27 January

St Angela Merici (1474-1540)
Virgin

Born: 21 March 1474, Desenzano del Garda, Province of Brescia, Republic of Venice
Died: 27 January 1540 (aged 65), Brescia, Republic of Venice
Canonized: 24 May 1807, Rome, Papal States by Pope Pius VII
Major Shrine: Sanctuary of St. Angela Merici, Brescia, Italy
Feast: 27 January;
31 May (1861-1955);
1 June (1955-1969)
Patron: Bodily ills; disabled people; handicapped people; illness; loss of parents; physically challenged people; sick people; sickness.

St. Angela was born in northern Italy. In 1516, she founded the Order of Ursulines, the first teaching order for women approved by the Church.

COLLECT PRAYER

May the Virgin Saint Angela never fail to commend us to your compassion, O Lord, we pray, that, following the lessons of her charity and prudence, and express it in what we do. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

Things to Do:

St. Angela Merici
The saint was born in 1474 in the diocese of Verona. Early in life she dedicated herself to Christ as His bride. After the death of her parents, she desired to live solely for God in quiet and solitude, but her uncle insisted that she manage his household. She renounced her patrimony in order to observe most perfectly the rule for Franciscan Tertiaries.

During a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1524, she lost her eyesight temporarily. Pope Clement VII, whom she visited in Rome, desired her to remain in the Holy City. Later she founded a society for girls, under the protection of St. Ursula; this was the beginning of the Ursuline Order. St. Angela was almost seventy when she died; her body remained incorrupt for thirty days. Remarkable phenomena occurred at her burial in the Church of St. Afra.

— Excerpted from The Church’s Year of Grace, Pius Parsch
Source: Catholic Culture