Angèle
de Foligno et les instruments de la Passion, gravure, XVIIe s.
Sainte Angèle de Foligno
Pénitente
italienne (+ 1310)
Née à Foligno en Ombrie,
dans une famille riche, elle est mariée toute jeune par ses parents et elle
connaît alors une vie mondaine et frivole qui lui fait abandonner la pratique
des sacrements. Subitement convertie, elle voudrait bien se confesser, mais
elle n'ose avouer toutes ses fautes au confesseur. Elle s'en va communier et
reste tourmentée par cette communion sacrilège. C'est à ce moment-là qu'elle
reçoit la vision de saint
François d'Assise, mort vingt ans avant sa propre naissance. Elle multiplie
alors les austérités, médite de longues heures, distribue aux pauvres ce
qu'elle possède et passe pour folle aux yeux des siens. Et puis, elle perd coup
sur coup, sa mère, son époux, ses fils. Elle se livre alors à la pauvreté
absolue. Des visions du Christ crucifié lui font atteindre les sommets de la
mystique dans des crises violentes qui effraient ses amis. Les Frères Mineurs,
disciples de saint François, se méfient d'elle d'autant qu'elle prend part aux
controverses qui opposent, dans l'Ordre, les partisans d'une pauvreté mitigée
et ceux d'une application stricte de l'idéal franciscain primitif. Les
dernières années de sa vie seront plus paisibles, favorisées de grâces
extraordinaires. "Elle semblait jouir du bonheur céleste."
Le 13 octobre 2010,
Benoît XVI a tracé un portrait de sainte Angèle de Foligno. Si on reste
fasciné, a-t-il dit, "par les sommets de son expérience d'union avec Dieu,
on néglige souvent les débuts de sa conversion, le long cheminement qui a
conduit" cette mystique italienne (1248 - 1309) "de sa grande peur de
l'Enfer à son union trinitaire". Née dans une famille aisée, elle reçut
une éducation mondaine, se maria jeune et eut plusieurs enfants. Mais sa vie
fut marquée par des drames, le violent séisme de 1279, la guerre de sa ville
contre la voisine Perugia, qui remirent en question sa vie même. En 1285, elle
eut une vision de saint François qui la porta à accomplir une confession
générale. Après la disparition rapide de sa famille, trois ans plus tard, elle
quitta ses biens pour entrer dans le tiers ordre franciscain.
L'histoire d'Angèle est
connue grâce à la biographie de son confesseur, qui rapporte sa "terreur
initiale de l'Enfer. Cela correspondait -a souligné le Pape- au type de foi
qu'elle avait au moment de sa conversion, encore pauvre de charité et d'amour
de Dieu. Crainte, repentance et pénitence avaient poussé Angèle vers la
douloureuse perspective de la croix". Sa conversion la mit sur la voie de
l'amour... Elle se sentit en devoir d'offrir quelque chose à Dieu afin de
racheter ses péchés, comprenant peu à peu qu'elle n'avait rien d'autre à
donner, se sentant nulle face à lui. Elle comprit que ce ne serait pas sa
volonté mais son amour qui lui donnerait l'amour de Dieu. La volonté ne pouvait
qu'offrir son vide... Ainsi comprit-elle la profondeur de la réalité centrale
qui était se sauver de l'indignité et de la peine de l'Enfer, et que ...cela ne
viendrait pas de la connaissance de la vérité mais du Christ crucifié pour
elle". La conversion de sainte Angèle de Foligno, a conclu le Saint-Père,
grandie par son immersion dans les souffrances du Crucifié, est "parvenue
à maturation lorsque le pardon divin lui apparut comme don gratuit de l'amour
du Père... Dans son cheminement spirituel, le passage de la conversion à
l'expérience mystique, où l'inexplicable s'explique, s'est produit à travers le
Christ en croix. Toute sa vie mystique tendit à la parfaite ressemblance avec
lui, par des transformations et des purifications de plus en plus profondes...
Son identification au Christ signifia également vivre dans la prière et le
secret ce que Jésus vécut, la pauvreté, le mépris, la souffrance". (VIS
20101013 440)
Le pape
François confirme la sainteté d'Angèle de Foligno
À Foligno en Ombrie, l’an
1310, la bienheureuse Angèle qui, après la mort de son époux et de ses fils,
suivit les traces de saint François, se consacra entièrement à Dieu et confia
au livre de sa vie les hautes expériences de sa vie mystique.
