Angela from Foligno

Representation of the saints, around 1890

Engraving, 17th century

Angela von Foligno , also Angelika von Foligno (* 1248 in Foligno ; † January 4, 1309 ibid) is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church . She belonged to the Third Order of the Franciscans and is considered an important mystic of the order.

Life

Angela, born to rich parents in Foligno ( Umbria ), is said to have married a wealthy landowner and initially led a dissolute life.

Around 1285 she happened to hear a Franciscan sermon in the church of San Feliciano in her hometown. In a short time she changed her lifestyle. She explained to her husband that she had taken a vow of abstinence . Within a short period of time, her mother, husband, and all of their children died. She then sold all her possessions and jewelry and distributed the proceeds to the poor. In 1290 she entered the Third Order of the Franciscans.

She led a life of penance and poverty, gathered people around her, who she led to a deeper religious life, and devoted herself to charitable tasks, especially caring for lepers. The numerous mystical experiences that she experienced in the course of her life were recorded by her confessor and examined and confirmed by the Catholic Church.

Angela died on January 4, 1309 at the age of 60. Her grave is in the Franciscan Church in Foligno.

plant

Angela, who was influenced by Franciscan theology at an early age, is considered to be one of the most important mystics in this context. The theme of God's encounter with the human soul is a leitmotif of their writings.

"You have to know that God sometimes comes into the soul without having called out pleading or even wishing."

Beatification and canonization, veneration

In 1693 Pope Innocent XII spoke . Angela von Foligno from blessed. On October 9, 2013, Pope Francis made her a saint. Her feast day in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church is January 4th.

In Christian iconography she is depicted in the habit of the Franciscan Terziarinnen or in the fight with the devil .

Works

• II libro della Beata Angela da Foligno , edited by Ludger Thier and Abele Calufetti, Grottaferrata 1985.
• Angela of Foligno: Complete Works , English translation by Paul Lachance, New York 1993.
• Angela von Foligno: The Memorial and the Last Words , first German translation, edited by Louise Gnädinger, St. Ottilien 2012, ISBN 978-3-8306-7535-8 .

literature

• Ulrich Köpf : Angela von Foligno. A contribution to the Franciscan women's movement around 1300. In: Peter Dinzelbacher , Dieter R. Bauer (Ed.): Religious women's movement and mystical piety in the Middle Ages. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne & Vienna 1988 (documentation of the scientific study conference "Religious Women's Movement and Mystical Piety in the Middle Ages", March 19-22, 1986 in Weingarten, organized by the Academy of the Rottenburg-Stuttgart Diocese, = supplements to the archive for cultural history , published by Egon Boshof, issue 28), ISBN 3412033863 , pp. 225–250.
• Kurt Ruh : Angela von Foligno . In: Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte 61 (1987), pp. 35–49.
• Clemente Schmitt (ed.): Vita e spiritualità della Beata Angela da Foligno , Atti del Convegno di Studi per il VII Centenario della Conversione della Beata Angela da Foligno (1285–1985), Foligno 11-14 December 1985, Serafica Provincia di San Francesco , Perugia 1987.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Otto Bitschnau: The life of God's saints . Benziger, Einsiedeln, 24th edition [after 1881], p. 11.
2. ↑ Decree of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints of October 11, 2013.

Web links

Commons : Angela of Foligno  - collection of images, videos and audio files