The Church today celebrates the transitus of Francesca Romana, a saintly wife who in her lifetime belonged to the Order of Saint Benedict by way of ‘oblation,’ a way of life understood as being solemnly offered to God, fulfilling one’s baptismal promises and being spiritually conjoined to a family of either monks or nuns. An outstanding laywoman, she performed her duties both as a faithful Christian and as an upright citizen in her service to the needy and the infirm, anchored deeply in the evangelical teaching of her monastic fathers.
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| Monastic women gathered in choir for Vespers at San Vincenzo. |
Francesca is the
patroness of all Benedictine oblates and, as such, she is mine, too, being an
oblate of the community of San Vincenzo al Volturno. My guide, Mother Agnes, of
blessed memory, gave me a simple directive: “Each oblate does become a son or
daughter of the community, sharing the grace of our life and carrying it out
into the world in all that you do or undertake. You are the extension of San
Vincenzo and, as a son of St. Benedict, a unique realization of his teaching
where you are; in brief: a source of his blessing and his mission to the world.”
I made my
monastic oblation on the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter. Dom Thomas Bolin, O.S.B.,
our confrere from Norcia, the historic birthplace of our holy Father St. Benedict, presided over the
ceremony at our Schlosskapelle in I.T.I., that is, on behalf of my Prioress, R.M. Miriam
Benedict back in Italy. A day that seemed like any other, it was in fact a time
that was so uniquely blessed, for I felt being truly grafted into the
Benedictine family tree, complete with a new name that rocks—Pietro. Deo gratias!