Saint Angelus

Angelus of Jerusalem ( it, Sant'Angelo; 1185 – 5 May 1220) was a Catholic convert from Judaism and a professed priest of the Carmelites. He and his twin brother were converted to the faith once their mother did so while both became ordained priests and Carmelite friars. Unlike his brother, he retreated into the desert to a hermitage after his ordination, but he emerged once he was instructed to go to the Italian mainland to evangelize as well as to meet with Pope Honorius III to have him approve a new rule for the Carmelites.

He was slain whilst preaching and was believed a saint after his death. The Carmelites venerated him as such until during his pontificate Pope Pius II beatified the slain priest circa 1459.

Life

He was born in Jerusalem in 1185 to the Jewish parents. His mother later converted to Christianity, and both he and his twin brother John were baptised into the Roman Catholic Church when she converted. His parents died while Angelus and his brother were still children, and the Patriarch Nicodemus oversaw their education until the twins turned eighteen. At that age, he and his brother John entered the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel at the Saint Anne convent near the Golden Gate to commence their novitiate. The two could speak Greek as well as both Latin and Hebrew.

In 1210, Angelus was ordained to the priesthood in Jerusalem and he travelled in Palestine. Miraculous cures were attributed to him around this time and his "acta" stated that he sought to avoid fame and withdrew to a hermitage in the desert when he was becoming popular for his miracles. He became a hermit on Mount Carmel when he was instructed in 1218 to leave for the Italian peninsula in order to preach against the patarini as well as the Albigensians and the Bulgars. He had likewise been instructed to go to Rome to obtain from Pope Honorius III confirmation of the new and definitive rule for the order (later granted in 1226).

Angelus was one of the first friars to come to Sicily from Mount Carmel."St. Angelus", The British Province of Carmelites
/ref> He set off on a Genoese ship on 1 April 1219 and stopped first in Messina before heading off to Civitavecchia before he ended up in Rome to meet with the pope. The friar preached in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran while in Rome where he met both Francis of Assisi and Dominic of Osma. It is said that he foretold that Francis would receive the stigmata while Francis foretold his premature death. From there, he was a guest of the Basilians in Palermo where he was for over a month before preaching in Agrigento for over a month before settling in Licata. He had healed seven lepers and the ailing Archbishop of Palermo

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases