Francesca Lancellotti

The life of Francesca Lancellotti is that of a laywoman and mother who, while fully assuming her duties of state, deployed an intense activity of hospitality and spiritual support. Although she did not found a religious institute in the canonical sense, her work lies in the foundation of a spiritual home open to all. In Rome, her house quickly became a haven of peace and a point of reference for the poor, the sick, and people in search of advice or spiritual comfort.

Endowed with particular charisms and mystical gifts that she strove to live in discretion and humility, she received dozens of visitors of all social conditions daily. Destitute people, but also doctors, ministers, priests, and cardinals came to solicit the advice and prayers of this simple and uneducated woman. She exercised an informal ministry of counsel and intercession, categorically refusing any financial compensation for her prayers, faithful to an ideal of absolute evangelical poverty.

The reputation of holiness (fama di santità) and of signs (fama di segni) of Francesca Lancellotti, already very vivid during her lifetime, spread rapidly after her death. To structure and promote her cause, the "Association of Spiritual Children of Francesca Lancellotti" (Associazione Figli Spirituali di Francesca Lancellotti) was established. The cause for beatification and canonization was officially opened at the Vicariate of Rome on June 16, 2016. The diocesan inquiry into her life, heroic virtues, and reputation of holiness was conducted with rigor and concluded solemnly on January 17, 2020, during a session presided over by Cardinal Vicar Angelo De Donatis in the Conciliation Hall of the Apostolic Palace of the Lateran. On October 23, 2020, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints issued the decree of legal validity for this diocesan inquiry. The Positio, a summary document on her virtues, was subsequently examined by theological consultants who rendered a favorable opinion on March 16, 2023.

On December 12, 2023, the cardinals and bishops who are members of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints confirmed that Francesca Lancellotti exercised Christian virtues to a heroic degree. On December 14, 2023, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing her heroic virtues, thereby officially conferring upon her the title of Venerable. On May 11, 2024, a solemn celebration of thanksgiving and the public reading of the decree of venerability took place at the Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, presided over by Cardinal James Harvey, Archpriest of the Basilica, in the presence of Archbishop Francesco Sirufo of Acerenza and numerous faithful who had come from Basilicata and Rome. Her formal beatification now requires the recognition by the Holy See of a miracle attributed to her intercession.

The spirituality of the Venerable Francesca Lancellotti rests on a concrete faith, lived in the simplicity of daily life, austerity, and a total abandonment to the divine will. Her spiritual pillars are a filial devotion to the Virgin Mary and a privileged relationship with the Archangel Saint Michael, whom she considered her guide and protector in her Roman mission. Her heroic obedience to the call to leave her native land testifies to her docility to the Holy Spirit.

Her legacy is today preserved and disseminated by the "Association of the Spiritual Children of Francesca Lancellotti" and by the parish of Santa Maria ai Monti in Rome. It is in this church, located on Via Cavour near the Colosseum, that her mortal remains were transferred on July 7, 2021 (after having been initially interred at the Cimitero di Prima Porta). Her tomb has become a place of constant pilgrimage for the faithful who continue to seek her intercession and testify to the graces obtained through her.