Part 8 (1/2)

At that moment her son Baptista entered the roo upon him with an expression of anxious scrutiny, she said: ”And can it be that you quarrel with poor shepherds? And do you rob God of His glory by unlawful dealings with hell?” The persons ere standing around the bed looked at each other in surprise, and iined that Francesca was delirious; but Baptista's countenance and actions soon undeceived thereat euilty of striking, in his anger, soone to consult in secret one of the persons who dealt in occult sciences, as to the possibility of his mother's recovery No one but hi Saint came upon hi for the rest of his life As the day advanced, Francesca greeaker and weaker; but the flahtly, as that of life aning ”What are you saying?” asked Don Giovanni at oneher lips in,” she answered in a scarcely audible voice As an infant alun that practice; and on the eve of her death she had not yet omitted it On the seventh day of her illness, as she had herself announced, her life came to a close A sublime expression animated her face; a more ethereal beauty clothed her earthly form Her confessor for the last time inquires what it is her enraptured eyes behold, and she whispers, ”The heavens open! The angels descend! The archangel has finished his task He stands before me He beckons to me to follow him” These are the last words that Francesca utters; a shtness bea been closed to the vanities of life are now closed in death, and her spirit has taken its final leave of earth

CHAPTER XV

FRANCESCA'S FUNERAL, AND HER SUBSEQUENT CANONIZATION

THE body of the Saint reht and a day at the Ponziano palace, the Oblates watching by turns over the beloved rerief was teh the pang of separation was keen, and their home on earth desolate Don Giovanni, Don Ippolito, and Don Francesco dello Schiano recited the prayers of the Church over the corpse; and though deeply affected themselves, strove to console the bereaved sisterhood, chiefly by extolling the rare hty God vouchsafed, even during the first night of their loving watch, to give them a proof of that sanctity which was so soon to be triuaret, of the third order of St

Frances, had been present at Francesca's death, and reht that followed Her arm had been paralysed for six months, and to all appearance withered Inspired with a lively faith, she touched the body of the Saint, and was instantaneously cured The Oblates all fell on their knees at the sight of this ave of the wonders which Francesca's intercession was to accomplish Each moment they were confirmed in the blessed assurance of her iht with it a new occasion for joyful exultation The sweet perfume, the ”odour of sanctity,” which expression is so often supposed to be simply metaphorical, whereas it often indicates an actual physical and miraculous fact, soon pervaded the roorance Francesca's face, which had recently borne the traces of age and of suffering, becaain as in the days of youth and prosperity; and the astonished bystanders gazed onder and awe at that unearthly loveliness Many of them carried away particles from her clothes, and employed them for the cure of several persons who had been considered beyond the possibility of recovery In the course of the day, the crowd augree which alarmed the inhabitants of the palace, and Baptista took measures to have the body reular and secular clergy escorted the venerated remains to Santa Maria Nuova, where they were to be interred

The popular feeling burst forth on the occasion; it was no longer to be restrained: a sort of pious insurrection, which the Church sh it refuses to sanction it; as a ular action in one of her children when it springs froh she feels herself bound to check it

”Francesca was a saint--Francesca was in heaven” Francesca was invoked by the crowd, and her beloved name was heard in every street, in every piazza, in every corner of the Eternal City It flew from mouth to mouth; it seerateful enthusiasm of a whole people, who had seen her walk to that church by her mother's side in her holy childhood; who had seen her kneel at that altar in the grave beauty of womanhood, in the hour of bereaveentle, the humble Saint of Rome, the poor woman of the Trastevere, as she was sometimes called at her own desire

Francesca del Veruli, the Oblate whom illness had detained from the death-bed of her beloved mother, hears from her sick-roo feet, which indicate the approach of the procession Full of faith, she starts up, and with clasped hands exclaims, ”Oh, my mother! oh, Francesca! I have not seen you die; I have not received your last blessing; obtain for me now that Ion one of her sisters, she contrives to rise and to make her way to the bier The very instant she has touched it, her health and strength return Meanwhile the crowd augments, and hurries into the church They press round the precious body; they refuse to let it be buried As a favour, as a boon of the greatest price, they obtain that the obsequies be put oft to the Saturday; and in the ht, there is no limit to the concourse of people that assemble in the chapel Still the saintly body exhales its perfume; still the sweet features retain their beauty; and to that spot, in an apparently never-ending succession, come the blind, and the la; and each of those who touch the bier, or to whoed to Francesca, is instantaneously cured Truly God onderful in this His Saint, and wonderful are the details of thethose days; and not only were the ills of the body relieved by contact with the holy corpse, but grace reaches the souls of ainst its entrance

Aious spirits, on hearing of the h on the subject, and, o to the church, approach the bier with mock demonstrations of respect But no sooner have they knelt before it, than their hearts are si come to scoff, they remain to pray,--they rise from their knees only to seek a confessor; and return hoht converted to God, and ever after lead the lives of pious Christians The ht before and after Francesca's burial are so e word to use on such an occasion, but nevertheless correct) to attempt to relate the of God's powers through His servant Faith grew ; charity burned in the hearts offervour; and the exaiven, and which were noelt upon with affectionate veneration, induced many to walk in the same path, and look to the same end It was in Lent that she had died; and from every pulpit in Rome her praises were heard The most eminent ecclesiastics of the time all foretold her canonisation; and the public voice and the public devotion ratified the burst of popular enthusiasm that had hailed her as a Saint on the very day of her death, and long preceded the fornition of her sanctity by the authority of the Church

