the perfection of her conduct was such, that she was generally designated by all who knew her as the little saint or the little angel
The years of Evangelista's and Agnese's infancy had been most disastrous ones to the unhappy inhabitants of Rome The factions which had arisen in consequence of the schisues of Ladislas of Naples, had banished all security, and converted the town into a field of battle, where bloody conflicts were daily taking place The principles of union seens of Europe, given up to the e the chief pastor of the Church; and the Eternal City, beyond any other place, had becouinary conspiracies The year 1406 brought with it a momentary semblance of peace, and Francesca and Vannozza availed the-time to revisit some of the distant churches, and attend the Italians as before They used to walk to them on foot at the earliest break of day, acco person already li Aspalli, a devout married woman nearly related to the Ponziano family They repeated psalms and litanies on their way, or spent the time in pious meditation, and remained some hours in prayer before the altars which they visited in turn,--taking care to be at hoain by the time that their presence was required
In that troubled epoch the voice of the preacher was seldom heard; sermons, however, were occasionally delivered by the Franciscans and the Dominicans in the churches of Ara Coeli and Santa Maria sopra Minerva; and at these our saints never failed to assist Their spiritual guide had given theo to coranted and seldoht for in those distracted times The blessed practice of daily cost the early Christians,--that practice which turns earth into heaven, and converts the land of exile into a paradise of peace and joy,--was all but entirely neglected, or only kept up in some few cloisters The two sisters habitually communicated in the church of Santa Cecilia, the nearest to their house One of the priests of that parish was scandalised at the frequency of their communions, and persuaded hie, and in such a position of life, could possibly be in possession of the requisite dispositions This unhappy ive Franeesca an unconsecrated wafer; God instantly revealed to the saint the sin of the priest, and she informed her director of the fact Don Antonio disclosed to the astonished offender the secret which had been confined to his own breast He confessed his fault with the deepest contrition, iiveness of the saint, and received the huments
The warfare which Satan was perainst Francesca became more and es, in terrific visions, in s, which afflicted every sense and tortured every nerve, the anihty God perh much tribulation to ascend the steep path which is paved with thorns and compassed with darkness, but on which the ray of an unearthly sunshi+ne breaks at tiifts of the saints; to win h prayer, to read the secrets of their hearts, to see angels walking by her side, to heal diseases by the touch of her hands, and hold the devils at bay, when they thought to injure the bodies of others or ith her own spirit But such heights of glory are not gained without proportionate suffering; the cup of which Jesus drank to the dregs in His agony she was to drink of, the baptism of horror hich He was baptised was to be her's also in a measure; and that mysterious weakness, that divine helplessness of His, which allowed Satan to carry Him, the Lord of all, to the pinnacle of the temple or the brow of the e and bewildering were the assaults she endured, but still more wonderful the defeats of the evil one Of her triumph, as of those of her Lord, it els cae, that those who believe the history of Jesus should turn incredulously away from that of His saints; for did He not expressly say, that what He suffered, they should suffer; that where He had overcome, they would triureater works still, they should acco out for the Basilica of St Peter's, Vannozza was violently precipitated down the stairs of the palace by the power of the evil spirit, and fell at her sister's feet, who at that instant heard a voice whispering in her ear, ”I would kill thy sister, and drive thee to despair;” but at the same moment an inward revelation bade Francesca raise up the prostrate form of her friend, and apply to her bruised limbs an ointment which instantly relieved the pains of her fall Another time our saint was lifted up by the hair of her head, and suspended over a precipice for the space of some minutes; with perfect calmness she called upon Jesus, and in a moment found herself in safety within her room Her first act was to cut off her beautiful hair, and, offer it up as a thank-offering to Him who had saved her from the hands of the infernal enemy These are only specimens of the trials of this nature to which Francesca was more or less subjected all her life, but to which it will not be necessary again to make more than casual allusion
In the year 1409, when she was about twenty-seven years old, her tean After Ladislas of Naples, befriended by the eneained possession of Roovernor of the city the Count Pietro Traja, a rough and brutal soldier, well fitted to serve the fierce passions of hisout for occasions to persecute those Roman nobles who remained faithful to the cause of the Church
He was abetted in this by the faction of the Colonnas, and some other powerful faory XII and Benedict XIII against the legitimate pontiff Alexander V, recently elected by the Council of Pisa The troops of Lewis of Anjou, the rival of Ladislas in the kingdom of Naples, had in the mean time entered that portion of Roained possession of the Vatican and the castle of St Angelo
Several skirmishes took place between the forces of the usurper and the troops of the Pope and of Lewis of Anjou Lorenzo Ponziano, who from his birth and his talents was the most eitimate cause, commanded the pontifical ared in a conflict with the Count of Traja's soldiers In the nised by the opposite party, and beca with heroic courage, he had nearly succeeded in dispersing his assailants, when, as Evangelista had foretold the year before, a dagger was treacherously thrust into his side, and inflicted so deep a wound that he fell to the ground, and was taken up for dead
