fransje 7

If you have ever seen a painting of Saint Francesca...

you may have noticed a little angel standing near her.

Francesca lost her little eight-year-old boy, Evangelista, to the plague. After his death, he appeared to her announcing the death of yet another child, her daughter Agnese. Francesca’s grief was like described by the prophet Isaiah: “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you” [Isaiah 49:15].

Francesca never forgot the little ones, taken from her by death. In exchange for these terrible losses, she was given an unusual grace: that of always seeing her guardian angel. Her angel took on the appearance of a little boy of about eight years, like her son Evangelista. He wore a dalmatic, like the deacon at Solemn Mass.

Francesca’s guardian angel was with her visibly at every moment, assuring her of the love of Christ, giving her counsel, and providing her, even visibly, with a guiding light as she made her way through Rome’s dark streets at night on errands of charity.

It was this fact that made Pope Pius XI declare Francesca the patroness of motorists...


~bron~