​Resurrection  of  the  Lord  Parish

​​​ Saint Frances of Rome (1384-1440)   

Diocesan Publication 

Born Nature and human nature—plagues and wars—turned late medieval Rome into a living hell, particularly for the sick and poor. Frances, by birth and marriage well provided for, was a devoted wife and mother; but like Benedictine Oblates who, to this day, “pray and work” while living with their families and working in the world, she joined like-minded laywomen friends in ministering to society’s most vulnerable. Frances’ charity was not only “hands on” but “in home.” Her palace becoming a hospital after the plague claimed two of her three children. When her husband’s death ended their loving marriage of forty years, Frances joined other widowed Oblates in community. In an interesting link to the United States, our nation’s premier religious congregation for women of color, the Oblate Sisters of Providence, in 1833 established bonds of spiritual communion with these “Oblates of Saint Frances” in Rome. Though Black History Month is past, take a moment to learn about the good work that Mother Lange’s spiritual daughters are doing still and consider supporting them as a Lenten project: www.oblatesisters.com.

—Peter Scagnelli 

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