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Angela
Merici was born in Italy in the fifteenth century. She was orphaned
when she was ten, and went with her sister and brother to live
with an uncle. The death of her sister three years later had
a traumatic impact on the adolescent, and she soon began having
visions of Christ. She became a Franciscan tertiary and followed
the original founders example, living a life of austere abstinence,
sleeping without a bed, and subsisting primarily on bread and
water. Petite and pretty, Angela became a natural leader in
her community and recognizing the need to educate the poor.
Enlisting the help of some tertiary friends she founded a humble
school. The popularity of the school lead to her to be asked
to repeat her model in other cities. She was suddenly the center
of attention of the privileged. She was offered a position running
a center for nursing sisters in Rome, but she declined because
she felt awkward about her new celebrity status. She settled
back in her home town where she was already regarded as a saint.
She invited twelve woman companions to come live with her and,
along with other dedicated women in the community, they formed
the Ursulines, the first women's teaching order in the history
of the Church. The order was named in honor of Ursula, the medieval
saint of girls' education. Angela was named Superioress of the
new order at it’s first election, and dedicated the rest
of her life to educating women. She died at the age of sixty-nine.
Angela’s feast day is January 27. |
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Angela
Patron St. of
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