Martyrologe romain
Cette charité,
efforcez-vous de l'acquérir ! Ne jugez personne, même s'il vous arrive de voir
quelqu'un pécher mortellement. Ne jugez pas les pécheurs, vous ne connaissez
pas le jugement de Dieu
Angèle de Foligno - Ses
dernières paroles
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/365/Sainte-Angele-de-Foligno.html
BENOÎT XVI
AUDIENCE GÉNÉRALE
Place Saint-Pierre
Mercredi 13 octobre 2010
Bienheureuse Angèle de Foligno
Chers frères et sœurs,
Aujourd’hui je voudrais vous parler de la bienheureuse Angèle de Foligno, une grande mystique médiévale ayant vécu au XIIIe siècle. D’habitude, on est fasciné par les sommets de l’expérience d’union avec Dieu qu’elle a atteints, mais on ne prend sans doute pas assez en compte ses premiers pas, sa conversion, et le long chemin qui l’a conduite du point de départ, «la grande crainte de l’enfer», jusqu’au but ultime, l’union totale avec la Trinité. La première partie de la vie d’Angèle n’est certainement pas celle d’une disciple fervente du Seigneur. Née aux alentours de 1248 dans une famille aisée, elle devint orpheline de père et fut éduquée par sa mère de façon plutôt superficielle. Elle fut très tôt introduite dans les milieux mondains de la ville de Foligno, où elle connut un homme, qu’elle épousa à l’âge de 20 ans et dont elle eut des enfants. Sa vie était insouciante, au point de mépriser ceux que l’on appelait les «pénitents» — très répandus à l’époque —, c’est-à-dire ceux qui, pour suivre le Christ, vendaient leurs biens et vivaient dans la prière, dans le jeûne, dans le service à l’Eglise et dans la charité.
Plusieurs événements, comme le violent tremblement de terre de 1279, un ouragan, l’antique guerre contre Pérouse et ses dures conséquences, ont une influence sur la vie d’Angèle, qui prend progressivement conscience de ses péchés, jusqu’à accomplir un pas décisif: elle invoque saint François, qui lui apparaît en vision, pour lui demander conseil en vue d’une bonne confession générale à accomplir: nous sommes en 1285, Angèle se confesse à un frère à San Feliciano. Trois ans plus tard, la voie de la conversion prend un nouveau tournant: la dissolution des liens affectifs, étant donné qu’en quelques mois, à la mort de sa mère suit celle de son mari et de tous ses enfants. Elle vend alors ses biens et, en 1291, rejoint le Tiers-Ordre de saint François. Elle meurt à Foligno le 4 janvier 1309.
Le Livre de la bienheureuse Angèle de Foligno, qui rassemble la documentation relative à notre bienheureuse, rapporte cette conversion; elle en indique les instruments nécessaires: la pénitence, l’humilité et les épreuves; et elle en rapporte les étapes, la succession des expériences d’Angèle, commencées en 1285. En se les rappelant, après les avoir vécues, elle tenta de les raconter à travers le frère confesseur, qui les transcrivit fidèlement, en s’efforçant ensuite de les diviser en étapes, qu’il appela «étapes ou mutations», mais sans réussir à les mettre entièrement en ordre (cf. Le Livre de la bienheureuse Angèle de Foligno, Cinisello Balsamo 1990, p. 51). La raison en est que pour la bienheureuse Angèle, l’expérience d’union implique de façon totale les sens spirituels et corporels, et ce qu’elle «comprend» pendant ses extases demeure, pour ainsi dire, uniquement une «ombre» dans son esprit. «J’entendis véritablement ces paroles — confesse-t-elle après une extase mystique — mais ce que j’ai vu et compris, et ce qu’il [c’est-à-dire Dieu] me montra, je ne sais ni ne peux le dire en aucune façon, bien que je révèlerais volontiers ce que je compris à travers les paroles que j’entendis, mais ce fut un abîme absolument ineffable». Angèle de Foligno présente son «vécu» mystique sans l’élaborer avec son esprit, car il s’agit d’illuminations divines qui se communiquent à son âme de façon imprévue et inattendue. Le frère confesseur lui-même a des difficultés à rapporter de tels événements, «notamment à cause de sa grande et admirable réserve à l’égard des dons divins» (ibid., p. 194). A la difficulté d’Angèle d’exprimer son expérience mystique s’ajoute également la difficulté pour ses interlocuteurs de la comprendre. Une situation qui montre clairement que l’unique et véritable Maître, Jésus, vit dans le cœur de chaque croyant et désire en prendre entièrement possession. Comme chez Angèle, qui écrivait à l’un de ses fils spirituels: «Mon Fils, si tu voyais mon cœur, tu serais absolument contraint de faire toutes les choses que Dieu veut, parce que mon cœur est celui de Dieu et le cœur de Dieu est le mien». Ici retentissent les paroles de saint Paul: «Je vis, mais ce n'est plus moi, c'est le Christ qui vit en moi» (Ga 2, 20).
