The house of Francesca Romana

Before it slips out of my memory, I want to record something about a little expedition that a number of us SDBs and FMAs took on Sunday, March 5th.

It was a simple thing, really: after dinner (Romans have their main meal at mid-day), a small group of us caught the bus to downtown Rome and met a group of FMA at the Tomb of the Unknowns (L'altare della patria) in Piazza Venezia. From there we rounded the corner, moving to the right of the monuments of the unknowns (20th Century), past the Ara Coeli (a church of the 4th Century built on the remains of a temple dedicated by Caesar Augustus 15 years before the birth of Christ), past the Capidoglio (the municipal center of Rome, designed by Michelangelo in the 16th Century), to a monastery built at "Tor de' Specchi" by a widow named Francesca de' Leoni Ponziani in 1425.

This widow is known to the Romans as "Ceccolela", but to the rest of the world as Francesca Romana (or in English: "St Frances of Rome"). I found this painting (at right) of her by Gentileschi (painted in 1615). Although she lived to a ripe old age, she is always depicted as a young woman.

Ceccolela gathered a group of women at the time of the plagues and organized relief for the poor and sick of the city of Rome when civic and church leadership was too inept to do anything. She also created a community of women that included widows and mothers of families who acted as a support group to one another and to their families in the years of chaos that was the 15th Century. The group of laywomen prayed the liturgy together, and eventually became a semi-religious community, but with the freedom of the women (who were all called "mothers" and not "sisters") to care for their families whenever needed. St Frances of Rome's feastday, by the way, is tomorrow: 9 March.

But why did we go to see the house of Ceccolela? Because in 1878-1879, when Don Bosco was visiting Rome to try to complete the regulations and gain approval for the Salesian Cooperators, he found lodging in a house owned by the "mothers" of St Frances of Rome, right across the street from the monastery of the "Oblates", as they are also called. He went there because the Oblates of Frances of Rome had heard about his work among the street kids of Turin as early at 1850, and they had been instrumental in getting support for him from many parts of Italy. So, on the feast of St Francis de Sales, in January 1879, the first ever meeting of the Salesian Cooperators took place -- and it took place in the chapel of the monastery built by St Frances of Rome, in the presence also of her community.

From that experience, Don Bosco not only launched the Cooperators in their organizational structure, he also launched the Cooperators on the national scene in Italy, and on the international scene, since a number of ambassadors to the Holy See and the Cardinal Vicar of Rome also participated in that first "Conference of St Francis de Sales".

The house where don Bosco stayed later became the first residence of the Salesians, who came to Rome permanently two years later. That same house, by the way, was also the place where St Francis de Sales and his brother stayed on their first visit to Rome in 1599. Unfortunately, the house no longer exists. Mussolini tore it down to beautify Rome and liberate area around the Roman Forum so that archeologists could do their work. The only thing that remains of the house is the front steps, which were incorporated into a stair that climbs the Palotine Hill. But the monastery of "Tor de' Specchi" remains…

Okay -- too long a post, but tomorrow is the feast of St Frances of Rome. In Rome it is very festive in spite of Lent. On this day it will be good to remember that the Cooperator Salesians got their start in the house of his mighty widow and mother and mystic who not only gave herself to save the poor, but organized a great force of laywomen to make a social and religious impact on their ancient city that was falling into ruin. It seems to me that her family concerns and lay activisim inspired Francis de Sales and Don Bosco both in their own missions; and in their admiration for her, they make her a model of Salesian laity and family people.