 St. Angela Merici
Name: St. Angela Merici
Date: 1 June
Saint Angela was the youngest of her virtuous parents’ five children; she was born in Italy, nearBrescia, in 1474. The grace which filled her soul made her beauty a trial for her, and as a younggirl she already rejected all vanities. Every evening at home the parents read to the children fromthe lives of the Saints, and Angela wished to imitate them. She and her sister made an oratory intheir room and retired there every day to pray and sing. She added to this service of God harshausterities, sleeping on the floor while her sister slept profoundly. “We are the children of theSaints,” she would say to her, “and we must turn all our affection towards the One who dwells inheaven. Oh! what torments, what disgrace and privations the solitaries and virgins have endured,to win the crown of immortality! We must suffer and die to ourselves.” Saint Angela made a vow of virginity before she was ten years old and persuaded her older sisterto do the same. The children soon afterwards lost both their parents. A wealthy uncle took thetwo little girls into his home, but soon the sister of Angela followed her parents by a suddendeath. At the age of thirteen Angela still had not received Holy Communion, according to theregrettable delays of those days. She begged to be admitted to the Holy Table, and as soon as herrequest was granted, resolved to take this heavenly nourishment often. For that purpose sheentered the Third Order of Saint Francis, and then, with her director’s permission, was able toreceive her Eucharistic Lord every day. In 1496 at the age of 22, Angela returned, after the death of her good uncle, to the paternalresidence in her native village. There several others began to imitate her pious life. She waspersuaded that the ills of society resulted from the scarcity of Christian mothers, and that this inturn was the effect of a lack of good education for young girls. She prayed that God would helpher remedy this deficiency, and a heavenly vision assured her that before she died she wouldestablish a Congregation of virgins. She and her companions began to assemble the little girls ofthe area and teach them Christian doctrine. And with them they visited the poor and the sick, anddistributed most of the alms by which they themselves lived. Angela became an angel ofconsolation for all in the region, and though she had not studied, her mind was so clear thatpreachers and theologians came to consult her. It was not until 1535 that Saint Angela was able to establish her Community; she was then 61years old. During the intervening years, she made pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to Rome. Her devotion to the Passion of our Saviour was always increasing, and her piety inspired that ofmany others. One night in a vision, however, she saw a severe figure, a lash in His hand, lookthreateningly at her; it was Jesus, who reproached her for her delay in founding an Order whichwas destined to do a much-needed good. She asked pardon and immediately began to draw upplans and inform her companions of them. These co-workers were still living each in her ownhouse, but all promised to follow the rules. They visited prisons and hospitals, instructed the poorand assisted them, and all of them brought together young girls in their various houses, forinstruction. At first this was a simple association, but soon Angela gave her companions the nameof Ursulines, in honor of the virgin martyr of chastity and her companions. Saint Angelaencouraged her Ursulines to make a voluntary vow of chastity only. She died in January of 1540. It was in France some sixty years later that the group became a regularized Community underMadame Frances de Bermond; thereafter the Institute spread widely. The Foundress wascanonized in 1807 by Pope Pius VII. |
