January 4

Saint Angela of Foligno

Roman Martyrology

Widow and mystic whose dictated book traces a soul’s path to God

Angela was born around 1248 in Foligno, a town in Umbria, into a comfortable family. She married, had sons, and by her own later account lived for appearances and pleasure. Around 1285 she went through a deep change of heart and made a painful confession of her past.

Within a few years her mother, her husband and all her sons died. Grieving, she gave away her property and in 1291 joined the Franciscan Third Order. That year, on a pilgrimage to Assisi, she felt God’s presence so strongly that when it seemed to leave her she cried out aloud in the basilica, to the embarrassment of her relative and confessor, the friar Arnaldo. He later wrote down in Latin the experiences she dictated to him in her local dialect.

That book, centred on the love of Christ crucified, drew disciples to her and is still read today. She died on 4 January 1309, and Pope Francis declared her a saint in 2013.

But as for me, may I never boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Galatians 6:14 · BSB

A prayer

God of mercy, you turned Angela from a life of vanity to the love of your crucified Son, and you stayed with her in deep loss. Turn our hearts to you as well, so that in joy and in sorrow we may come to know the depth of your love. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.