From: trudie.Miller@cox.net   
      
   January 27th - St. Angela Merici, Prophetess, Foundress   
    (Also known as Angela of Brescia)   
      
   Born in Desenzano (near Lake Garda and Brescia), Lombardy, Italy, March 21,   
   1470   
   or 1474; died in Brescia, Italy, January 27, 1540; canonized 1807; feast day   
   formerly on May 31.   
      
   "If any person, because of his state in life, cannot do without wealth and   
   position, let him at least keep his heart empty of the love of them." -Saint   
   Angela Merici.   
      
   As is often the case, it was the number of burdens which Angela Merici had to   
   endure that brought her ever closer to God and moved her to order her   
   existence.   
   Recalling her life, we should thank God for every hardship He gives us and the   
   strength He gives us to endure them. Each trial is an opportunity to trust in   
   God, to realize His power and His movement within and around us.  Orphaned at   
   age 10, Angela and her sister and brother were raised by their wealthy uncle,   
   Biancozi, at Salo. In Angela's first ecstatic experience, the Blessed Mother   
   appeared with Angela's elder sister. Thus put her mind at rest regarding the   
   salvation of her sister, who had died suddenly without receiving the   
   sacraments.   
   Angela became a Franciscan tertiary at 13 and lived austerely, sometimes eating   
   only bread, water, and vegetables once a week. From this time onward, she   
   wished   
   to possess nothing, not even a bed (because the Son of Man had nowhere to lay   
   His head).   
      
   On the death of her uncle, the 20-year-old Angela returned to her hometown and   
   began giving catechism lessons to the poor children in Desenzano. She discussed   
   her horror at the ignorance so many children had of their religion with her   
   friends, who were mostly tertiaries. They were eager to help if Angela could   
   show them how. Although Angela was small of stature, she had a great spirit,   
   charm, and beauty capable of attracting and leading others. She and her friends   
   began to regularly and systematically teach their young, female neighbors.   
   Angela's own success in teaching the catechism in Desenzano led to the   
   invitation from a wealthy couple, whom she had once helped, to begin a school   
   in   
   Brescia.   
      
   Angela had the special gift of being able to remember everything she read. She   
   spoke Latin well and knew the meaning of some of the hardest passages of   
   Scripture, which led to her being sought out for counsel. In Brescia she was   
   brought in touch with the leading families and became the center of a circle of   
   devout men and women whom she inspired with her great ideals.   
      
   On a trip to the Holy Land, she suddenly lost her sight in Crete. She continued   
   her trip with devotion, and on the return trip, regained her sight at the very   
   spot where she'd lost it.   
      
   During a visit to Rome for the Holy Year 1525, Pope Clement VII asked her to   
   take charge of a group of nursing sisters in Rome, but she declined. She told   
   him of a vision she had experienced years before of maidens ascending to heaven   
   on a ladder of light, which was what led her to gather young women into an   
   informal novitiate. In the vision the holy virgins were accompanied up and down   
   the ladder by glorious angels who played sweet music on golden harps. All wore   
   beautiful crowns decorated with precious jewels. After a time the music stopped   
   and the Savior Himself called her by name to create a society of women. The   
   Holy   
   Father gave her permission to form a community.   
      
   Shortly, thereafter, Saint Ursula appeared to her, which is why she became the   
   community's patron. Assisting at Mass one day, Angela fell into ecstasy and was   
   said to have levitated.   
      
   Soon after her return to Brescia, she was forced to withdraw to Cremona because   
   war had broken out, and when Charles V was on the point of making himself   
   master   
   of Brescia it was essential that non-combatants leave the city. When peace   
   again   
   prevailed, Angela's return to Brescia was greeted with joy by the citizens who   
   already venerated her as a prophetess and saint.   
      
   In Saint Afra's Church at Brescia on November 25, 1535, Angela and 28 younger   
   companions bound themselves before God to devote the rest of their lives to his   
   service, especially by the education of girls. Angela placed herself and the   
   novices under the protection of Saint Ursula, the patroness of medieval   
   universities and venerated as a leader of women. This was the beginning of the   
   Company of Saint Ursula (Ursuline nuns), the first teaching order of women-a   
   novel idea that needed time before it was accepted.   
      
   The order had no habit (members usually wore a simple black dress), took no   
   vows, and pursued neither an enclosed nor a communal life; they worked to   
   oversee the religious education of girls, especially among the poorer classes,   
   and to care for the sick. The Ursulines were formally recognized by Pope Paul   
   III four years after Angela's death (1544) and were organized into a   
   Congregation in 1565. At the start much of the teaching was done in the   
   children's homes: but in her conception of an uncloistered, flexible society of   
   women Saint Angela was before her time. She survived to direct the society for   
   only four years.   
      
   During that time Angela was noted for her patience to her sisters and kindness   
   in her many acts of mercy to the poor, sick, and ignorant. Soon there were 150   
   sisters to whom Angela addressed her wise sayings in her Counsels. As her   
   sisters surrounded her in prayer at the hour of her death, a beautiful ray of   
   light shone upon the saint-a sign that God was welcoming her to her eternal   
   home. Angela died with the name of Jesus on her lips.   
      
   In 1568, Saint Charles Borromeo called the Ursulines to Milan and persuaded   
   them   
   to assume a cloistered communal life. In a provincial synod he explained to his   
   suffragen bishops that he knew of no better means for the reform of their   
   dioceses than to introduce the Ursulines into populous communities. Later in   
   France strict enclosure was adopted and the teaching of young girls was made   
   the   
   chief concern of the order. The Ursulines flourish today (Attwater, Attwater2,   
   Benedictines, Bentley, Caraman, Delaney, Farmer, Schamoni, Walsh, White).   
      
   In art Saint Angela is represented by the image of virgins ascending a ladder;   
   or with Saint Ursula and companions appearing to her (White).   
      
      
   Readings   
   Disorder in society is the result of disorder in the family.   
   -Saint Angela Merici   
      
   We must give alms. Charity wins souls and draws them to virtue.   
   -Saint Angela Merici   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Prayer of the graces   
      
   Mary, Mother of the Eucharist,   
   precious gem of God,   
   shining pearl of the sky and the earth,   
   co-redemptrix of mankind,   
   Mother of us all,   
   look at your poor and humble creatures,   
   help us to understand the love   
   of Jesus the Eucharist.   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)