Étudions alors certains «pas» seulement du riche cheminement spirituel de notre bienheureuse. Le premier, en réalité, est une prémisse: «Le premier pas est la connaissance du péché — comme elle le précise —, par elle l’âme craint fort d'être damnée en enfer. En ce pas l'âme pleure amèrement» (Le livre de la bienheureuse Angèle de Foligno, p. 39). Cette «crainte» de l'enfer répond au type de foi qu'Angèle avait au moment de sa «conversion»; une foi encore pauvre de charité, c'est-à-dire de l'amour de Dieu. Repentir, peur de l’enfer, pénitence ouvrent à Angèle la perspective du douloureux «chemin de la croix» qui, du huitième au quinzième pas, la conduira ensuite sur le «chemin de l'amour». Le frère confesseur raconte: «La fidèle me dit alors: J'ai eu cette révélation divine: “Après ce que vous avez écrit, faites écrire que quiconque veut conserver la grâce ne doit pas détourner les yeux de l'âme de la Croix, tant dans la joie que dans la tristesse que je lui accorde ou je lui permets”» (ibid., p. 143). Mais dans cette phase encore, Angèle «ne sent pas l'amour»; elle affirme: «l'âme éprouve de la honte et de l'amertume et elle ne fait pas encore l'expérience de l'amour, mais de la douleur» (ibid., p. 39), et elle est insatisfaite.
Angèle sent qu'elle doit donner quelque chose à Dieu pour réparer ses péchés, mais lentement, elle comprend qu'elle n'a rien à lui donner, bien plus, qu’elle n'«est rien» devant lui; elle comprend que ce ne sera pas sa volonté qui lui donnera l'amour de Dieu, parce que cela ne peut rien lui donner d'autre que son «néant», le «non amour». Comme elle le dira: seul «l'amour vrai et pur, qui vient de Dieu, est dans l'âme et fait en sorte qu'elle reconnaisse ses propres défauts et la bonté divine. […] Cet amour porte l'âme dans le Christ et elle comprend avec assurance qu'il ne peut exister ou n'y avoir aucune tromperie. A cet amour, rien de ce monde ne peut se mêler» (ibid., p. 124-125). S'ouvrir uniquement et totalement à l'amour de Dieu, qui a sa plus haute expression dans le Christ: «O mon Dieu — prie-t-elle — rends moi digne de connaître le très haut mystère, que ton très ardent et ineffable amour mit en œuvre, avec l'amour de la Trinité, c’est-à-dire le très haut mystère de ta très sainte incarnation pour nous. […]. Oh incompréhensible amour! Au-dessus de cet amour, qui a permis que mon Dieu se soit fait homme pour me faire Dieu, il n'y a pas d'amour plus grand» (ibid., p. 295). Toutefois, le cœur d’Angèle porte pour toujours les blessures du péché; même après une bonne confession, elle se trouvait pardonnée et encore accablée par le péché, libre et conditionnée par le passé, absoute mais en manque de pénitence. Et la pensée de l'enfer l'accompagne également parce que plus l'âme progresse sur le chemin de la perfection chrétienne, plus elle se convaincra non seulement d'être «indigne», mais de mériter l'enfer.
