Santa angela merici biography of christopher
Angela of Brescia (1474–1540)
Founder of the Ursuline nuns, a Roman Catholic order focused on teaching young girls and young women. Name variations: Angela Merici. Pronunciation:Mer-EE-chi. Born Angela Merici on March 21, 1474, at Grezze on Lake Garda in Italy, though a local legend persists that she was born in the town of Desenzano, a few miles away; died on January 27, 1540, in Brescia; daughter of John Merici (a well-todo vintner), and Signora Merici (of the Biancosi merchant family from Salo); never married, no children.
Orphaned in early teens and moved to Salo; became a member of the third Order of St. Francis, a lay order dedicated to charitable works and teaching; experienced a vision that told her to found an order of women in Brescia (c. 1495); dedicated to St. Ursula, the order was formally approved as an unenclosed group of women devoted to teaching children, especially young girls (August 8, 1536).
The end of the 15th century was a time of change and innovation. Christopher Columbus opened the sea route to the Americas, Henry VII ended the War of the Roses in England and reunited the ruling houses of Lancaster and York, and the Jews were expelled from the Iberian peninsula during the joint reign of Ferdinand and Isabella I (1451–1504) of Spain. The age of new invention and new art included the novel idea of the printing press and the works of the Renaissance artists Raphael and Michelangelo. It was an age that found women with generally low status, tied to their male relatives for both rank and survival. Bracketed between the birth years of two famous men, Nicholas Copernicus (1473), the Polish astronomer who popularized the heliocentric theory of the universe, and Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475), the painter of the Sistine Chapel, was the birth of Angela Merici, the founder of the teaching order of the Ursuline nuns, on March 21, 1474.
The fate of a woman in the society of 15th-century Italy was linked to her dowry and to her husband. Until the coming of the railroad in mid-19th century, travel on land was difficult and very slow. For the most part travel was done on foot, as few were able to afford horses or oxen to pull their wagons. In the Mediterranean world there were the Roman roads but as the centuries went on, many of these were not kept up. People who traveled usually did so in groups for protection. The distance between the inns on the road was from 20 to 25 miles, and the travelers had to reach the safety of the villages before nightfall. If they did not arrive by nightfall, their goods could be stolen by the local bands of thieves. As there was no long distant communication, the travelers never knew if the inn they were walking to had enough food. When they arrived they were served what was available, and went hungry if there was famine in the area. Everyone slept in the same large room in the inn, and any coins or valuables the travelers carried had to be kept hidden. Travel by ship was little better. There were no luxury cabins, the galleys were carrying sand or wheat if they were sailing north from Egypt, silver or olive oil if they were traveling south from Greece and Rome. Travelers stayed on deck. They had to supply their own food and shelter. In rough weather the cooking fires were put out and the travelers had to eat whatever they carried cold. In this context we can understand how important it was for travelers to have a saint to whom they could petition for protection. Their prayers of petition went most often to St. Christopher. There are many stories about St. Christopher who lived in the Eastern Mediterranean world. He is said to have been a large and strong man, looking for the most powerful person to serve. For a while he thought he had found that in Satan leading him to the life of a thief. He spent some time with a band of robbers preying on travelers. When he saw one of the thieves making the Sign of the Cross, Christopher discovered tha Angela was born in Desenzano and grew up on a farm in the Le Grezze district of Desenzano. In her teenage years, both her parents and her sister died. Angela then went to live with relatives at Salo. It was at Salo that she met the Franciscans and became a Franciscan tertiary. Franciscan spirituality had a strong formative influence on her. Having convinced her aunt and uncle that she did not intend to marry, but rather wished to dedicate her life to God, she returned to Desenzano to her own vineyard. This she maintained for many years, until the Franciscans asked her to accompany a widow back to Brescia to give the widow support in her grief. Thus began her life in Brescia and the movement towards forming the Company of St Ursula, a dream she had had since a young woman. Living on the main route between Milan and Venice she was well aware of contemporary events. St Angela was a contemporary of Christopher Columbus, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Martin Luther, to name but a few. It was in 1517 that Marin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenburg. Monasteries were in need of reform. The Catholic Church was in serious need of reform. The Council of Trent to reform the Church commenced in 1545, just five years after the death of St Angela. In this climate, it was the laity who maintained spiritual leadership in the Church. With the development of the printing press in the 15th century, access to the Bible kindled a desire to return to the beginnings, to the Gospel. And so St Angela could say to her new Company: "Keep to the ancient way and custom of the Church, established and confirmed by so many Saints under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And live a new life. As for the other opinions that are arising now, and will arise, leave them aside...but pray, and get others to pray, that God not abandon his Church, but reform it as he pleases." (Seventh Counsel) St Angela's new life, yet ancient way, was that of the consecrated virgins of
About St Christopher
Today is the feast of St. Angela Merici, the foundress of the Ursulines, the the first teaching congregation of women in the Church. It was a new, almost revolutionary foundation for its time, as it focused primarily on the education of women. Her foundation led to the emancipation of women not only in the Church, but in society as well. Women were educated so as to transform society by educating their own family in the faith and living out that faith in their lives.
Angela was born to a family of minor nobility on March 21, 1474 at Desenzano, Lake Garda, Italy and died on January 27, 1540 in Brescia. She worked diligently on her father’s farm and was also taught by her family the habits of prayer and fasting — which she continued to practice her entire life. Her parents died when she was only ten years old. Together, with her older sister, she moved to the nearby town of Salo, to live with her uncle. When her sister died quite suddenly without receiving the last sacraments, Angela was deeply upset. At the age of 15, she became a third order Franciscan and increased her prayers and sacrifices for the repose of her sister's soul. When she asked God to reveal to her the condition of her deceased sister, He answered her prayer by showing her a vision of her sister in heaven.
When her uncle died, she returned to live at Desenzano to make a life for herself. She was convinced of the need for women to be educated in their faith and converted her home into a school where she daily gathered all the girls of Desenzano to teach them the basics of Christianity. It was at this time that she received a vision, which led her to found a religious order who were to devote their lives to the spiritual education of young women. Angela's school at Desenzano was so successful that she was invited to the neighboring city of Brescia, to establish a school there. Angela gladly accepted the invitation.
In 1524, during a pilgrimage to Holy Land, while v