January 4th - Bl. Angela of Foligno, Mystic
(1249-1309)
Saint Angela was born in Foligno, Italy, and lived most of her life in the
small Umbrian town of her birth. There was nothing remarkable about
Angela's
early years, and there was nothing scandalous about her life. Yet she
tells
us in her later writings that for over thirty years she led a mortally
sinful life. Perhaps she was referring to the pride and comfort of a
wealthy
and fa****onable existence, for she came from a family of great property,
married well, and afterwards ruled a large household of children and
servants. As she describes her conversion, it reads like the story of many
a
soul today. Fear of her damnation led her to the confessional one day. But
she was afraid to tell her most serious sins, and so made a bad
confession,
then a sacrilegious Communion. Only greater remorse followed. Tormented in
soul, she prayed to Saint Francis of Assisi, and he appeared to her in a
vision. The next day she made a complete and sincere confession.
From this point on, her life was completely changed. The thought of her
sins
gave her a desire for penance, suffering, and reparation. In Foligno and
its
neighboring town, Assisi, the memory of Saint Francis, who had died in
1226,
was still fresh. It is not surprising, then, that Angela was inspired by
Franciscan ideals from the time of her conversion until her death in 1309.
When one by one her mother, her husband and all her children had died, she
became a Franciscan tertiary and later lived as a mendicant, a poor
beggar,
completely dependent upon the charity of others.
She was a soul whom God chose to fulfill the role of a mystic. Her
confessor
recorded from her own lips the visions and ecstasies that were granted to
her with startling frequency. For Angela "the whole world was filled with
God," and she was in almost constant communion with Him. Yet we would
misunderstand the interior life of this mystic, or any other, for that
matter, if we imagine that her life was without pain, without constant
suffering. Angela herself tells us that at times she was overcome with
grief
because she could see nothing but the extraordinary goodness of God and,
in
contrast, the vanity of earthly things and the ingratitude of creatures.
The
sight of a crucifix produced in Saint Angela torrents of tears. The
intimacy
she enjoyed with God was a grace which at one period of her life was
entirely withheld from her, that she might like Job, become a model of
constancy amid great and prolonged torments.
Of the thousands of tourists who annually visit Assisi and pray at the
tombs
of Saint Francis and Saint Clare, few travel the short distance to
Foligno,
where Angela is buried in the Franciscan church. But she, like the Saints
of
Assisi, has many a lesson for our day. No sinner who would have recourse
to
her would ever despair.
Sources: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on
Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea
(Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894); Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des
Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 1.
Saint Quote:
Had you but tasted one drop of the sweetness which inebriates the souls of
those religious from their wor****p of this Sacrament, you would never have
written as you have, nor have apostatized from the faith that you formerly
professed.
-- Saint John Fisher, writing to the bishop of Winchester
Bible Quote:
He who is mighty hath done great things to Me, and holy is His Name. (St.
Luke 1:49)
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Daily Thoughts and Prayers for Our Beloved Dead
"Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because the
hand
of the Lord hath touched me" Job. 19-21.
ELEVENTH DAY
St. Francis de Sales tells us: "Devotion to the Souls in Purgatory
contains
in itself all the works of mercy, which super-naturalized by a spirit of
Faith, should merit us Heaven.''
Prayer: Our Father, Three Hail Marys, Gloria, De Profundis.
De Profundis
Out of the depths, I have cried to Thee,
O Lord, Lord, hear my voice.
Let Thine ears be attentive to the
voice of my supplication.
If Thou, O Lord, shalt mark my iniquities,
O Lord, who shall stand it?
For with Thee there is merciful
forgiveness: and by reason of Thy
law I have waited for Thee, O Lord.
My soul hath relied on His word;
my soul hath hoped in the Lord.
From the morning watch even until
night; let Israel hope in the Lord.
Because with the Lord there is mercy;
And with Him plenteous redemption.
And He shall redeem Israel from
all its iniquities.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
And let perpetual light ****ne upon them:
May they rest in peace. Amen.
O Lord Jesus Christ, deliver the souls of the faithful departed from the
flames of hell, and let Thine angels bring them into the holy light. We
offer Thee, O Lord, a sacrifice of prayer and praise, accept them in
behalf
of all the Souls in Purgatory, that they may pass from death to life
everlasting with Thee in Heaven.
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