SAINT OF THE DAY

WEDNESDAY, 8 JANUARY, 2025

SAINT ANGELA OF FOLIGNO

(1248 – January 4, 1309)

Some saints show marks of holiness very early. Not Angela! Born of a leading family in Foligno, Italy, she became immersed in the quest for wealth and social position. As a wife and mother, she continued this life of distraction.

Around the age of 40, she recognized the emptiness of her life and sought God's help in the Sacrament of Penance. Her Franciscan confessor helped Angela to seek God's pardon for her previous life and to dedicate herself to prayer and the works of charity.

Shortly after her conversion, her husband and children died. Selling most of her possessions, she entered the Secular Franciscan Order. She was alternately absorbed by meditating on the crucified Christ and by serving the poor of Foligno as a nurse and beggar for their needs. Other women joined her in a religious community.

At her confessor's advice, Angela wrote her Book of Visions and Instructions. In it she recalls some of the temptations she suffered after her conversion; she also expresses her thanks to God for the Incarnation of Jesus. This book and her life earned for Angela the title “Teacher of Theologians.” She was beatified in 1693, and canonized in 2013.

REFLECTION: People who live in the United States today can understand Saint Angela's temptation to increase her sense of self-worth by accumulating money, fame or power. Striving to possess more and more, she became more and more self-centered. When she realized she was priceless because she was created and loved by God, she became very penitential and very charitable to the poor. What had seemed foolish early in her life now became very important. The path of self-emptying she followed is the path all holy men and women must follow. The Liturgical Feast of Saint Angela of Foligno is January 7.

franciscanmedia.org/saint-angela-of-foligno

PATRON: Those afflicted by sexual temptation and widows.

NOVENA TO SAINT ANGELA OF FOLIGNO

St. Angela, you were born into a wealthy family
and married at a young age,
having several children.
You were a very worldly woman,
enjoying fine clothes,
jewelry, parties, and affairs.
However, at the age of forty
you had a vision of St. Francis
and turned your life around.
Not long after your conversion,
your mother, husband, and sons died.
You became a Third Order Franciscan
and obtained a Franciscan friar
for your spiritual director.
He wrote at your dictation
the visions you received from God.
Your penitential life attracted followers,
and you became leader of a community without enclosure
so that the group could perform acts of charity
in the surrounding neighborhoods.
Towards the end of your life
you saw Jesus who promised to come for you shortly.
You died in your sleep in early January.

St. Angela, you led a life of selfishness
and sin before making a confession
that changed your life forever.
Pray that more people may be led
to the Sacrament of Reconciliation
to receive God's mercy and healing.
St. Angela, you believed in a life spent in penance,
prayer, and service to neighbor.
Pray that we may devote ourselves to others
with selfless generosity and out of love for God.
St. Angela, you are called a “Teacher to the Theologians”.
Intercede for us this day,
that we may come to know Christ
through the grace and wisdom of the Gospels. Amen.

Saint Angela, obtain for me the favour that I seek
through the pious exercise of this Novena.
Intercede for me before the Throne of God
for the following favour if it be the Will of God...

[Mention your intention(s) here...]

Say 1 Our Father...Say 1 Hail Mary...Say 1 Glory Be...

St. Angela of Foligno, Pray for us.

St. Angela of Foligno, Pray for us.

St. Angela of Foligno, Pray for us.