Et voici que, sur son chemin mystique, Angèle comprend en profondeur la réalité centrale: ce qui la sauvera de son «indignité» et de «l'enfer qu'elle mérite», ce ne sera pas son «union avec Dieu» et sa possession de la «vérité», mais Jésus crucifié, «sa crucifixion pour moi», son amour. Dans le huitième pas, elle dit: «Je ne comprenais pas encore si le bien le plus grand était ma libération des péchés et de l’enfer et la confession et la pénitence, ou bien sa crucifixion pour moi» (ibid., p. 41). C'est l'équilibre instable entre amour et douleur, ressenti dans tout son difficile chemin vers la perfection. C'est précisément pour cela qu'elle contemple de préférence le Christ crucifié, parce que dans cette vision, elle voit réalisé l'équilibre parfait: sur la croix, il y a l'homme-Dieu, dans un acte suprême de souffrance qui est un acte suprême d'amour. Dans la troisième Instruction, la bienheureuse insiste sur cette contemplation et affirme: «Lorsque nous voyons avec plus de perfection et de pureté, nous aimons avec d'autant plus de perfection et de pureté. […] C'est pourquoi, plus nous voyons le Dieu et homme Jésus Christ, plus nous sommes transformés en lui à travers l'amour. […] Ce que j'ai dit de l'amour […] je le dis aussi de la douleur: lorsque l'âme contemple l'ineffable douleur de Dieu et homme Jésus Christ, elle souffre d’autant et se transforme en douleur» (ibid., p. 190-191). Se fondre, se transformer dans l’amour et dans les souffrances du Christ crucifié, s'identifier avec lui. La conversion d'Angèle, qui commença avec la confession de 1285, n'arrivera à maturité que lorsque le pardon de Dieu apparaîtra à son âme comme le don gratuit d'amour du Père, source d'amour: «Il n'y a personne qui ne puisse avancer d'excuses — affirme-t-elle — parce quiconque peut aimer Dieu, et il ne demande rien d'autre à l'âme que de l'aimer, parce qu'il l'aime et il est son amour» (ibid., p. 76).
Dans l’itinéraire spirituel d’Angèle, le passage de la conversion à l’expérience mystique, de ce qui peut être exprimé à l’inexprimable, a lieu à travers le Crucifix. C’est le «Dieu-homme passionné», qui devient son «maître de perfection». Toute son expérience mystique revient donc à tendre à une parfaite «ressemblance» avec Lui, à travers des purifications et des transformations toujours plus profondes et radicales. Angèle se donne entièrement à cette merveilleuse entreprise, corps et âme, sans s’épargner les pénitences, les épreuves du début à la fin, désirant mourir avec toutes les douleurs souffertes par le Dieu-homme crucifié, pour être transformée totalement en Lui: «O fils de Dieu — recommandait-elle — transformez-vous totalement dans le Dieu-homme passionné, qui vous aima tant qu’il daigna mourir pour vous d’une mort ignominieuse et avec une douleur totalement ineffable et de manière très pénible et amère. Cela uniquement par amour pour toi, ô homme!» (ibid., p. 247). Cette identification signifie également vivre ce que Jésus a vécu: la pauvreté, le mépris, la douleur car — comme elle l’affirme —, «à travers la pauvreté temporelle, l’âme trouvera les richesses éternelles; à travers le mépris et la honte, elle obtiendra l’honneur suprême et la très grande gloire; à travers la pénitence, faite avec peine et douleur, elle possédera avec une infinie douceur et consolation le Bien Suprême, Dieu éternel» (ibid., p. 293).
De la conversion à l’union mystique avec le Christ crucifié, à l’inexprimable. Un chemin très élevé, dont le secret est la prière constante: «Plus tu prieras — affirme-t-elle — plus tu seras illuminé; plus tu seras illuminé, plus profondément et intensément tu verras le Bien Suprême, l’Etre suprêmement bon; plus profondément et intensément tu le verras, plus tu l’aimeras; plus tu l’aimeras, plus il te délectera; et plus il te délectera, plus tu le comprendras et tu deviendras capable de le comprendre. Par la suite, tu arriveras à la plénitude de la lumière, car tu comprendras ne pas pouvoir comprendre» (ibid., p. 184).
Chers frères et sœurs, la vie de la bienheureuse Angèle commence par une existence mondaine, assez éloignée de Dieu. Mais ensuite, la rencontre avec la figure de saint François et, finalement, la rencontre avec le Christ crucifié réveille l’âme en raison de la présence de Dieu, du fait que ce n’est qu’avec Dieu que la vie devient vie véritable, car elle devient, dans la douleur pour le péché, amour et joie. La bienheureuse Angèle nous parle ainsi. Aujourd’hui, nous courrons tous le danger de vivre comme si Dieu n’existait pas: il semble si éloigné de la vie actuelle. Mais Dieu a mille façons, une pour chacun, d'être présent dans l’âme, de montrer qu’il existe et me connaît et m’aime. Et la bienheureuse Angèle veut nous rendre attentifs à ces signes avec lesquels le Seigneur touche notre âme, attentifs à la présence de Dieu, pour apprendre ainsi la vie vers Dieu et avec Dieu, dans la communion avec le Christ crucifié. Prions le Seigneur afin qu’il nous rende attentif aux signes de sa présence, qu’il nous enseigne à vivre réellement. Merci.
