The Saints: Blessed Angela of Foligno

1278 - 1309

Feast – Jan. 4

A spiritual crisis turned this self-centered, frivolous Italian into a mystic; the turning point was a vision of what she called “true light.” Angela lost her mother, husband and sons in quick succession, became a Franciscan tertiary and gave away her inheritance and possesions. During Mass while on a pilgrimage to Assisi, she had the first of her ecstatic seizures. She drew many people to the Franciscan ideal of poverty and service. The story of her spirtitual journey, “The Book of Divine Consoloation’” is filled with joyful love and bacame a classic of Western spirituality.