Born: 6 January 1593, Italy
Died: 17 October 1651
Country most active: Italy
Also known as: Suor Francesca di Gesù Maria, Isabella Farnese
The following is excerpted from the Prospetto biografico delle donne italiane rinomate in letteratura dal secolo decimoquarto fino a’ giorni nostri di Ginevra Canonici Fachini (Biographical Survey of Italian Women Renowned in Literature from the Fourteenth Century to the Present Day by Ginevra Canonici Fachini), published in 1824 and made available by Project Gutenberg.
Farnese, Francesca, di Roma
Detta comunemente suor Francesca di Gesù Maria. Fu Monaca e Fondatrice di Conventi, e si chiamò al secolo col nome d’isabella. Le sue poesie vanno unite a quelle di suor Isabella di lei sorella. Fu dotta nelle lettere vulgari, nelle latine, e nello studio de’ Santi Padri.
Molte Poesie spirituali di purgato stile e di belle e sublimi immaginazioni. Prima di menacarsi scrisse un Romanzo e molte Rime, che arse dappoi.
Ediz di Giacomo Hertz, 1679.
Crescimbeni, Volg. Poesìa. T. 4. Lib. 3.
Farnese, Francesca, of Rome
Commonly known as Sister Francesca of Jesus Mary. She was a nun and founder of convents, and in her worldly life she went by the name Isabella. Her poems should be included among those of her sister, Sister Isabella. She was learned in the vernacular, Latin, and the study of the Holy Fathers.
Many spiritual poems, refined in style and beautiful and sublime in their imagination. Before dying, she wrote a novel and many rhymes, which she later burned.
Edited by Giacomo Hertz, 1679.
Crescimbeni, Vol. Poetry. T. 4. Book 3.
The following is excerpted from A Cyclopædia of Female Biography, published 1857 by Groomsbridge and Sons and edited by Henry Gardiner Adams.
FARNESE, FRANCESCA,
Commonly called Sister Francesca, was born at Rome. She was a nun, and founded a convent. Her poems are united to those of her sister, also a nun, named Sister Isabella. She was learned in her native literature, in Latin, and in theology. She has left many poems of a very chaste and correct style. Before taking vows she wrote a romance and much miscellaneous poetry, which, under a sense of duty, she burned. She died in 1651.