* * *
Je salue cordialement les
pèlerins venus de Guadeloupe, du diocèse d’Arras et de celui d’Évry accompagné
par Mgr Michel Dubost. Je salue aussi les choristes de la cathédrale de
Saint-Malo et les paroissiens de Malonne, en Belgique. Que la bienheureuse Angèle
de Foligno soit pour vous un exemple et un guide spirituel qui vous conduira
vers le Christ. Bon pèlerinage et que Dieu vous bénisse!
Que la bienheureuse
Angèle de Foligno nous aide à comprendre que le bonheur véritable se trouve
dans l’amitié avec le Christ, crucifié par amour pour nous. Je continue à
recommander avec espérance les mineurs de la région d’Atacama, au Chili. Je
vous remercie beaucoup et que Dieu vous bénisse.
© Copyright 2010 -
Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Quand l'amour est parfait
« Ceux qui mènent une vie
spirituelle peuvent quelquefois tomber dans l'illusion. Une des causes
d'erreur, et la plus grande, c'est un amour impur, mêlé d'amour-propre et de
volonté propre : cet amour a, dans une certaine mesure, l'esprit du monde.
Aussi le monde l'approuve
et l'encourage. Cette approbation est un piège, cet encouragement est un
mensonge. Dans cet état, l'homme, que le monde voit et approuve, semble brûler
d'amour ; il a certaines larmes, certaines douceurs, certains tremblements et
certains cris qui portent les caractères de l'impureté spirituelle. Mais ces
larmes et ces douceurs, au lieu de venir du fond de l'âme, sont des phénomènes
qui se passent dans le corps ; cet amour ne pénètre pas dans le coeur ; cette
douceur s'évanouit rapidement, s'oublie rapidement, et produit l'amertume.
J'ai fait ces expériences
; je manquais alors de discernement. Je n'étais pas parvenue à la possession
certaine de la vérité.
Quand l'amour est
parfait, l'âme, après avoir senti Dieu, sent sa part propre, qui est le néant
et la mort ; elle se présente avec sa mort, avec sa pourriture ; elle
s'humilie, elle adore, elle oublie toute louange ou tout bien qui revienne à
elle-même ; elle a une telle conscience de ses vides et de ses maux, qu'elle
sent sa délivrance entière au-dessus de la présence des saints, et réservée à
Dieu seul. Elle appelle cependant les saints à son secours ; car du fond de son
abîme elle n'ose parler à Dieu : elle invoque la Vierge et les saints. Si dans
cet état on vous adresse une louange, la chose vous fait l'effet d'une mauvaise
plaisanterie. Cet amour droit et sans mélange éclaire l'âme sur ses défauts en
même temps que sur la bonté de Dieu. Les larmes et les douceurs qui se
produisent alors, au lieu d'engendrer l'amertume, engendrent la joie et la
sécurité. Cet amour introduit Jésus-Christ dans l'âme, et l'absence de toute
illusion devient pour elle alors un fait d'expérience. »
Bienheureuse Angèle de
Foligno, in Le livre des visions et
instructions de la Bienheureuse Angèle de Foligno (54ème chapitre),
Traduit par Ernest Hello, Troisième édition, Société de Saint-Augustin,
Desclée, de Brouwer et Cie, 1895.
SOURCE : http://www.spiritualite-chretienne.com/au_fil_des_jours/04-01-2011.html
Le Pape confirme la
sainteté d'Angèle de Foligno
Le pape François a
confirmé la sainteté de la mystique italienne Angèle de Foligno (1248-1309). Il
a ainsi “inscrit au catalogue des saints“ cette figure marquante du charisme
franciscain. Le Bureau de presse du Saint-Siège a rendu publique deux jours
plus tard la promulgation des décrets présentés au pape par le cardinal Angelo
Amato, préfet de la Congrégation des causes des saints.