The terrible neas carried to the Ponziano palace, and announced to Francesca The anguish that her countenance revealed filled the bystanders with compassion; but it was only for an instant that she stood as if transfixed and overwhel effort her bursting sobs and the cries that were breaking from her heart, she soon raised her eyes to heaven with a steadfast gaze, forgave the assassin, offered up Lorenzo's life and her own, and iven him, the Lord has taken him away; blessed be the name of the Lord” Then, caleously advanced toback to his home the body of her murdered husband As they laid him in the hall of the palace, she knelt by his side, and putting her face close to his, she discerned in the apparently lifeless for vitality
The sudden revulsion of hope did not overcome her presence of mind She instantly desired those about her to send for a priest and for a doctor; and then, bending over Lorenzo, she suggested to hi of the dying man, whatever the most affectionate tenderness and the most ardent piety could devise at such a ht, pardon for his foes, and especially for his assassin, a firs with those of his Lord
The palace presented a scene of wild confusion Arled with the groans of the servants: the weeping and waitings of the woeance, curses deep and loud, frantic regrets, were heard on every side Francesca alone was as an angel of peace, in the rief Her's was the keenest sorrow of all; but it was kept under by the strength of a long-practised faith, and thus it interfered with no duty and staggered at no trial
Day and night she watched by Lorenzo's couch Her experience in nursing the sick, and in dressing wounds, enabled her to render him the most minute and efficacious assistance Her watchful love, her tender assiduity, received its reward; God gave her that life, far dearer to her than her own Contrary to all expectation, Lorenzo slowly recovered; but for a long time remained in a precarious condition
Meanwhile the Count of Traja, pressed on every side, began to foresee the necessity of leaving Rome; but, in his exasperation, resolved previously to wreak his vengeance on the families most devoted to the Pope, and especially on that of the Ponziani, which was especially obnoxious to hily arrested Paluzzo, Vannozza's husband, and kept hi that Lorenzo had a son of eight or nine years old, he coe, and swore that in case of a refusal he would put Paluzzo to death Now, indeed, is Francesca tried aluish filled to the brim She can ask counsel of none: Lorenzo she dares not consult: it ht kill him to hear the fearful truth Others would say, ”Give up the child;” and she looks at his fair face, at his innocent eyes, at the purity of his spotless brow; and she cannot, she will not, she s of a dove to fly away and carry hiar, goes forth, whither she knows not It is an instinct, an impulse, an inspiration It is the mother's heart within her that bids her fly from the horrible dilemma, and save her child from the tyrant who seeks h out-of-the-way streets, into the deserted corners of the city she goes, clasping the boy's hand with an agonising grasp, with but one thought--to hide him from every eye Suddenly she stops short; before her stands Don Antonio, her long-trusted director, who has led her through the green pastures in which her spirit has found rest He questions her, and hears the incoherent account of her fears, her anguish, and her flight By a supernatural light he sees the drift of this trial, and puts her faith to the test ”Francesca,” he said, ”you fly to save the child; God bids me tell you that it is to the Capitol you o to the Church of Ara Cceli” A fierce struggle rose in Francesca's heart--the greatest storm that had ever convulsed it ”To the Capitol!” she is about to cry ”It is at the Capitol that the tyrant awaits him!” But ere the words are uttered, they die away on her lips Grace has gained the mastery; the faith of the saint has asserted its power The wild expression passes away from her eyes; she bows her head in silence, and with a firm step retraces her steps, in obedience to him who has spoken in God's nah Rome, and in the h a cry of pity and of terror arose
Crowds press about her, and bid her turn back; they tell her she is mad to surrender the child, they try to take him from her, and to carry him back by force to his father's palace; but in vain She waves them off, and pursues her way till she has reached the Capitol She walked straight up to the place where the Neapolitan tyrant was standing, and surrendered up the boy to hi back, she hurried into the Church of Ara Coeli, fell prostrate at the feet of the Mother of Mercy, and before that sacred ie, dear to this day to every Catholic parent, she made the sacrifice of her child, of her life, of her soul, of all that in that hour she had felt to give up Then, for the first tiazing on the picture, she saw the dove-like eyes of the Blessed Virgin assu expression, and in her ears hispered words welcoround; sweet as the notes of the bird when the storm has subsided: ”Be not afraid; I am here to befriend you”
She was at peace; she felt sure that her son was safe; and on her knees, in speechless prayer, she waited the event Nor did she wait long When she had left the Count of Traja's presence, he had ordered one of his officers to take the little Baptista on his horse, and carry him away to a place he appointed; but, from the instant that the child was placed on the saddle, no efforts could induce the anied him with spurs and whip: neither the severest blows, nor the accusto him an inch from the place, where he stood as hts of Naples renewed the attempt Four successive steeds were tried for the purpose, and alith the sareater than man's will; there is a power that defeats human malice Struck with a secret terror and disave up the unequal contest, and ordered the child to be restored to his mother Before the altar of the Ara Coeli, at the foot of that iuish she had fallen and found hope when hope seemed at end, Francesca received back into her ariven her strength to go through this the severest of her trials
CHAPTER VI
SUFFERINGS OF ROME FROM THE TROOPS OF LADISLAS--DEATH OF FRANCESCA'S SON EVANGELISTA--THE FAMINE AND PLAGUE IN ROME--FRANCESCA'S LABOURS FOR THE STARVlNG AND SICK--HER MIRACLES