Part 7 (1/2)
It was not to be expected that the infant congregation could be free from evil reports, and fros and tries the courage of God's most faithful servants
The eneral subject of conversation; and though the wiser and better portion of the community were filled with respect and ad persons to raise a cry against theainst their foundress, and to complain that women should be allowed to lend an existence which was strictly speaking neither secular nor religious; a monastery without enclosure, without voithout revenues, without any security for its permanent support Their comments were not without effect on the naturally irresolute mind of Don Giovanni Mattiotti and Fra Bartolorew discontented and desponding The direction of the order was a heavy burden to him; and his faith in Francesca's revelations was shaken by the many worldly difficulties which he foresaw The hts, and transeh the medium of one of her visions, opened their eyes to a sense of their pusillanis
Another threatened trial was, by the est of the Oblates, Augustina Coluzzi, was the only child of her enerous sacrifice to God in gladly surrendering this beloved daughter to the exclusive service of Hih vocation; but she had miscalculated her sacrifice, or, perhaps, trusted too th When the sacrifice was s rose in her heart with terrible violence, and life appeared to her as one dreary blank, now that her hoht, now that the beloved child of her heart had ceased to gladden her eyes
Self-reproach for their vain repinings heightened her rew into despair In an instant of wild recklessness she seized a knife, and was about to destroy herself, when, like an angel at the hour of her uthter was at her side, and arrested her arainst all rules and all probabilities that she should have coazed on her in silent astonishment Francesca was in prayer at thethe unfortunate woer she was in was ustina to leave what she was about, and hurry to her reat was th impression which this merciful interposition produced on the mother, so deep her sense of the peril to which her soul had been exposed, that she hastened to throw herself at Francesca's feet, and with blessings on her and on her daughter, she expressed her gratitude for Augustina's vocation, and her earnest wish that she should remain faithful to it
Another trial arose in those early days at Tor di Specchi fro heiress to join the order She belonged to one of the noblest fa her fortune in supporting the infant congregation Francesca was reluctant to receive her; but, over persuaded by the opinions of others, she gave way A violent opposition immediately arose; and there was no end to the calumnies and vituperations which were ehtened by a divine inti person to her family; and a rule was henceforward e should be admitted into the order
These and many other difficulties rendered it very desirable that the approval of the Holy Father should set its seal on the work, and furnish it with a shi+eld against the ht were as follows: 1st, that the Oblates should be allowed the rights to live in community, and to adht elect for themselves a superioress; 3d, that this superioress should have the power of choosing a confessor for the house; 4th, that they should have a chapel in which to hear Mass, to go to confession and to communion, and be exempted from the jurisdiction of the parish and the parish priests This scheme was fully approved of by the three coadjutors; but it was some time before Don Giovanni could be induced to lay it before the sovereign Pontiff He alleged that the disturbed state of Ro the Holy Father, held out no prospect of success in such a ed by various irresistible proofs that God willed that he should undertake it, he at last consented The petition was fra to be mentioned as the foundress While he bent his way to the pontifical palace, the Oblates of Tor di Specchi and the monks of Santa Maria Nuova joined in fervent prayer to God for the success of his application Eugenius IV
received Francesca's reat kindness, and bade him carry back to her assurances of his favourable disposition towards the congregation, reco himself at the same time to her prayers and to those of her sisters He commended the examination of the case to Gaspard, Archbishop of Conza, and enjoined him to verify the facts recited in the petition, and to communicate on the subject with the prior and the monks of Santa Maria Nuova; and if satisfied with the result, to grant the privileges therein requested The archbishop applied hience to the execution of these orders; and the original document in which this authorisation is recorded still exists ast the archives of the monastery It stipulates that the Oblates shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the superior and of the monks of Santa Maria Nuova, and that they may continue to inhabit the house of Tor di Specchi until such time as they shall have made purchase of another A short tiratitude and joy at the favours which had been granted them, and every day more satisfied with their abode, solicited and obtained permission to remain in it in perpetuity This last transaction took place at the very tihtful disorders reigned within its walls; when the pontifical ues installed in their places The Pope had taken refuge in Bologna, and it is froregation was successively confirenerals of the Olivetan order; and in 1444 Eugenius IV extended still further the privileges and franchises of the Oblates
Francesca was deeply impressed with the responsibility she had incurred in the establishation, and felt herself bound to advance more and more in virtue herself, as well as further the piety of her spiritual daughters During her visits to the convent she used to work indiscriminately in the kitchen or in the parlour; waited at table, and cleaned the plates, as it ht happen; and could not bear to be treated with the least distinction In co away, she always reverently kissed the hand of Agnese de Sellis the superioress, and asked for her blessing She sometimes accompanied the sisters to her vineyard near St Paul without the Walls, where they gathered wood, and carried it back to Roently reproved one of the Oblates who, on one of these occasions, sought to screen her fro by She took them with her to visit the hospitals and the poverty-houses in the city: and the miraculous cures which she performed in their presence confirmed their faith, and inflamed them with the most ardent desire to imitate her example