Angèle de Foligno, dont le culte a débuté à sa mort, était jusqu’alors
considérée comme sainte uniquement par la vox populi. Née dans une famille
aisée à Foligno, dans le centre de l’Italie, non loin d’Assise, elle s’est
convertie sur le tard après une vie dissolue. A la mort de son mari et de ses
enfants, Angèle de Foligno entre dans le Tiers-ordre franciscain et mène une
vie de prière et de mortifications. Elle a eu plusieurs visions du Christ et de
sa Passion. Elle fut déclarée bienheureuse par Clément XI en 1701.
Certains personnages sont parfois béatifiés ou canonisés par la vox populi sans
que l’Eglise ne soit intervenue. En octobre 1982, Jean Paul II avait publié un
Motu Proprio pour autoriser le culte officiel du bienheureux Fra Angelico (vers
1400-1445). Le célèbre peintre et dominicain italien avait été considéré et
appelé “beato“ dès après sa mort.
Miracle attribué à l’intercession de Maria Assunta Caterina Marchetti
Le 9 octobre 2013, dans le même temps, le pape François a autorisé la
Congrégation pour la cause des saints à promulguer le décret concernant le
miracle attribué à l’intercession de l’Italienne Maria Assunta Caterina
Marchetti (1871-1948). La cofondatrice de la congrégation des sœurs
missionnaires de saint Charles devrait être prochainement béatifiée.
Le pape a également autorisé la reconnaissance des vertus héroïques de
plusieurs religieux et laïcs, dont de nombreux italiens. Parmi ces nouveaux
“vénérables“ figure une Canadienne, Elisabeth Turgeon (1840-1881), et Sœur
Marie-Elisabeth, fondatrice de la congrégation des sœurs du Saint-Rosaire de
Rimouski. (apic/imedia)
Sainte Angèle de Foligno,
religieuse franciscaine
« Ma place est dans le monde ».Cette
conviction accompagna toujours l’existence d’Angèle de Foligno :
depuis les années de jeunesse caractérisées par une vie mondaine et
par une apparente indifférence à l’égard de Dieu, jusqu’aux années
successives de la maturité spirituelle lorsqu’elle comprit que pour
mieux servir le Seigneur et lui ressembler elle était appelée à
vivre la sainteté dans le concret quotidien de sa vie. Née à
Foligno le 4 janvier 1248 d’une famille aisée, très tôt elle devint orpheline
de père et reçut de sa mère une éducation superficielle qui l’amena à passer sa
jeunesse loin de la foi. Belle, intelligente, passionnelle, elle épousa un
notable de Foligno dont elle eut plusieurs enfants.
La conversion et la peur
de l’enfer
La frivolité et
l’insouciance de la jeunesse disparurent cher elle en peu de temps en
raison d’une série d’événements : le violent tremblement de terre de 1279,
un ouragan impétueux puis la longue guerre contre Pérouse l’amenèrent à
s’interroger sur la précarité de la vie et à ressentir la peur de l’enfer. Naît
en elle le dé sir de s’approcher du sacrement de la
Pénitence, mais, racontent les chroniques, « la honte l’empêcha
de faire une confession complète et pour cela il resta troublée ». En
prière elle obtint de saint François d’Assise l’assurance qu’elle
connaitra bientôt la miséricorde de Dieu.
La rencontre avec l’amour
miséricordieux de Dieu
Angèle retourna donc au
confessionnal et cette fois se réconcilia pleinement avec le Seigneur. A
l’âge de 37 ans, malgré l’hostilité de sa famille, commença sa
conversion sous le signe de la pénitence et du renoncement aux choses,
aux affections et à elle-même. Après la mort rapprochée et prématurée de
sa maman, de son mari et de ses enfants Angèle vendit tous ses
biens et en distribua le fruit aux pauvres , et alla en pèlerinage à
Assise sur les pas du Poverello et en 1291 elle entra dans Tiers-Ordre de
saint François, en se confiant à la direction spirituelle du Frère Arnaud, son
concitoyen et consanguin qui devint par la suite son biographe,
auteur du célèbre « Mémorial ».Dans ce texte , les étapes de la
vocation d’Angèle et ses constantes extases et expériences mystiques, dont le
sommet fut l’extase dans l’âme de la Très Sainte Trinité, sont subdivisées en
trente « Pas » . « J’ai vu une chose pleine, racontait-elle
au confesseur à propos de la vision de Dieu Trine- une majesté immense,
que je ne saurais dire, mais me semblait que c’était tout bien. (…) Après
son départ, je commençai à crier à haute voix (…) Amour non connu
pourquoi me laisses-tu ? ». La crainte juvénile de la
damnation laissa vite la place à la conscience de ne pouvoir se sauver par ses
propres mérites, mais, avec un esprit repenti, seulement, par le moyen de
l’infini amour miséricordieux de Dieu.
