St. Frances of Rome

Their story

Frances was born in Rome in 1384 to a wealthy noble family. As a girl she hoped to become a nun, but her parents arranged for her to marry Lorenzo Ponziani when she was about twelve. Though it was not the life she had planned, she came to love her husband deeply, and they had a happy marriage that lasted forty years. With her sister-in-law Vannozza, who became her close friend, Frances spent her free time visiting the sick and bringing food to the poor of Rome. She once said that a married woman must sometimes leave God at the altar to find Him in her housework. Her life was full of suffering. Rome was torn by war, plague and famine. Her husband was badly wounded, her family's property was seized, and one of her sons was taken hostage. Two of her children died of the plague. Through it all Frances kept praying and serving, and she turned part of her home into a hospital for the sick. In 1425 Frances gathered a group of women who wanted to live a life of prayer and service without taking vows, and they became the Oblates of Mary, still found in Rome today. After her husband died in 1436, she went to live with them as their leader. Frances said that for much of her life she could see her guardian angel beside her, lighting her way. She died on March 9, 1440, and was canonized in 1608. Because of the angel who lit her path, she is a patron of drivers, as well as of wives and widows.