A few months after her death, her tomb was opened in order to remove the corpse into a monument which Baptista, Mobilia, and several Roman noblemen had erected in her honour It was found in a state of perfect preservation, and still exhaling the sarance as before The most exact and detailed examinations were taken in the year of her death, both as to all the particulars of her life, and as to the supernatural and miraculous events which had marked its course, as well as those which had succeeded her death

From time to time earnest endeavours were made to hasten her formal canonisation The materials were ample, and the evidence complete; but a variety of circumstances interfered with the conclusion of the process; and though several Popes, naenius IV, Nicholas V, Pius II, Innocent VIII, and Julius II, promoted the question, it was not reat devotion to the Saint, and brought thein thehihese) who decreed the canonisation of Francesca, to the joy of the Oblates of Tor di Specchi, of the monks of Santa Maria Nuova, and of the whole people of Rome Her festival was appointed to be kept on the 9th of March; and those who have been in Rome on that day can tell how vivid is the devotion that still exists,--the worshi+p that is yet paid to the holy Francesca, the beloved Saint of the Trastevere, the model of Christian matrons; and in the church of Santa Francesca Romana, as the old Santa Maria Nuova is now called, and in the Casa dei Esercizii Pii (the old Ponziano Palace), and in the time-honoured walls of Tor di Specchi, a tribute of love and of devotion is yielded, which touches the heart, and carries the mind back to the days when, amidst the strife of war and the , and pure, asserted its power, and wrought wonders through such feeble instruments as a woman's heart and a woman's works

On the 29th of May, 1608, in the church of St Peter, then lately erected, and adorned for the occasion with the uth Mass, in the presence of the Sacred College, and of an iers as well as of Rost the canonised saints, and sanctioned the worshi+p which a devout people had paid her, with but few interruptions, since the day of her death Roht; the fiery cupola of St Peter, and the sound of innu plains and hills that ”God had regarded the lowliness of His handenerations were to call her Blessed

In 1633, the tomb of Francesca, which, in consequence of soht for a great nuh the pious exertions of the Oblates, assisted by the abbot of Santa Maria Nuova, and the Cardinals Borghese, Barberini, and Altiere, discovered in the spot where it had been placed two centuries before Her bones were exposed to the veneration of the faithful, and a nuious processions and services took place on the occasion Various ave testinificent monument was erected beneath that altar where the Saint had so often prayed BLESSED LUCY OF NARNI

BLESSED LUCY OF NARNI

IT was towards the latter end of the 15th century that Lucia Broccoletti was horn in the ancient city of Narni, in U held a noble and distinguished rank Even as a baby in the cradle, there were not wanting signs which marked her as no ordinary child; and if we raphers, both her nurses and mother were accustoious dressed in the Doher fro They watched closely, to see whence this mysterious visitor came and whither she went, but were never able to follow her; and the th alarmed at the daily recurrence of this circumstance, it was revealed to her that her child's unknown visitor was no other than St

Catherine of Sienna, to whohter

The accounts that have been preserved of Lucia's childhood have a peculiar interest of their own Whilst the early biographies of races and favours granted to them in infancy, quite as numerous and remarkable as those bestowed on Blessed Lucy, yet in her case we find them mixed with the details of a characteristic vivacity of teive them a lifelike reality, and show her to us, in the midst of her supernatural visitations, with all the iinative child When she was only four years old, her mother's brother, Don Siht with him froiven her choice; and whilst the others were loudly cla for the dolls and puppets, she selected a little rosary with an iiven to her, she took it in her ar its hands and feet, and calling it her dear Christarello, a naiven to it ever afterwards

The rest of the day she spent in her own little rooed a corner for the reception of the Christarello, and was never tired of seeing and caressing her new treasure Henceforth it was here that she spent the happiest ot into any trouble in the house, it was here she came to pour out all her sorrow; and the innocent si to God, that more than once He permitted that the Christarello should wipe away the tears which she shed on these occasions with His little hand, as was several tih the half-open door As she grew a little older, she began to accompany her reat church of St

