Saint Angela of Foligno
A wife and mother of Foligno who became a Franciscan mystic
- Rank
- Saint
- Kind
- Mystic, Religious
- Life
- 1248 – 1309
- Era
- 14th century
- Feast
- 4 January
- Countries
- Italy
Life story
Angela was born around 1248 at Foligno in Umbria, Italy, into a fairly comfortable family. She married and had children, and by her own later account she lived at ease in her early years, fond of wealth and pleasures. Around 1285 she went through a conversion; within a few years her mother, husband and children died one after another. She sold her property, gave to the poor, and around 1291 joined the Franciscan Third Order.
She made pilgrimages to Assisi and lived simply, caring for the sick, including lepers. Her confessor and relative, Brother Arnaldo, a Franciscan friar, wrote down what she told him about her experiences of prayer. From those notes came the work usually called the Book of Visions and Instructions, which circulated widely in many manuscripts and influenced the mystical tradition. The original Umbrian text is lost.
Angela gathered a circle of disciples around her. She died on 4 January 1309 at Foligno and was buried in the Franciscan church there. Her veneration was confirmed in the seventeenth or early eighteenth century, and on 9 October 2013 Pope Francis extended it to the whole Church, placing her among the saints. Her feast is 4 January.
Her book was read and copied widely in the Middle Ages and later, and it drew the attention of readers well beyond the Franciscan world. Modern scholars treat it as an important source for late medieval spirituality, even though the exact process by which her words became a book remains partly unclear.
Works and witness
- Wife and mother in a comfortable family in Foligno
- After losing her family, joined the Franciscan Third Order around 1291
- Cared for the sick, including lepers, and made pilgrimages to Assisi
- Her accounts were recorded by Brother Arnaldo as the Book of Visions and Instructions
- Canonised by Pope Francis in 2013
Saints from the same country
References
- Liber de vera fidelium experientia (Book of Visions and Instructions)
- Martyrologium Romanum
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints – biographical profile
Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.