(1248 -1309)
Angela was born into a leading family in Foligno, Italy. As a member of the elite, she became immersed in the quest for wealth and social position. As a wife and mother, she continued this life of distraction.
At age 40, she had an epiphany as to the emptiness of her life and sought God’s help in the Sacrament of Penance. Her Franciscan confessor helped Angela to seek God’s pardon for the excesses of her previous life and to dedicate herself to prayer and the works of charity.
Shortly after her conversion, her husband and children died. She sold most of her possessions and entered the Secular Franciscan Order. She occupied herself by meditating on the crucified Christ and by serving the poor of Foligno as a nurse and beggar for their needs. Other women joined her in a religious community.
At her confessor’s advice, Angela wrote her “Book of Visions and Instructions.” In it she recalls some of the temptations she suffered after her conversion; she also expressed her thanks to God for the Incarnation of Jesus. This book and her life earned for her the title “Teacher of Theologians.” She was beatified in 1693 and canonized in 2013.
Adapted by A.J. Valentini from: St. Angela of Foligno | Franciscan Media. (n.d.). Franciscan Media. Retrieved December 30, 2020, from https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-angela-of-foligno