Angela of Foligno (1248 – 4 January 1309) was an Italian Franciscan tertiary who became known as a mystic from her extensive writings about her mystical revelations. Due to the respect those writings engendered in the Catholic Church she became known as "Mistress of Theologians".
Angela was noted not only for her spiritual writings, but also for founding a religious community which refused to become an
enclosed religious order
Enclosed religious orders or ''cloistered clergy'' are religious orders whose members strictly separate themselves from the affairs of the external world. In the Catholic Church, enclosure is regulated by the code of canon law, either the La ...
so that it might continue her vision of caring for those in need. It is still active.
The Catholic Church declared Angela to be a
saint
In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...
in 2013. Her canonization was an “
equivalent canonization
Equivalent canonization or equipollent canonization (Latin: ''equipollens canonizatio'') is a form of canonization that occurs when the Pope recognizes and orders the public and universal veneration of a Servant of God, without having gone through ...
” (without executing the ordinary judicial process of canonization).
Early life and conversion
Angela's birth date, which is not known with certainty, is often listed as 1248. She was born into a wealthy family at
Foligno
Foligno (; Southern Umbrian: ''Fuligno'') is an ancient town of Italy in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria, on the Topino river where it leaves the Apennines and enters the wide plain of the Clitunno river system. It is located so ...
Francis of Assisi
Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a mystic Italian Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most venerated figures in Christianit ...
Franciscan
The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...
friar
A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ol ...
named Arnoldo, who would serve as her
confessor
Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways.
Confessor of the Faith
Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death."Angela of Foligno", Arizona State University
Angela recorded the history of her conversion in her ''Book of Visions and Instructions''. She dictated, in her
n dialect, an account of her spiritual progress, known as the ''Memoriale'', which was transcribed in Latin by a man known as "Brother A." This work was probably begun in 1292. The ''Memorial'' is the first part of two sections of Angela of Foligno's ''Liber''. The second text is known as ''Instructions'' and is composed of thirty-six instructional texts, a note about her death, and an epilogue. These texts appear in different orders in different manuscripts, and there is not known to be one correct order.
Brother A. remained with her until 1296 while she completed the higher and more difficult final ten stages, but since it proved impossible for him to understand these fully, he condensed them into seven ‘supplementary stages’ whose description takes up the larger portion of the ''Memorial''. The text was finished by 1298, and submitted to
Cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
James of Colonna
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguati ...
and eight Friars Minor, who gave it their approval. It seems that Brother A. revised it shortly after, in 1299–1300.
Between around 1296 and her death in early 1309, the fame of Angela's 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 other women tertiaries, who added to the Rule of the Third Order a commitment to a common life without, however, binding themselves to
enclosure
Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...
, so that they might devote their lives to works of charity.
The final version of the ''Book'' appends a series of 36 ''Instructions'' to the ''Memorial''. These reflect Angela's teaching during this period. These teachings are rather more conventional in tone and have differences in vocabulary and emphasis from the ''Memorial'' – which may reflect redaction by several hands. Nevertheless, the Instructions seem to reflect Angela's teaching, albeit at some remove.
"No one can be saved without divine light. Divine light causes us to begin and to make progress, and it leads us to the summit of perfection. Therefore if you want to begin and to receive this divine light, pray. If you have begun to make progress, pray. And if you have reached the summit of perfection, and want to be super-illumined so as to remain in that state, pray. If you want faith, pray. If you want hope, pray. If you want charity, pray. If you want poverty, pray. If you want obedience, pray. If you want chastity, pray. If you want humility, pray. If you want meekness, pray. If you want fortitude, pray. If you want any virtue, pray." (( from Voices of the Saints, Bert Ghezzi ))
"And pray in this fashion: always reading the Book of Life, that is, the life of the God-man, Jesus Christ, whose life consisted of poverty, pain, contempt and true obedience." (from Voices of the Saints, Bert Ghezzi)
At Christmas 1308, Angela told her companions she would die shortly. A few days later, she had a vision of Christ appearing to her and promising to come personally to take her to heaven. She died in her sleep on 3 January 1309.
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.
Angela's authority as a spiritual teacher may be gathered from the fact that
Bollandus
Jean Bolland ( la, Johannes Bollandus) (13 August 1596 – 12 September 1665) was a Jesuit priest, theologian, and prominent Flemish hagiographer.
Bolland's main achievement is the compilation of the first five volumes of the ''Lives of t ...
Society of Jesus
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
, as calling her the "'Mistress of Theologians', whose whole doctrine has been drawn out of the Book of Life, Jesus Christ, Our Lord".
Veneration
Pope Clement XI
Pope Clement XI ( la, Clemens XI; it, Clemente XI; 23 July 1649 – 19 March 1721), born Giovanni Francesco Albani, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 November 1700 to his death in March 1721.
Clement XI w ...
approved the veneration paid to her over the centuries in his
beatification
Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...
of her on 11 July 1701 and
Pope Francis
Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
extended the veneration to all the Church on 9 October 2013, declaring her a saint by equipollent canonization, recognizing the validity of the long-standing veneration of her.
Her
feast day
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...
is celebrated by the Third Order of Saint Francis, both Secular and Regular, on 4 January (7 January in the United States). Although the community she founded was not recognized as a
religious institute
A religious institute is a type of institute of consecrated life in the Catholic Church whose members take religious vows and lead a life in community with fellow members. Religious institutes are one of the two types of institutes of consecrate ...
until the 20th-century, she is honored as a
religious
Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...
.
References
Bibliography
*
* ''The Book of Blessed Angela'' consists of the ''Memoriale'' and the subsequent ''Instructiones'':
** A critical edition is Ludger Thier and Abele Calufetti, eds, ''Il libro della Beata Angela da Foligno'', (Rome: Editiones Collegii S. Bonaventurae, 1985)
** Angela of Foligno, ''Complete works'', translated, with an introduction by Paul Lachance; preface by Romana Guarnieri, (New York: Paulist Press, 1993)
** Angela of Foligno, ''Memorial'', translated by John Cirignano, (Woodbridge: D.S. Brewer, 1999)
** Angela da Foligno, ''Memoriale'', ed. Enrico Menestò, Florence (SISMEL/Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2013). .
** Angela of Foligno, ''Libro de la experiencia'', translated into the Spanish following the text of the Assisi codex by Pablo García Acosta, Madrid, Eds. Siruela, 2014. .
* Il Libro della beata Angela da Foligno, 1985 . - Le Livre des visions et instructions de la bienheureuse de Foligno / ritten in Latin by Arnaud de Foligno 1991 GDEL . - Brockhaus. 17. Aufl.
*