Assidue dans la prière et
dans la tendresse envers les derniers
A la constante dimension
priante, exprimée de façon spéciale dans l’adoration eucharistique et
dans la prière Angèle de Foligno adjoignit toujours l’activité caritative
auprès des derniers, en assistant avec tendresse les lépreux et les
malades chez qui elle reconnaissait le Christ Crucifié. Connue déjà
de son vivant comme Maitresse des Théologiens, elle fit la promotion
d’une théologie fondée sur la Parole de Dieu, sur l’obéissance à l’Eglise
et sur l’expérience directe du divin dans ses manifestations les plus intimes.
Féconde dans sa maternité spirituelle
Impliquée avec passion
dans les controverses qui déchiraient l’ordre franciscain, Angèle attira
autour de sa personne un cénacle de fils spirituels qui voyaient en elle une
guide et une vraie maîtresse de foi : c’est pour cela que sa figure
incarne un des modèles du génie féminin dans l’Eglise. Déjà avant la mort, le 4
janvier 1309, il lui fut décerné par le peuple, de manière non
officielle, le titre de sainte. Le 9 octobre 2013 le pape François a
amené à l’achèvement ce que ses prédécesseurs avaient commencé en
canonisant par équipollence Angèle de Foligno.
Sainte Angèle de Foligno
Veuve
(1245-1309)
Sainte Angèle naquit à
Foligno, à trois lieues d'Assise. Mariée fort jeune, elle ne prit point au
sérieux ses devoirs d'épouse et de mère, et elle connut trop, avec les plaisirs
du monde, ses excès et ses désordres. Mais soudain, au milieu du tourbillon qui
l'emportait, Angèle sentit l'aiguillon de la grâce, vit l'inutilité de sa vie
mondaine et dissipée, et comprit les dangers que courait son salut. L'ennemi
des âmes tenta en vain d'entraver sa conversion; une fois sa confession faite,
elle s'élança généreusement dans la voie de la perfection.
Devenue libre par la mort
de son mari, elle entra dans le Tiers-Ordre de Saint-François. Sa vie dès lors
fut remplie de sacrifices et d'austérités. Un jour qu'elle était tentée de
découragement: "Quand il serait vrai, Seigneur, dit-elle, que Vous
m'auriez condamnée à l'enfer que je mérite, je ne cesserais de faire pénitence
et de demeurer, s'il Vous plaît, à Votre service." Une fois, après avoir
lavé les pieds d'un lépreux, elle proposa à sa compagne de boire l'eau qui leur
avait servi. Surmontant toute délicatesse, elle avala toute cette eau fétide:
"Je n'ai jamais, disait-elle, trouvé meilleur goût à aucune liqueur, et
cependant j'avais bien senti dans ma bouche les écailles qui étaient tombées
des mains de ce pauvre."
Sa grande grâce fut
l'amour de Jésus crucifié. La contemplation des souffrances du Sauveur lui
devint si familière, que la vue d'un crucifix provoquait spontanément chez elle
des torrents de larmes: "Quand je méditais sur la Passion, dit-elle, je
souffrais le supplice de la Compassion; j'éprouvais dans les os et les
jointures une douleur épouvantable et une sensation comme si j'avais été
transpercée corps et âme." Cette grande pénitente ne fut pas moins
admirable par ses visions, ses écrits et ses extases que par ses vertus.
Abbé L. Jaud, Vie
des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/sainte_angele_de_foligno.html
Sainte Angèle de Foligno
Biographie
Angèle naquit en 1248,
dans la petite ville de Foligno (Ombrie). Issue d’une famille opulente, elle
mena une vie mondaine jusque vers l’âge de quarante ans. Elle se maria assez
jeune et eut plusieurs enfants. Rentrée en elle-même et favorisée d’une
apparition de saint François d’Assise, elle commença par se mortifier rudement.
