Tor de' Specchi Monastery
The Monastery of Tor de' Specchi (Italian: [ˈtor de ˈspɛkki]; literally "Tower of the Mirrors") is the home of the Oblates of St. Frances of Rome. Located in the heart of the city, it was established on 25 March 1433, the Feast of the Annunciation, by the foundress of the community, St. Frances of Rome. A noblewoman of the city, while still a wife and mother, she lived a life of prayer and service to the poor of the city, at a time when civil society was at a low ebb.
Frances drew other women of the city to join her in her works of charity. In 1425, the women as a group made oblation to the Olivetan monks at the Church of Santa Maria Nova. As Benedictine oblates, they continued to live their regular lives with their families, in addition to which they followed a regimen of prayer and service.
Some of the women who were no longer committed to the needs of a family soon developed a desire to live in a setting more conducive to their religious commitment. This was an accepted pattern already seen in the city by groups of members of the Third Order of St. Francis and other medieval religious movements. Thus Frances acquired this property, and on 25 March 1435 it was formally established as the home of the community of Oblates.
It remains the only house of the community.