She was from a noble Roman family. Frances married at the age of 13 and had three children. She used her husband’s assets to do charity. During the famine and plague, she became a mendicant to help the poor. Two of her sons died and her husband became disabled in a war, and she endured all this suffering with courage and joy. In 1425 she founded the Olivetan Oblates of Santa María Nuova to better serve asylums and provide shelters for the poor. After her husband’s death she entered the congregation, of which she became superior general. It is said that St. Frances of Rome was never seen to carry out any act of impatience.

How is your patience? Do you snap easily when you consider things must be done another way?