Saintly Saturday - St. Angela Merici

 

This upcoming Thursday, January 27, will be the feast of St. Angela Merici. St. Angela is the founder of the Ursulines, which is the first order of women religious to work outside of a cloister, as well as the first teaching order of women. 

Born on March 21, 1474, Angela joined the Third order of St. Francis, having felt the call to give her life to the Lord and in service to the Church at a young age. She was very attentive to the needs of others. When it came to her attention that the young girls of her hometown, Desenzano, Italy, were not receiving proper education or faith formation, she endeavored to help them. Always attentive to the needs of those around her, Angela opened her home to these girls and began to catechize them. 

A vision revealed to her that the Lord wanted Angela to found an order of women who would devote their lives to religious training of young girls, which was the start of what would become the Company of St. Ursula, or the Ursulines. It was not to become a religious order until after her death, so at that time, these companies were known as secular institutes or religious communities. They opened schools and orphanages and sought to give a Christian education to young girls who did not otherwise have the opportunity. At the heart of this, Angela was hoping to aid in the restoration of family life, which she could see was deteriorating. One of her sayings on this still very much applies to our current generation: 

“Disorder in society is the result of disorder in the family.” 

Angela died on January 27, 1540 and was canonized on May 24, 1807. 

St. Angela sets an example for us through her imitation of Christ's compassion for all people, especially those less fortunate than oneself. Through her obedience to Christ and faith in His Word, she also serves as a model in uniting one's will to God’s.

St. Angela Merici, pray for us!