Picture courtesy of All Posters Madonna and Child with St. Frances of Rome by Orazio GentileschiFrances was born into a wealthy family. As a young girl she wanted to devote herself to God and become a nun. However, her family had other plans and married her off to the son of another wealthy family. She vowed to serve the Lord faithfully in her marriage. An example of this is that in order to please her husband, she worn jewels, silks and velvet dresses. Yet, underneath, she wore a hair shirt. She and her sister in law did whatever they could to help the less fortunate. They wanted to serve the poor. But the wealthy family they had both married into did not like this at all.
Frances was convinced that duties to the family for a wife, took precedence over that of service to God and prayer.
"It is laudable in a married woman to be devout but she must never forget that she has a household to care for, and sometimes she must leave God at the altar to find him in her housekeeping".
No wonder she is the patron of wives and mothers.
Source: The Saint Book by Mary Reed Newland
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