At the tiht, Francesca appeared onearound her her spiritual daughters, she thus addressed them: ”What shall we do, ainst our unhappy country; Rome is in the hands of cruel and lawless men; the Holy Father in exile; his ht after as if he were an odious oppressor, and we know not when to look for his return
I for souls which Christ's blood has redeeuish do but excite the flain requires at our hands more fervent prayers, reat dearth of love Mortifications and prayer are the weapons we are furnished with; our hearts are the victims which must he slain for men's sins; our tears must quench those unholy fires; we shall not be true Oblates until we have made a complete sacrifice of ourselves, of our souls and of our bodies, to the Lord We are few; but do not doubt the strength of prayer Let us be fervent and persevere, and soon we shall reap the fruit of our intense supplications, of our long-continued pleadings; and liberty, peace, and all God's blessings, will be restored to Rome” Francesca's exhortations had their effect, and the fervent prayers they drew forth had theirs also; for in the same year the Bishops of Recaunti and of Turpia reassumed, in the Pope's name, possession of the city; and the Roladly welco danger now threatened not only Rome but the whole Catholic world The undutiful conduct of the Council of Basle, with the violence of their language with regard to the Holy See, brought matters to such a point that a deplorable schisenius was divided between the fear of hurrying it on, and that of coitimate authority of the Chair of Peter It was at this juncture that the Blessed Virgin appeared one night to Francesca, surrounded by saints and apostles, serenely beautiful, and with a compassionate expression in her countenance After some preliminary spiritual instructions, she inti to have mercy, and that His wrath had to be softened by assiduous prayers and good works She naious exercises, certain penitential practices; which were to be observed on the principal feasts of the ensuing year; and recoeneral, and reat purity of heart, a sincere contrition for past sin, and a spirit of earnest charity, she charged Francesca to see that her orders were co
It was in vain, however, that this revelation was coy of Rome They rejected it as the dreast thehtest importance Not so the Vicar of Christ, when Francesca's confessor carried to hie of the saint; he listened to it with reverence and gratitude, and sent back by his means all the necessary mandates for the execution of the orders which the Blessed Virgin had given When he arrived at Tor di Specchi, Francesca ave him an exact account of all that had taken place on his journey, and of the very words which the Holy Father had used during their interview
The Pope's directions were attended to, the appointed Masses said, the processions organised; and in a short time it was seen that a favourable result ensued The Pope was happily inspired to convene the council that met at Ferrara, and subsequently continued its labours at Florence This at last put an end to the pretensions of the illegal asseradually healed There was but one opinion at the tie in the aspect of affairs It was unanimously ascribed to the prayers of Francesca and to the Pope's compliance with the orders she had received; and in the process of her canonisation this point is treated of at length, and satisfactorily established; and those who are acquainted with the extre evidence on such a subject, will he impressed with the conviction that she was used as an instru Church
CHAPTER XIII
DEATH OF FRANCESCA'S HUSBAND--SHE GOES TO RESIDE WITH THE COMMUNITY OF TOR DI SPECCC--HER LIFE AS SUPERIORESS
FRANCESCA had been forty years h her married life, the heart that had been consecrated to God from the first dawn of existence had been faithful in its love to him whom God Himself had appointed to be her chief earthly care: and blessed had been the course of that union; blessed by the tender affection which had reigned between the husband and the wife, and by the exercise of no common virtues, multiplied by the pursuits of one common object
Francesca had led the way; in le ai purpose Many and severe trials had been their portion at different epochs of their lives; but the latter part of Lorenzo's existence had been comparatively tranquil Lorenzo was the first to be called away God spared him the trial he had probably dreaded We seldorief that fancy has dwelt upon His health had been breaking for some years past, and now it utterly failed, and his disease assuh apparently worn out with toil, with abstinence, and th for every duty, and energy for every eed and painful illness, she was always at his side, nursing hi the hich her exae from life to eternity appeared but a journey The efforts of Satan to disturb hih often repeated, were each time frustrated Lorenzo had been a just hteous Few men would have shown themselves as worthy as he did of such a wife as Francesca Froe he had appreciated her virtues, rejoiced in her piety, encouraged her good works, and to a great extent shared in thes of jealousy, no human respect, no worldly sentiment of expediency had influenced hi all the pleasures and vanities of the world, dressing like a poor person, wearing herself out in the zeal of her charity, turning the half of his palace into a hospital, he did not complain, but rather rejoiced that she was one of those ”whom fools have for a time in derision, and for a parable of reproach; whose life is esteemed madness, and their end without honour; but who are nust the saints” He had his reward; he had it when his sight failed hirew short, when he felt that his hour was co ears she whispered words of peace; and Satan, with a cry of despair, for ever fled away fro portals opened, and the sentence was pronounced at the iment that follows death Masses, prayers, fervent corave; and when the saint, who had been the rave a , her earthly task was, in one sense, done: but work remained; but it was of another sort From her earliest youth she bad been a nun in spirit; and the heart which had sighed for the cloister in childhood yearned for its shelter in these her latter days She o and live in the