 The morning she was born, her parents believed that she would not live until nightfall. They even named her Francesca Maria after two other daughters who had not survived infancy. Of course, Francesca did survive, and yet with a delicacy, which seemed always to be threatening her life. An illness came along. Francesca caught it even smallpox once. Her mother and her sister Rosa always managed to nurse the child back to health, but her ill health persisted.