Feast day: March 9
Saint Frances, a wealthy young woman, had many responsibilities as a wife and mother. But when the plague struck Rome, she used all her money and sold her possessions to buy whatever the sick needed. In its cruelty, the sickness killed two of her six children. Afterward, this laywoman continued serving the poor for the rest of her life and even started a special community of women devoted to her cause. (From Take Ten: Daily Bible Reflections for Teens [Saint Mary’s Press])
(Image Antoniazzo Romano, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)