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SAINT ANGELA OF FOLIGNO, a member of the Third Order of St. Francis – Memoria: 4 January |
Angela was born in 1248 of a prominent family in Foligno, three leagues from Assisi. As a young woman, and also as a wife and mother, she lived only for the world and its vain pleasures. But the grace of God intended to make of her a vessel of election for the comfort and salvation of many. A ray of the divine mercy touched her soul and so strongly affected her as to ring about a conversion.
During the process of conversion God hearkened to the earnest desire of the penitent: her mother died, then her husband, and soon afterwards all her children. These tragic events were very painful to her; but she made the sacrifice with resignation to the will of God. Being freed from these ties, she dispossessed herself of all her temporal goods with the consent of her confessor, so that being poor herself, she might walk in the footsteps of her poor Savior. She also entered the Third Order of St. Francis, probably in 1291.
Angela became still more immersed in the contemplation of the Passion of Christ, and she chose the Sorrowful Mother and the faithful disciple John as her patrons. The sight of the wounds which the Lord suffered for her sins urged her to the practice of still greater austerities. Once our Lord showed her that His Heart is a safe refuge in all the storms of life. She was soon to be in need of such a refuge because God permitted her to be afflicted with severe temptations. The most horrible and loathsome representations distressed her soul, and the fire of concupiscence raged so furiously. These painful trials lasted over two years; but then the purified and tried servant of the Lord was filled with great consolations. She obtained a marvelous insight into divine things and was very frequently found in ecstacy. For many years Holy Communion was her only food, until at last, completely purified, she entered into the eternal joy of the Supreme Good on January 4, 1309.
Pope Innocent XII approved the continual devotion paid to her at her tomb in Foligno. He beatified her in 1693. Pope Francis canonized her on 9 October 2013.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, You sweetness of hearts and light of the inhabitants of heaven, who did refresh Saint Angela, Your servant, with a marvelous insight into heavenly things, grant us through her merits and intercession so to know You upon earth, that we may found worthy to rejoice in the vision of Your glory in heaven. We pray this in the most precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Jakarta, 4 January 2018
A Christian Pilgrim
