March 9th is the feast of St Frances of Rome, who died on this day in the year 1440. She was born into a wealthy and noble Roman family in 1384, and felt called to the religious life at a very young age, but yielding to her parents’ wishes, agreed to be married to a young nobleman named Lorenzo Ponziano when she was only thirteen. Taking up residence in her in-laws’ palazzo, she soon discovered a
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