Part 4 (2/2)

POPE ALEXANDER V died at Bologna in 1410 Sixteen cardinals assembled in that city, and chose for his successor Balthazar Cossa, who took the na with the election, Ladislas seized the opportunity of the interregnum once more to advance upon Rome; and from Veletri he threatened it with a second invasion The new Pope renewing the alliance with Lewis of Anjou, they coainst Ladislas, and endeavoured to drive him back from the position he had taken Their ar withdrawn his troops immediately after the victory, Ladislas deceived the Holy Father by a pretended peace, gained possession of Roe The horrors of this invasion, and of the sack that followed it, surpassed in atrocity almost all those which had previously afflicted the capital of the Christian world A number of palaces and houses were destroyed, the basilicas were despoiled of their treasures and desecrated by the ies, the churches turned into stables, and many of the faithful adherents of the Church subjected to the torture or barbarously put to death

The Ponziani were ast the principal of the Pope's supporters; and Lorenzo, scarcely recovered fro illness, was persuaded by his friends to withdraw hiht from the fury of the conqueror, and conceal himself in a distant province It had been impossible to remove his wife and children; and Francesca re disasters The wealth of the family chiefly consisted in their country possessions, and the immense number of cattle which were bred on those broad lands; and day after day intelligence was brought to her that one fared, the flocks dispersed or destroyed, and the shepherds murdered by a ruthless soldiery Terrified peasants made their escape into the city, and scared the inhabitants of the palace with dreadful accounts of the death of their companions, and of the destruction of property which was continually going on A cry of despair rang from Mount Soracte to the Alban Hill, extended to the shores of the Mediterranean, and resounded in the palaces of Ro dismay to the hearts of its ruined and broken-spirited nobles

Francesca received the tidings with an aching heart indeed; for her cos of others did not permit her to remain unmoved amidst such dire misfortunes Still she never lost her habitual composure; her only occupation was to console the mourners: her first impulse on these occasions to bless God, and accept at His hands all that His providence ordained It ell that she was resigned, and had learned the lesson of courage at the foot of the Cross; for, like a flood at spring-tide, her afflictions were increasing every day, threatening to overwhelm all land, a troop of savage ruffians, drunk with rage, and vociferating blasphe after Lorenzo, and threatening to torture the servants if they did not instantly reveal his place of conceal in vain to his mother's neck, and was only parted fro hie, and all but to destroy, the time-honoured residence of the Ponziani In the space of a few hours that gorgeous abode was turned into a heap of ruins Bereft of her husband, of her son, and of all the conveniences of life, Francesca, with her two younger children, remained alone and unprotected; for her brother-in-law, Paluzzo, who ht have been a support to her in that dreadful moment, was still a prisoner in the tyrant's hands, and her innocent boy shared the sa his captivity lasted; but ithis release, and sending him to Lorenzo; for it is mentioned that, at the period when the troubles were at an end, and peace restored to the city of Roether

In the mean time, Francesca took shelter in a corner of her ruined habitation; and there, with Evangelista and Agnese, she ed to live in the most complete seclusion These two children were now their mother's only comfort, as their education was her principal occupation

Evangelista, as he advanced in age, in no way belied the proels and saints, and seemed more fitted for their society than for any earthly companionshi+p ”To be with God” was his only dreah scarcely nine years old, he already helped his nese's education

The hour for another sacrifice was, however, at hand It was not long delayed The second invasion of Rome had been succeeded by a dreadful famine, which was followed in its turn by a severe pestilence Already one or two cases of the prevailing epideelista sickened with it; and oneNo sooner had he felt the first syue, than he asked for a confessor He never doubted that his last hour was come; and she believed it too Don Antonio hurried to the bed-side of the boy, who, after he hadher hand in his, addressed her in some such words as follow:

”Mother mine, I have often told you that God would not leave els Jesus is my treasure, ht, in desire, in unutterable longings Every day I have said 'Thy kingdom come;' and now He calls me to it There is a crown prepared for ive it me, and we must part for awhile

But bless His name, oh my mother Praise Him with me; for He delivers me from all that your love dreaded for me upon earth There is no sin, no sorrow, no sickness where I aht of God in that better land where the blessed are expecting rieve Rejoice with your child; for I see them even now, my holy advocates, St Anthony and St

