SAINT ANGELA MERICI
Also Known as:
Virgin; Founder of the Order
of Ursulines
Feast:
January 27th
Born:
March 21, 1474
Died:
27th January 1540
Canonized:
24 May 1807, by Pope Pius VII
Patronage:
Bodily ills; disabled people; handicapped people; illness; loss of parents; physically challenged people; sick people; sickness.
About Saint Angela Merici
Early in life she dedicated herself to Christ as His bride. After the death of her parents, she desired to live solely for God in quiet and solitude, but her uncle insisted that she manage his household. She renounced her patrimony in order to observe most perfectly the rule for Franciscan Tertiaries.
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During a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1524, she lost her eyesight temporarily. Pope Clement VII, whom she visited in Rome, desired her to remain in the Holy City. Later she founded a society for girls, under the protection of St. Ursula; this was the beginning of the Ursuline Order. St. Angela was almost seventy when she died; her body remained incorrupt for thirty days. Remarkable phenomena occurred at her burial in the Church of St. Afra.
Prayer
Saint Angela,
you were not afraid of change.
You did not let stereotypes keep you from serving.
Help us to overcome our fear of change in order to follow God's call and allow others to follow theirs.
Amen.
