St Frances of Rome and the Counter-Reformation

This Thursday, the feast of Pope St Gregory the Great, is the anniversary of one of the most important events of the Counter-Reformation. On that day in the year 1622, Pope Gregory XV canonized four Saints who had played particularly important roles in the reformation of the Church after the terrible shock of the Protestant rebellion: Philip Neri, Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, and Theresa of Avila. This was not, however, the first canonization of Counter-Reformation Saints; that honor fell to Gregory XV’s predecessor, Paul V, when he canonized Charles Borromeo in 1610. (St Charles’ was the first fast-track canonization of the modern era, with his process completed only 26 years after his death.) The ceremony was held on All Saints’ day of 1610, the closest major solemnity to the day of Charles’ death, November 3rd; a statement, in response to the Reformation, that sanctity still thrived within the Church, and that its hierarchy, the source of so much scandal and corruption in the years leading up to Luther’s revolt, had truly been reformed.

St Frances of Rome, by the Italian painter Fabrizio Boschi (1572-1642). She is traditionally depicted in the company of her guardian angel, whom she could regular see and converse with. (Image from Wikimedia Commons by Francesco Bini, CC BY-SA 4.0.)

About a year-and-a-half earlier, Pope Paul had canonized the Saint whose feast we keep today, Frances of Rome (1384-1440). This was also in a very important sense a canonization of the Counter-Reformation, even though Frances died well before the Reformation itself began. The protestants rejected the idea of marriage as a sacrament, and completely abolished religious life for both men and women. Taken together, these two things mean that women could no longer choose a life in community dedicated wholly and solely to the service of God, while the only way of life left open to them, marriage, was reduced to an arrangement which brought with it many duties, but no sense that the fulfillment of those duties is a means of sanctification. In response, the Church presented Frances as a woman who became a Saint both as a wife and mother, and as the foundress of a community of Benedictine oblates.

St Charles’ life was a sign that the Church had successfully effected necessary reforms of the abuses and corruption that had helped to spark the Reformation. During much of St Frances’ life, the Church labored under the Great Western Schism (1378-1417), an event which brought much difficulty and suffering directly upon her and her family, precisely because they were faithful to the true popes, despite their great unworthiness. But she also lived to see the healing of the schism, and therefore serves as a sign of fidelity to the Church, even when it was at its worst, and of sanctity flourishing in the church of Rome specifically, when its head was not the holy father that our Holy Mother deserves.

An engraving of the early 17th century, showing the temporary sanctuary constructed around the altar of St Peter’s basilica for the canonization of St Charles in 1610. At that point, the basilica’s exterior walls had been finished, but the project to build the great baldachin over the high altar would not begin for another 13 years.

Not long after his election in 1605, Paul V commissioned an architect named Flaminio Ponzio (1560 – 1618) to design and build the great chapel attached to the basilica of St Maria Maggiore which now bears his family name, Borghese. Its most important feature is one of the most famous icons in the world, the Madonna ‘Salus Populi Romani’ (salvation of the people of Rome), which is kept in the reredos of the main altar. Many of the finest artists of the era were brought in to execute the decorations, among them, Pietro Bernini, the father of the famous sculptor Gian Lorenzo. The latter was discovered by the cardinal supervising the project, Paul V’s nephew Scipione, and it was the pope himself who rightly predicted that he would become the Michelangelo of his times.

This chapel became one of the most important models for architectural decoration in the Counter-Reformation period. The lower part is made with darker materials, which represent the world; the upper is dominated by gold, white, and light-filled windows, representing heaven. The gold, a symbol of God’s grace, comes down into the lower part in the reredos, surrounding the icon. This serves as a response to the protestant idea that grace merely covers over the corrupt nature of sinful man, but does not truly change it for the better; as Luther described it, with his typical crudity, it is like snow covering over a dungheap. The Borghese chapels shows us God’s grace coming into and enlightening the world, effecting the true sanctification, the “making holy”, of man, a process which began with the Incarnation in the womb of the holy Virgin.

The Borghese chapel seen from outside, and about as good an illustration of what the lighting coming in from the dome is supposed to convey as one could hope for. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons by Karelj.)

The main altar of the chapel, which houses the icon of the Virgin Mary, honored with the title Salus Populi Romani. Image from Wikimedia Commons by Fallaner, CC BY-SA 4.0.

It is therefore a deliberate part of the program that as soon as one enters the space, there are placed to either side small chapels dedicated to St Frances of Rome (on the left), and St Charles Borromeo (on the right). These chapels remind us that God came into the world through the Virgin, and, as He promised (John 14, 18), did not leave us orphans, as the protestants would have it. In the life of a great cardinal and bishop, and no less in the life of a wife, mother and religious, we see His grace always working for the authentic reformation of our own lives, and of the life of the Church.

Photos of the two chapels, just inside the Borghese, courtesy of Mr Jacob Stein, author of the blog Crux Stationalis: the chapel of St Francis...

and of St Charles.