Augustine, which was close to the house where they lived Now it happened that in this church, aes, there was a s her Divine Son in her arms, which took the child's fancy the first time they entered, so that she stopped to look at it Her ered behind: ”Lucy,” she said, ”do you knoho that beautiful lady is whom you see there? She is the Mother of your Christarello; and the little Child whom she carries in her arms is the Christarello also If you like, ill co the rosary you are so fond of, and say it before her ihted at the idea; and whenever she could escape from her nurse's hand, she found her way to the church, to ad thus occupied, the thought came into her head, how much she would like to hold the Christarello for once in her own arms, as she had learnt to hold her little baby brother She therefore prayed to the Blessed Virgin with great earnestness that her request ure of the little Jesus was extended to her by His Mother, and placed in her arms Nor was this all: no sooner had she received her precious burden, than she felt the cold ht, she ran hoh she met , and tried to take Hi safe to her own room at home, where she shut herself up with her treasure, and rehts without food or sleep, insensible to all the entreaties and reth by fatigue, on the third day she fell asleep; and when she woke she became sensible of the truth that God abides only with those atch with Hi she perceived was that the Christarello was gone Her cries of distress were heard by her mother, who, to console her, carried her once more to the church; and there they found the h for the three previous days its place in the arure had been empty

She was accustomed from time to time to pay a visit to the uncle before mentioned, and when about seven years old she went as usual to spend some time with him at his country house She remembered, on the occasion of a former visit, to have seen a rooels painted on the walls, as it see; and the firstafter her arrival, she deterels The roo of the house which had fallen out of repair, and was no longer used by the family; a staircase had led to the upper story, but this was now fallen and in ruins; and though Lucy, as she stood at the bottoels on the wall above her head, all her efforts were unavailing to climb the broken staircase and reach the object of her search She had recourse to her usual expedient, prayer to the Christarello, and instantly found herself in the e how she caels There they were; little winged children, their heads garlanded with flowers, theiras it seemed in the air; and they danced with such an air of enjoyround before them, absorbed in admiration As she sat thus, she heard her own na to see her uncle or some of the servants of the house; but a very different spectacle els stood round the Person of Jesus Hiin Mother; on His left, St Catherine and the great Patriarch St

Dominic, with many others Then those mystic espousals were celebrated which we read of in so many other tales of the Saints of God: the Divine Spouse receiving the hand of the delighted child froer, which she preserved to the hour of her death; after which He assigned her to the special guardianshi+p of St Dominic and St Catherine, whom from that day she alas used to call her ”father and ive Me?” He then asked of His little Spouse; ”will you not give Me that silk mantle and pretty necklace?” Lucy was dressed in the rich fashi+on of the day, with a criarold and coral beads about her neck; but at these words of her Spouse, she hastily stripped them off, and lay theive her a richer dress in their place; for she had no sooner taken off the silk mantle, than St Dominic clothed her with the scapular of his order, which she continued to wear during the rest of her life under her other clothes When the vision had disappeared, Lucy found herself full of a new and inexpressible joy She turned to the little angels on the wall, the only companions left her after the last of the heavenly train had faded frolee, she spoke to theels,” she said, ”are you not glad at what our Lord has done?” Then the angels seemed to move from the wall, and to become, indeed, full of life; and they spoke to her in reply, and said they were very glad to have her for their queen and lady, as the Spouse of their dear Lord And they invited her to join in their dance of joy, and sang so sweet and harraciously, that Lucy would have been well content never to have left her happy place of retreat; nor would she have done so, if she had not been found by her uncle, and carried against her will back to the house

The death of her father, left her whilst still young, to the guardianshi+p of her uncle All her oishes were fixed on a life of religion, but her uncle had different views for her; and after long resistance on her part, he succeeded in inducing her to accept as her husband Count Pietro of Milan, a young noblee was accordingly celebrated; but not until, in answer to earnest prayers, Lucy had received a divine revelation that a life so contrary to all her oishes and intentions was indeed God's will regarding her

Doubtless it is one of those cases in which it is not easy for us to follow the ways of Divine Providence Theto both parties; yet, if we be willing to take the Saints'

lives as they are given us, without seeking to reduce the supernatural ele, we shall not he disposed to doubt the truth of the revelation which cos would have been much better if Blessed Lucy had never been placed in a position so little in harmony with her oishes On the contrary, we race of God, which would perhaps never have been so amply enial way of life We are accustomed to admire the wonderful variety of examples which are presented to us in the lives of the Saints: that of Blessed Lucy offers us one of a soul with all her syion, yet fulfilling with perfect exactitude the minutest duties of a different vocation She sanctified herself in the will of God, though that as manifested to her in a position which the world is used to call the hardest of all to bear--an ill-assorted e She found means to practise the hu aside the duties, or even the beco herself the young mistress of a house full of servants, ith them, whom she ever looked on less as menials than as a cherished portion of her faiven us of her intercourse with them, we must remember that at the period in which she lived, it was considered nothing uncohest rank to join in the household occupations, and take their part in the day's est the theave them at the sahted in the opportunities, which the si aside her rich dress and orna in her own kitchen, where she always chose the meanest and most tiresome offices

What ith others only done in compliance with the ordinary habit of the day, ith her made the occasion of secret humiliations One of her servants, a woman of very holy life and disposition, she took into her confidence, subious superior On Holy Thursday, she washed the feet of all her do a devotion as to draw tears fro the a the spectacle of disorder so common in households filled with a crowd of feudal retainers of all kinds, her palace had the quietude and serenity of athem; the name of God was honoured; and habits of devotion became cherished and familiar, where before they had been too often an occasion ofthe repast the Lives of the Saints, or the Holy Scriptures, were read aloud