St Angela Merici

Word for the day

“there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:42

Life

Angela Merici was born around 1474 at Desenzano, on Lake Garda in northern Italy. She lost both her parents while still young and went to live with an uncle at Salò. She became a Franciscan tertiary and gave herself to prayer, fasting and care for the poor.

In 1516 she moved to Brescia, where she became known as a woman of wisdom whom many people, rich and poor, came to for counsel. In 1524 she went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and in the Jubilee year 1525 she visited Rome, where, according to her early biographers, Pope Clement VII invited her to stay; she preferred to return to Brescia.

She saw that many young women had no access to Christian formation and could neither enter a convent nor find a good marriage. On 25 November 1535 she founded with twenty-eight companions the Company of St Ursula: women consecrated to Christ who lived in their own homes, without enclosure, praying, serving and teaching the faith, especially to girls. It was a new form of consecrated life in the world.

Angela died at Brescia on 27 January 1540. After her death the Ursulines spread widely and, after the Council of Trent, many communities became religious congregations devoted to the education of girls, which they continue in many countries. Pope Pius VII canonised her in 1807.

Lessons

Christ the one thing necessary

Angela's consecration was a choice of the better part.

Holiness in ordinary places

Her companions served God in their own homes and towns.

Educating girls

She saw the dignity of young women and their need for formation.

Gentle leadership

She asked her leaders to guide with love, not harshness.

Stories

The vision at Brudazzo (tradition)

Her early biographers tell that as a young woman, while working in the fields, she saw a vision of a ladder reaching to heaven with young women ascending it, and understood that she would one day found a company of consecrated women.

Blind on the way to Jerusalem (tradition)

According to the early accounts, Angela lost her sight on the voyage to the Holy Land, visited the holy places in blindness, and recovered her sight on the way home.

Company of St Ursula (history)

On 25 November 1535, in a small house beside the church of St Afra in Brescia, Angela and twenty-eight young women consecrated themselves to God in the Company of St Ursula.

Homily

1. The better part

Like Mary of Bethany, Angela chose Jesus first (Luke 10:42).

2. Consecrated in the world

Holiness can grow in ordinary homes.

3. Forming the young

Education is a work of love.

Dear friends, St Angela Merici was a laywoman of northern Italy who, early in the sixteenth century, saw a great need: many young women had no one to form them in the faith. She did not wait for others to act.

In the Gospel Jesus tells Martha that there is need of only one thing, and that Mary has chosen the better part (Luke 10:42). Angela chose that better part: Jesus Christ above all. From that choice came her service.

In 1535 she gathered young women who consecrated their lives to Christ while living in their own homes, praying, serving and teaching. It was something new in the Church. Later the Ursulines became teachers of girls in many lands.

Let us thank God today for all women religious and teachers who form young people in faith and knowledge. And let us ask St Angela to help us choose the better part, and to serve Christ wherever we live. Amen.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, St Angela Merici chose you as the one thing necessary and served you in the young; through her prayers help us to choose the better part, and bless all who teach and form the young in faith. Amen.