Pope Leo XIV in the Assumption: Society is urgent women passionate about the Gospel

Pope Leo XIV said that society is urgent to have women “passionate about the Gospel”, such as Santa Francisca Romana, at 600 years of the total delivery of this Saint and her first nine companions, held on August 15, 1425.

In his message posted on August 15, the day of the Assumption of the Virgin, the Holy Father addresses the Oblate sisters of Santa Francisca Romana, founding widow of the Monastic Congregation, which is inspired by the rule of St. Benito.

“Santa Francisca Romana, so loved by the faithful, remains a lighthouse that illuminates the believers of all eras, burning the fire of the love of Christ in today’s man,” says Pope León in his message.

“Our society is urgent to have women like her: passionate about the Gospel,” he said, and as Pope Eugenio IV wrote, “lit by the zeal of God, eager to serve the Most High in the spirit of humility and (…) to imitate the apostolic life to win Christ and live in community and charity.”

The Pontiff also quoted John Paul II who, in 1984, said that today’s world needs “animated and strengthened by grace, despite his delicate sensitivity for the needs and inclinations of today’s society, they know how to make decisions of deep evangelical radicalism (…) characterized by an austere discipline, a joyful resignation and a generous oblation”.

Three characteristics of the holiness of Santa Francisca Romana

Pope León later referred to three characteristics of the holiness of this founder and indicated that “the first is the zeal with which he promised to generate Christ in the world and to make his presence strong and real with his testimony of faith and holiness.”

The second is the “Docility to the Guide of Los Angeles, whose presence cultivated thanks to the fidelity to prayer and the meditation of the Word of God, together with devotion to her protective saints – San Pablo, Santa María Magdalena, San Benito and San Francisco de Sales – under the guidance of spiritual giants such as San Juan Leonardi and San Felipe Neri, who accompanied her in her way.”

The third is the “commitment to the unity of the Church, for which she lavished with prayer and action. All this has its continuation in the presence of its” open ‘monastery – as the founding mother wanted it – in the heart of the eternal city, as a lamp for history and the path of a people. “

The Holy Father recalled that “over the centuries, numerous have been the devotees of the saint who have moved to this place as sublime, rich in art and spirituality, to achieve inner peace and savor the love of God, and even today there is a lot of need, in a society as frantic and opulent, of oasis like this.”

After encouraging the religious to do the will of God, Pope Leo XIV encouraged them to feel “united to the Church, who looks at them with special affection” and “to look to the future with hope and docility.”

Santa Francisca was born in Rome in 1384. At age 12 he experienced the first vocational concerns, but his parents fixed their marriage. He married and had three children, two of whom died from the plague in Europe. The suffering made her more sensitive and began to attend beggars and sick.

Her husband, a member of the army, was injured and finally died after 40 years of marriage. When asked about his future, Francisca met his desire to be a nun.

On August 15, 1425, the day of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Francisca, along with 9 companions, made his oblation (consecration) in the brotherhood of the Benedictine Oblatas (Order of San Benito).

In 1433, Santa Francisca Romana founded the monastery of Tor de ‘Spechi, whom he moved along with the obatas who wanted to have a common life and thus strengthen their service to others.

Pope Eugenio IV approved the initiative and the group of women became what would be the only religious congregation of Oblates with private votes and common life that exists until today.