You can read the original text here.
The name of Mother Francisca of Jesus, foundress of the Companhia da Virgem (Company of the Virgin), who passed away on May 28, 1932—93 years ago—is largely unknown among us.
Born Francisca Carvalho do Rio Negro, she was the ninth daughter of the Barons of Rio Negro. She was born in Petrópolis on March 27, 1877, and spent her early childhood in Brazil. At a very young age, her family relocated to Europe, settling in Paris. She would rarely see her homeland again; yet, by the hidden designs of Divine Providence, the work she would go on to found in distant lands would one day return to Brazil, to fulfill its high purpose in this nation so in need of priests: prayer for the Pope and for priestly vocations.
This, however, did not unfold without immense struggles. The future foundress was far from imagining what Heaven expected of her—especially because Heaven took its time to reveal its plans, leaving her perplexed for many years.
In her teenage years, moved by an impulse whose spontaneity could only be attributed to divine inspiration, Francisca made a vow of perpetual virginity before a small image of Our Lady of Lourdes, which always accompanied her. Could she have known the fierce battles she would face in defending this vow? For 14 years, she had to endure constant pressure from her family, who insisted on marrying her off. Worse still, her confessor failed to understand her, declaring her vow invalid—even though he was a man of virtue who would later be elevated to the episcopate.
God’s Challenge – Over time, Francisca succeeded in convincing everyone of the truth: God was not calling her to marriage. What a struggle it was! Suitors were never lacking. She possessed a noble and serene beauty—her high forehead, long straight nose, firm and well-shaped mouth, all framed in the elegant oval of her face and illuminated by deep, expressive, and determined eyes. Her beauty was both great and dignified.
She had won her first battle. Now in the noonday of her thirties, her natural strength was affirmed by maturity, while her spiritual life had become a well-tilled, fertile field. And there she was: free—no longer bound by family or spiritual director—ready to respond to the first call from the One to whom she had wholly consecrated herself.
But that call would delay yet another three years. Francisca now found herself like someone who, having sacrificed everything for an ideal, sees it slip away just as it seemed within reach. Her spiritual director required her to try various paths, all of which led nowhere; the way God intended for her remained hidden. "I wanted to do the divine will, no matter the cost—yet it was impossible to discern it!" she would later write in notes from that period of her life.
The Foundation – At sea (it was October, and she was returning with her mother from what would be her last visit to Brazil), Francisca—no more than a speck in the vastness of the ocean, yet a speck entirely held in God’s favor—was invited by the Lord into deeper prayer. In the midst of great recollection, the fog began to lift, and her vocation gradually became clear. Extraordinary lights began to illuminate her understanding of the priesthood, the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and the value of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. She came to understand that she must go to Rome and speak to the Holy Father about founding a religious order dedicated to prayer and self-offering for the Pope, the hierarchy, and priestly vocations.
Throughout the remainder of that voyage, this ideal became more defined, complete, and luminous—refined by the same hand that had inspired it.
Finally, on December 13, 1910, she was received by Pope St. Pius X. The great pontiff, whose life sanctified the Church, quickly recognized the supernatural origin of Francisca’s ideals. He granted her several audiences and ultimately encouraged her to begin a trial foundation, assigning Cardinal Pompili as its protector.
From that time come her first companions—two young women also captivated by the noble mission of intercession for the Church. For this small group, Pope Pius X granted the rare privilege of the Consecration of Virgins, which was solemnly carried out on February 6, 1912. This tiny seed of the Companhia da Virgem settled into an apartment on Corso d’Italia.
At that moment, the forces of modern civilization were aligning to shape a future of naturalism and neo-paganism. The prelude to the Great War was complete. Yet amid this vast storm, Our Lord was preparing a mystical counteroffensive through three poor, hidden, and humble women. In time, history would judge which side proved stronger.
As the foundation grew, the community moved to larger quarters. First to Villa Patrizi, near Porta Pia. Then to a more spacious residence surrounded by gardens at Via Tuscolana 367—now owned by the Congregation—where Mother Francisca had a small chapel built, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. On June 12, 1921, Cardinal Pompili consecrated this church, and the house was officially named the “Priorado da Virgem” (Priory of the Virgin).
The Marvelous – At this point, Mother Francisca reached that fullness of Christian life which transcends the daily grind and the mediocrity of routine. It is a liberation from worldly triviality—because even the most mundane aspects of earthly life gain new and uncommon meaning. It is a “second degree” of living, in which sorrow, joy, and suffering are lifted to a higher plane and transfigured, for all is directed toward a single ideal: everything refers to it, everything is sacrificed for it, everything is committed to it.
After founding the community, her life reached full maturity. Even in handling minor misunderstandings and inevitable contradictions that every foundation must face, she did so with extraordinary grace. Meanwhile, her inner torments returned with renewed intensity. To add to it all, her health was irreparably compromised by the onset of Basedow’s disease—a progressive poisoning of the body that amplifies pain to the point that minor discomforts become nearly unbearable. She underwent a major surgery in 1922, and the following year, doctors despaired of saving her again. She required a second operation for an abscess inside her skull. Yet she recovered, following a novena to Pope Pius X. Later, she was again miraculously healed from a phlegmon through the intercession of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, who appeared to her.
These cascading hardships did not prevent her from organizing the contemplative life of her convent with meticulous care. But she was physically spent. On October 28, 1922, crushed by both internal and external suffering, she feared she might collapse. In a final act of will, she offered this prayer: “And yet, I want to suffer with You, my Lord Jesus.” At that moment, she saw Jesus carrying His Cross, followed by a jeering crowd. He said to her: “Who has suffered as I have? Follow Me—I need you. Will you refuse to come?”
No—it would not be Mother Francisca of Jesus who refused. At once, she begged His forgiveness and asked for the grace of true love. As a mark of this extraordinary favor, the Holy Face of Jesus was imprinted on the wall of her cell, just as it had once been impressed on Veronica’s veil. That image remains there to this day, preserved under glass.
Later still, during another difficult chapter for the Foundation, Mother Francisca—again overwhelmed by spiritual desolation—heard the interior voice of the late Pope Pius X say: “To your work, which is also mine, no harm shall come.”
In late 1928, several postulants in whom she had placed great hope left the Priory. Yet another interior voice consoled her: “You and your boat shall be shaken—but neither you, nor your boat, will sink.”
“You Have Loved Me” – Thus, the final stage of her life was wrapped in that golden dust found in the Fioretti or the Legenda Aurea. Her smallest gestures carried supernatural resonance. Yet above all this hung a dense darkness: Mother Francisca often believed she had lost her faith.
From this period come her most beautiful and inspired writings. Though she was enveloped in spiritual night, she was often pierced by flashes of intense divine light that plunged her into ecstatic joy. These writings are of the highest spiritual value and place their author among the great contemplatives of the Church.
She lived her final years in this way until she surrendered her soul to the Creator on May 28, 1932. Two years before her death, she wrote to her daughters: “We must love Our Lord generously, unto the destruction of self—which is absolutely necessary if one truly wishes to love Him.” And indeed, Mother Francisca had been so wholly emptied of self that nothing remained in her but what Christ Himself had built. She had been reborn; all that was sinful in her had died.
After her death, many miracles of healing and conversion occurred through her intercession. But the greatest miracle may have been this: the Companhia da Virgem lost its house on Via Tuscolana, 367... and so it moved to Brazil—to Petrópolis—returning to the homeland of its holy foundress, to continue its prayer for vocations in a country so in need of clergy.
No comments:
Post a Comment