Vauplerius They are co to fetch elista will love you in heaven as he has loved you on earth, and you will co boy then reht illu his eyes with a look of rapture, he exclaiels co, et you God bless you andto this house Blessed be the na his little arms on his chest, he bowed down his head, a last smile passed over his face--”she had herspirit passed to the regions of endless bliss

A touching prodigy, well adapted to cheer the heart of our saint, took place that very day in a house adjoining her own A little girl, who had been dangerously ill for a long time, and had completely lost the power of speech, at the very moment that Francesca's son had expired suddenly raised herself in her bed, and exclaimed several times in a loud voice, and in a state of evident rapture, ”See, see! how beautiful! Evangelista Ponziano is going up into heaven, and two angels with hi boy were deposited in the family vault in the church of Santa Cecilia, in Trastevere A monument was erected there with the siure in stone, clothed in a long robe, was carved upon it

Francesca wept over the loss of her dearly-beloved child, but did not grieve for him How could she have done so? He was in bliss; and had only preceded her to that heaven for which she was day by day preparing

Nor was it a tience of sorrow Want and sickness were turning Ro for bread on every side The streets were encuious disease; their frantic cries and piteous s re-echoed in each piazza and under every portico Oldsurrounded by the corpses of their children;infants Others crept about bereft of all their fahosts the scenes of their past happiness No carriages shook the public ways The grass grew in the deserted streets; one h the doo as it passed the dead at every door; and when the dreadful cargo was co it away to the crowded ceeneral penury occasioned by the cruelties of Ladislas, and the sacking of Rome by his soldiers, had cut off almost all the resources of private charity Anxiety for self, and the fear of contagion, had worked so deeply on the mind of the multitude, that many persons abandoned even their near relatives and friends when they were attacked by the plague Nothing but the charity which is of divine not of natural origin could ree with the awfulbut her one little girl, and lodged with Vannozza and Rita in a corner of their diser at her command the resources she had formerly possessed for the relief of the poor A little food from their ruined estates was now and then supplied to these lonely women; and they scarcely partook of it thereatest part on the sick and poor

There was a large hall in the lower part of the palace which had been less injured than any other portion of the building It was at least a place of shelter against the inclemencies of the weather The sisters converted it into a temporary hospital; but of the shattered furniture that lay scattered about the house, they contrived tofor the wretched creatures they were about to receive When all was ready, they went in search of the sufferers If they found any too weak to walk, they carried them into the new asylu sores, and by means which saints have often employed, and which we could hardly bear even to think of, they conquered in theainst which the senses and the flesh rise in rebellion They prepared both ht; laboured incessantly for their bodies, and still more for their souls Many were those who recovered health through Francesca's care, and many more ere healed of the worst disease of the soul,--a hardened i their fears, without driving thes as a reat secret of Catholic consolation), and bring therees to repentance, to confession, to the practice of long-forgotten duties, and of those Christian virtues which her own example recommended to their hearts

The exaiven kindled a si the hitherto apathetic inhabitants of Roht of such unparalleled exertions where the means were so slender, were roused from their inaction, and in several parts of the city, especially in the parishes of St Cecilia and of Santa Maria in Trastevere, hospitals and asylu multitudes Often and often Francesca and Vannozza saw thedawn, and not a bit of food of any description did they possess for the, as they had done before; but not merely as an act of humility, nor dressed as heretofore as became their rank, or in those places only where their naenerally a favourable answer; but in the garb of poverty, in the spots where beggars ont to congregate and the rich to bestow alratefully received the broken bits that fell fro of clothing, they brought ho was set aside for their own nourishuests

In our own time, in our own rich and luxurious city, there is a counterpart to these deeds of heroic charity There are young and well-educated women, who in their homes never lacked the necessaries or the comforts, nay perhaps the luxuries of life, who do the saed, thethearrets; tending theing for them from door to door the cru their basket, rejoicing when it is heavy, even though their arrow pale with the labour; like Francesca, feeding upon the remnants of the poor feast where the poor have sat before theh the streets of Ro there in the wildest epoch of lawless strife and fiercest passion; and the gentle sisters of the poor, the servants of the helpless, who have abandoned home and friends and colish mind, that wretched counterfeit of virtue, for the love which they bear to Christ in His suffering members, have been insulted and beaten in the streets of London in the face of day, and only because of the habit they wore,--the badge of no common vocation,--the nun's black dress, the livery of the poor The parallel is consoling to them, perhaps also to us; for is not Francesca now the cherished saint of Rome, the pride and the love of every Roman heart? And may not the day come when our patient, heroic nuns will be looked upon as one of God's best blessings, in a city where luxury runs riot on the one hand, and starvation and n on the other? Will not the eye follow them with love, and many rise up to call them blessed? Their course is like hers; may their end be the same!

