A Reflection from “The Eucharistic Visions of St. Frances of Rome” by St. Frances of Rome

St. Frances of Rome’s Vision of Heaven

On a certain day, St. Frances, the handmaid of God, received the Most Holy Body of Christ with the greatest prayerful reverence and awe. This took place in the small but beautiful and ornate Chapel of the Holy Angels, in the great Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome. It was then about the hour of midday, and the sun glowed brightly outside. After reception of the Blessed Sacrament, Frances remained in devout silent prayer and meditation for a considerable while, and during this time her soul was taken up into a state of mystical ecstasy. And while in this mystical ecstasy or trance, her whole body remained completely and perfectly still.

After Frances had returned to her natural senses and her trance had ended, she was diligently questioned by her spiritual father, Canon Giovanni Matteotti, under holy obedience, about what she had experienced and witnessed while she was in this state of trance. Filled with reverence, she humbly replied to him that after receiving the Blessed Sacrament, she was filled with an immense and indescribable joy. She was led in spirit into a vast and beautiful meadow, filled with a multitude of diverse plants of a most splendid and noble nature.

In the middle of this verdant meadow, there was a wonderful fountain, perfectly round in shape and fashioned from a material similar to the finest alabaster. It had steps of gleaming white all around it. From the heavens there descended upon this fountain an abundance of the sweetest waters, of crystalline clarity and the most brilliant purity. Wherever these waters fell, radiant brightness would sparkle forth in a rippling and variegated array of light and iridescent color. These mystical waters bedewed the whole field in refulgent splendor, flowing forth from the fountain as gentle but lively streams. And wherever these waters touched the grasses or plants, they caused flowers and blossoms of the most incredible beauty and wondrous variety to spring up and bloom.

Then St. Frances saw seven beings in human form approach the fountain in order to drink from it. When she saw this, she, too, was filled with burning eagerness to drink from its crystalline and shimmering waters. As she longed for this so avidly, a single precious drop of these living waters fell into her mouth. She then felt a satisfaction and consolation that were so delightful that it was scarcely able to be believed, and the joy she felt surpassed all imagination and desire.

Having drawn closer to the fountain, she then perceived the following words carved upon it in gleaming letters of brilliant gold:

The Lord of love, through tender grace,
Shall draw to His divine embrace
Each soul that burns with love for Him
And purifies itself from sin.

St. Frances would have desired to remain there longer; but, though she was unwilling, the vision then ceased once she had read these words. While she was in her ecstasy, she had said, in the hearing and view of both her spiritual father and her spiritual daughter Rita: “I implore You, my Lord, who are the perfect abundance of love, if it is Your will, to liberate my soul from all its anxieties and worries, that I might find peace in You alone.”

This took place in the month of April of the year of Our Lord 1431.