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Angelina was born in 1374 in the palace of her
father, the duke of Marsciano, near Orvieto in the Papal States. Her devout
mother was much pleased to note how the conduct of her child corresponded with
the name she bore, little angel. The first words she uttered were the holy
names of Jesus and Mary. She delighted in building little altars, which she
decorated tastily, and around which she would gather other girls of her age to
pray and sing.
Angelina lost her mother when she was but 12 years
of age. Her attachment to Jesus Christ then became more intimate and she vowed
perpetual chastity. But she had scarcely reached the age of 15 when her more
worldly-minded father told her that he wanted her to marry the duke of
Civitella. But Angelina declared that she wished no other than her heavenly
Bridegroom, Jesus Christ.
The duke was filled with rage at her opposition. He
gave her one week to decide, threatening to dispatch her with his sword if she
persevered in her refusal. Angelina increased her prayers and penitential
austerities, pleading with her Lord Jesus Christ, with the Blessed Virgin, St.
Joseph, and the virgin disciple St. John to help her preserve the virginity
she had vowed.
Then an interior voice prompted her to yield to her
father's wishes and assured her that God would not forsake her. And God did
help. Angelina's husband turned out to be a devout Christian, and, heeding her
expostulations as well as her wishes, consented to live with her in perfect
continence.
Two years after their marriage her husband died,
and the young widow now devoted herself entirely to works of piety and
charity. Together with several young women of the vicinity she entered the
Third Order of St. Francis, and with them she undertook to care for the sick,
the poor, the widows and orphans, and endeavored to win sinners back to the
path of righteousness.
Angelina possessed the special gift of awakening in
others a love for virginity. Many young women from some of the most
distinguished families among the nobility, following her example, left their
families and entered various convents. This aroused the ill-will of many
people, and Angelina was severely criticized. Some even accused her of being a
heretic and a disturber of the peace, saying that she condemned the married
state and was disrupting the foremost families of the land. For this reason
she was accused before the king of Naples.
The king invited the young duchess to appear before
him. Angelina, having received from God knowledge of the king's intentions,
appeared before him and his court carrying burning coals in the folds of her
cloak. She exposed the king's secret intention of having her burned as a
heretic, and disturber of the peace, showed how the coals she had brought had
not injured her in any way, and declared herself ready to die upon the coals
if it could be proved that she was guilty of the crimes with which she was
charged. She attested that she had never condemned the married state, but that
she had given due praise to the state of virginity. Struck by the miracle as
well as by the words she uttered, the king dismissed Angelina with great
respect.
A few days later she raised to life a young man,
scion of one of the most prominent families. As a result, she was showered
with honors from every quarter of the city. In order to elude them, she went
into seclusion in her palace. But several young women of prominent families
found their way to her there, and she was again accused before the king, who
now banished her and her companions from the kingdom.
The little congregation praised God for the
persecution that the world was heaping on it, and then repaired to Assisi.
There Angelina was instructed in a ecstasy to go to Foligno, where God would
take care of her. In this city she was cordially received by the inhabitants,
who evinced great willingness to help build a convent for her and her
companions.
There she established a community whose members
took solemn vows and lived according to the rule of the Third Order. The
Apostolic See sanctioned this sisterhood of the Third Order Regular, and
confirmed the election of Angelina as the first superioress although she was
then only 20 years old.
Later Angelina founded 15 other convents of the
same type in various towns of Italy, and Pope Martin V appointed her abbess
general in the year 1428. This office she administered until her death on July
14, 1435.
When she realized that her death was close at hand,
she expressed the wish to make a general confession. She received the last
sacraments with great devotion, and assembled her spiritual daughters about
her for the last time. She admonished them always to remain faithful in
observance of the rule and gave them her blessing. She was them rapt in
ecstasy, during which this faithful bride of Christ was admitted to the
eternal joys of Paradise. Pope Lei XII in 1825 confirmed the devotion paid to
her from time immemorial.
THE CROSS LEADS TO SUCCESS
1. The works of God
are usually opposed by the world. The apostles experienced that in propagating
the Christian Church. Many saints experienced it in their various
undertakings. Angelina experienced it in too in an exceptional measure. But it
did not frighten her. It assured her all the more that her undertaking was the
work of God and that He would assist her. How frequently also in our day do
young people experience this opposition when they desire to enter a certain
state of life. How often do souls who are urged to undertake a good work for
the cause of God experience the same opposition. Do not allow yourself to
become discouraged by such opposition and difficulty. It is a sign that you
are undertaking a work that is pleasing to God. Call upon Him in your trial.
He has promised to assist you: "I am with him in his trouble; I will deliver
him and I will glorify him" (Psalm 90:15).
2. Consider that even in the
life of the ordinary Christian, the cross is the only road on which he can
arrive at salvation. "By the cross," says Thomas a Kempis, "you shall go into
life everlasting. Dispose and order all things according as you will, and you
will still find something to suffer, and so you shall always find the cross.
If you carry it unwillingly, you make it a burden to yourself, and
nevertheless you must bear it. If you fling away one cross, without doubt you
will find another, and perhaps a heavier. If you carry the cross willingly, it
will carry you, and bring you to your desired end, where there will be an end
to the suffering." -- Who, then, should not be willing to walk the way of the
cross courageously?
3. Consider that the souls who are guided by the Holy
Spirit must tread the way of the cross throughout life. In the case of
Angelina, when persecution from without ceased, she took upon herself the
cross of penance and self-abnegation, adopting a very strict rule of life in a
convent. Christ says to all: "If any man will come after Me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23). You cannot
be admitted to Christ in heaven if you are not willing to renounce your will
and carry the daily cross of fidelity to Christian duty. May the virtues and
the intercession of Blessed Angelina give us the necessary
strength!
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH
O God, who did adorn
Blessed Angelina with the special gifts of humility and charity, and did
increase Thy Church by the founding of a new congregation, mercifully grant
that we may follow her virtuous example and may thus arrive at eternal joy.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
from:
The Franciscan Book
of Saints, ed. by
Marion Habig, ofm., © 1959 Franciscan Herald
Press
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