Salesian Literature

Chapter 5  :  A Delightful example

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St. Frances of Rome, one day, was saying the Office of our Lady.  Now it usually happens that the one time something needs our attention is while we are saying our prayers; so this saintly lady was called away by her husband to deal with some domestic crisis.

 

Four times that day, as she tried to pick up the threads of her Office, she was called away; four times she had to leave the same verse unfinished.

 

Eventually, when the business was finally settled, and she came yet again to her book, she found the hole of that verse – so often interrupted by obedience, so often resumed from devotion – inscribed in beautiful letters of gold.

 

Her devoted companion, Madame Vannocie, declared on oath that she had seen the saint’s guardian angel at work – a fact St. Paul later revealed to Frances herself.

 

So you see that the necessary duties of a person’s state in life in no way lessen charity; rather, they augment it – adding to our devoted efforts, you might say, a touch of gold.

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