shade of the tabernacle; sheyears of life This must have been foreseen by her children; and yet, like all trials of the kind, however long looked forward to, it cao,” there was a loud cry of sorrow in the Ponziano palace Baptista, the only son of her love, wept aloud Mobilia threw herself into her ar them ”Are you not afraid for ht me to love God and to serve Him I What am I without you? Too much, too tenderly you have loved me It cannot be that you should forsake randchildren also, who Moved by their tears, but unshaken in her resolution, she gently consoled them; bade them recollect that she was still to inhabit Roed, and that she would always be at hand to advise and to aid them; but that her vocation must now he fulfilled, and the sacrifice co to Mobilia, as to a dearly-beloved child, she fondly said, ”Do not weep, hter; you will survive me, and bear witness to my memory” This prediction was fulfilled; for Mobilia was alive at the time that the process for Francesca's canonisation was coave to her virtues and to her miracles was on that occasion most important, and the most detailed
After this, Francesca took leave of her faht to the Tor di Specchi It was on the 21st of March, the festival of St
Benedict, that she entered its walls, not as the foundress but as a humble suppliant for ad taken off her black gown, her veil, and her shoes, and placed a cord around her neck, she knelt down, kissed the ground, and, shedding an abundance of tears, eneral confession aloud in the presence of all the Oblates; described herself as a ainst God, and asked perst them as the meanest of their servants; and to learn from them to amend her life, and enter upon a holier course The spiritual daughters of Francesca hastened to raise and to e her with their habit, they led the way to the chapel, where they all returned thanks to God While she renese de Sellis the superioress, assembled the sisters in the chapter-room, and declared to them, that now that their true st them, it would be absurd for her to reuide, their head, and that into her hands she would instantly resign her authority They all applauded her decision, and gathering around the Saint, announced to her their wishes As was to be expected, Francesca strenuously refused to accede to this proposal, and pleaded her inability to the duties of a superioress The Oblates had recourse to Don Giovanni, who began by entreating, and finally coe His orders she never resisted; and accordingly, on the 25th of March, she was duly elected to that office
She was favoured with a vision which strengthened and encouraged her in the new task she had before her The angel who for twenty-four years had been by her side, defending and assisting her on all occasions, took leave of her noith a benignant sent still, was ordained to stand By day and by night he was continually weaving a row out of the mystical palm which he carried St Benedict appeared to Franceses on the day of her election, and explained to her theof those symbols Gold was the type of the love and charity which was to govern her dealings with her daughters, while the palm implied the triumph she was to obtain over hu labours of the angel was to ht ordering and spiritual welfare of the community intrusted to her care; and truly she laboured with indefatigable zeal in her new vocation She had ever before her eyes the words of St Paul to Timothy and to titus: ”Preach the word Be patient in season and out of season Entreat, rebuke, in all patience and doctrine In all things show thyself an exaravity” Preaching far ave an exaine any thing mom perfect than her life in the world; but the new duties, the new privileges of her present vocation added each day new splendour to her virtues She appointed Agnese de Sellis her coadjutress, and begged her to share her roo her at the saht coh tele imperfection unreproved, and allowed of no infractions, however slight, of the rule Soh shyness or false sha offence which they were bound to confess, she read their hearts, and reive Satan a hold upon them by such reserve She was ht to procure them as often as she could soo with her to one or other of her vine-gardens without the walls, to take exercise in the pure open air Francesca's gentle gaiety on these occasions increased their enjoy up faggots, and carrying away their spoil on their heads at night, was a part of their amusement The conversation that was carried on between the persons, born in palaces and bred in luxury, worked like peasants, with htness of heart
One fine sunny January day--and those who have inhabited Rome well kno fine a January day can be--Francesca and seven or eight of her coardens of Porta Portese They had worked hard for several hours, and then suddenly reht no provision with thery, and above all very thirsty Perna, the youngest of all the Oblates, was particularly heated and tired, and approaching the Mother Superior, with a wearied expression of countenance, she asked pero and drink some water at a fountain some way off on the public road
”Be patient, my child,” Francesca answered; ”the fountain is too distant” She was afraid of these young persons drinking cold water, heated as they were by toil and exposure to the sun They went on with their work; and withdrawing aside, Francesca knelt down, clasped her hands, and with her eyes raised to heaven, said, ”Lord Jesus, I have been thoughtless in bringingto provide food for them Help us in our need”
Perna, who had kept near to the Mother Superior, probably with the intention of urging her request, overheard this prayer, and, a little irritated by the feverish thirst she was enduring, said to herself with some impatience, ”It would be more to the purpose to take us hoht, and turning to the discontented girl she said, ”My child, you do not trust enough in God Look up and see”
Perna obeyed, and following the direction of Francesca's hand, she saw a vine entwined around a tree, fro a nurapes, of that purple and burnished hue which the fervid sunbealorious fruit
”A miracle! a miracle!” exclaimed the enraptured Perna; and the other Oblates assembled round the tree in speechless astonishment, for they had seen all day the bare and withered branches Twenty times at least they had passed and repassed before it; and at all events the season for grapes had long gone by