The historians of our saint relate that on one of the occasions above alluded to, when her only resource was to beg for her sick charges, she went to the Basilica of San Lorenzo without the walls, where was the station of the day, and seated herself a to custo of the sun to the ringing of the vesper-bell, she sat there side by side with the lame, the deforladly enduring, not the semblance, but the reality of that deep huh ith to feed the poor at hon to her companions, entered the old basilica, adored the Blessed Sacra God all the while, and rejoicing that she was counted worthy to suffer for His dear sake

Those who are well acquainted with Rome, who have frequented the stations and love the basilicas, and especially that venerable old pile of San Lorenzo, with its upper and lower chapel, its nificent columns, its beautiful pulpit, its wide portico with half-effaced frescoes, and its rare s in stone which tiazed with delight on the glorious view as they approached it, and whose ears are familiar with the sound of the mendicant's voice, to whom the remembrance of Francesca's story may have won, perchance, an additional dole,--can form to themselves with ease a picture of the scene; and when they visit it again in reality, may be teel-like countenance, aroups before theain such charity as Francesca's will anio, for a few short years, in Francesca's city, there was one who bade fair to emulate the virtues of the dear saint of Ro in her footsteps, and her nast whom she dwelt, death snatched her away Her rant us such in our own land!

Saints are sorely needed in these busy, restless,ties, or the troubled centuries that followed

Francesca possessed a small vineyard near the church of St Paul without the walls; and in that time of scarcity, when every little resource had to be turned to account for the purposes of charity, she used to go there and gather up into parcels and faggots the long grass and the dry branches of the vines When she had collected a certain number of these packets, she laid the at various poor dwellings to distribute the fruits of her labours On one of these occasions her donkey stu rolled to a considerable distance Francesca was looking about her in considerable eain, when a Roman nobleman, Paolo Lelli Petrucci, a friend of her husband's, chanced to pass by Astonished at seeing her in such a predicament, he hastened to her assistance; and she received it with as much serenity and co in the world

By this time her virtues were destined to receive a wonderful reward, and God bestowed upon her the gift of healing to a iven over by the physicians was restored to health by the single touch of her hands, or the prayers which she offered up in their behalf More than sixty of these cases ell attested at the time of her canonisation Francesca was profoundly sensible of the blessedness of this gift, and grateful for the power it afforded her of relieving the sufferings of others; but at the same time her humility prompted her to conceal it asup an ointment composed of oil and hich she applied to the sick, whatever their disease ht be, in the hope that their recovery would always be ascribed to its efficacy But this holy subterfuge did not always succeed The physicians analysed the oint qualities whatsoever One day, upon entering the Hospital of the Trastevere, Francesca found a poorbeen crushed by the fall of a scythe; it was in such a horrible and hopeless condition, that the surgeons were about to a the cries of the poor wretch, bent over hi hiled foot The wounds instantly closed, the pain vanished, and a short time after the mule-driver returned to his customary occupation

So ho by the bridge of Santa Maria, now the Ponte Rotto, (the very ancient little church opposite to the Temple of Vesta), they saw extended on the pavement a man whose arm had been severed by a sword-cut; and unable to procure medical assistance, the poor wretch had lain there ever since in excruciating tortures, which had reduced him to the last extremity Francesca, full of compassion for his miserable condition, carried him with Vannozza's aid into her house, put hireatest care, and dressed it with her ointment In a short time, and without any medical assistance, the severed limb was restored to its usual position, and a complete recovery ensued

The bowl in which San Francesca compounded this miraculous re the novena of the saint, when the doors are thrown open to crowds of devout persons, it stands on a table in the entrance-chamber, and is daily filled by the nuns with fresh sweet-s flowers--violets, primroses, anemones, and the like The visitor rant remembrances, and cherish the as the seasons return, and the spring brings back to our gladdened sight those