The BlessedAngela of Foligno, T.O.S.F., (c. 1248 – 4 January 1309) was a Christian author, Franciscantertiary and mystic. She was noted not only for her spiritual writings, but also for founding a religious community which refused to accept becoming an enclosed religious order that it might continue her vision of caring for those in need.
Early life and conversion
Almost nothing is known about the details and circumstances of Angela’s life. Except for the date of her death, virtually all the information we have about her must be deduced or inferred from her ‘Libro’. From the scant information about the external context of her life that can be gleaned from this ‘Libro’, we do know that Angela was born into a wealthy family in the city of Foligno, Italy. She married at age twenty, had children, and before her conversion lived a well-to-do and, likely, a conventional life - even if in her eyes a very sinful one.[1] However, Angela's lifestyle abruptly changed around 1285. She prayed to St. Francis of Assisi, who then appeared to her in a dream.
Some time after her conversion Angela placed herself under the direction of a Franciscanfriar named Arnoldo, who would serve as her confessor. It was to Arnoldo that Angela dictated the account of her conversion, known as the Memoriale, dictating it in her Umbrian dialect. This work, in Latin was complete by 1298; it has come to us as the Book of Visions and Instructions. Shortly after her conversion, her husband and children died. In 1291 Angela joined the Third Order of St. Francis. [2]
In the course of time, the fame of her sanctity gathered around her a number of other tertiaries, both men and women, who strove under her direction to advance in holiness. Later she established at Foligno a community of Sisters, who added to the Rule of the Third Order a commitment to a common life without, however, binding themselves to enclosure, so that they might devote their time to works of charity.
Angela died surrounded by her community of disciples. Her remains repose in the church of St. Francis at Foligno. Many people attributed miracles to her, which were accomplished at her tomb. Pope Clement XI approved the veneration paid to her in her beatification on 11 July 1701. Her feast day is celebrated by the Order on January 4.
Blessed Angela's authority as a spiritual teacher may be gathered from the fact that Bollandus, among other testimonials, quotes Maximilian van der Sandt, of the Society of Jesus, as calling her the "'Mistress of Theologians', whose whole doctrine has been drawn out of the Book of Life, Jesus Christ, Our Lord."
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. ((cite encyclopedia)): Missing or empty |title= (help)
