Saint Frances of Rome

Frances was born in Rome in 1384, into the Bussa de’ Leoni family. At twelve her father gave her in marriage to Lorenzo de’ Ponziani, of a noble family, and she went to live in the Ponziani palace in Trastevere. She had three children: Battista, Evangelista and Agnese. The two younger ones died of the plague while still children, in 1410. She didn’t leave her home to enter a convent, and that’s what sets her apart from so many others. On August 15, 1425, with nine companions, she offered herself as an oblate in the basilica of Santa Maria Nova at the Forum: for eight years those women went on living each with her own family, getting on with their lives and caring for the poor of Rome. Only in March 1433, after buying a house at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, did they begin living together. They are the Oblates of Tor de’ Specchi. Frances joined them three years later, when her husband Lorenzo died, and took over the leadership of the congregation. The monastery is still there, on Via del Teatro di Marcello, and still active. She died on March 9, 1440, in the house in Trastevere. She was buried in Santa Maria Nova, which in 1608 — the year of her canonization — was renamed after her: today that church in the Roman Forum is called Santa Francesca Romana. If your name is Frances, today is your name day.