« Je commençai à faire de sérieuses considérations sur ma mauvaise conduite, et
Dieu me fit la grâce de me donner une claire connaissance de mes péchés, ce qui
me jeta dans une grande appréhension de la damnation éternelle. »
Sa mère, son mari, ses
enfants étant morts à bref intervalle, elle vendit son château, se dépouilla de
toute sa fortune et vécut en recluse avec une compagne nommée Marie. Guérie
d’une maladie qui la conduisit aux portes de la mort, Angèle se fit agréger au
tiers-ordre de la pénitence et fit profession de la sainte règle (vers 1290).
Bientôt entourée d’un petit groupe de compagnes qui formèrent avec elle une
sorte de communauté, elle vécut à l’ombre du couvent des Frères mineurs, dans
la pratique des plus hautes vertus.
Un pèlerinage à Assise
fut marqué par une invasion violente de Dieu et des faits étranges
(souffrances, cris) qui jetèrent ses compagnons dans la stupeur. Un
franciscain, le Frère Arnaud, du couvent d’Assise, venu à Foligno devint son
confesseur et exigea d’elle, par des instances réitérées le récit des
révélations qui se multipliaient, au milieu d’étranges maladies. Il écrivait
sous sa dictée une sorte de Mémorial reproduisant jusqu’aux mots dont elle
s’était servie ; puis il relisait le chapitre afin que la sainte pût le
corriger. L’ouvrage, achevé en 1297, fut approuvé par le cardinal Jacques
Colonna, ami des spirituels. La caractéristique du récit de sa vie vient de ce
qu’il est comme une autobiographie et donc d’une haute valeur pour l’étude de
la mystique divine, nul mieux que la bienheureuse n’ayant pu exprimer les
merveilles célestes dont elle fut l’objet ou l’instrument. Celui-ci écrivait
sous sa dictée.
Umbertin de Casale la
connut vers 1298. A l’occasion d’un entretien qu’il eut avec elle, il se convertit
à la stricte observance. Il garda de la rencontre un souvenir plein
d’admiration pour celle qui, lui révélant les secrets replis de son âme, y
aviva aussi les flammes de son zèle ; il en consigna plus tard, vers 1305, les
détails au premier prologue de l’Arbor vitæ crucifixæ Jesu, dans un éloge
enthousiaste. Douée du don de pénétration des cœurs, Angèle fortifiait ainsi
dans le droit chemin ceux qui la consultait et servait de guide aux âmes
éprises du noble idéal de la perfection. Elle maintint ses nombreux disciples
dans la ferveur sans les laisser s’égarer aux folies du « Libre Esprit ».
Quelque temps avant le pontificat de saint Célestin V, en 1294, elle subit des
tourments qui durèrent plus de deux ans. Mais les visions et les autres grâces surnaturelles
ne se ralentirent pas jusqu’à sa mort qui arriva le 4 janvier 1309, laissant
une haute réputation de sainteté et de doctrine. Dès sa mort, ses contemporains
l’appellent Bienheureuse. En 1535, elle était l’objet d’un culte officiel à
Foligno depuis longtemps. Rome en 1701 accorda un office propre. Pie X fixa sa
fête au 4 janvier. Son tombeau à l’église Saint-François de Foligno a toujours
été l’objet d’une vénération ardente.
De la doctrine de Sainte
Angèle
La doctrine spirituelle
d’Angèle de Foligno est celle d’une franciscaine stricte et orthodoxe ; sa part
personnelle est l’accent d’amour passionné dont elle l’a marqué. Angèle a été
plongée dès sa conversion, dans le milieu franciscain spirituel. Assise est sa
patrie mystique ; saint François son maître. Mais elle a opté, à l’encontre des
Relâchés, pour la pauvreté et la pénitence rigoureuse des spirituels. Malgré
cela, elle a réagi fortement contre les égarements du Libre Esprit dont elle
stigmatise le dévergondage (les illusions et les dangers de l’amour et de
l’amitié). A ce titre, c’est la dévotion ardente à Jésus crucifié qu’elle
prêcha avant toutes choses (contemplation, imitation) sous l’influence des
écrits de saint Bonaventure, dont elle s’inspire fréquemment. La pénitence, la
fuite du monde et des richesses, la prière sont les conditions d’un amour
sincère. Tardivement une trace dionysienne se retrouve dans sa pensée (Ténêbre
divine, ineffabilité, tout de Dieu). Mais le propre de son œuvre, son
incomparable prix, c’est la passion amoureuse qu’elle exprime en mots
inoubliables (Amour non connu!... Ce n’est pas pour rire que je t’ai aimée). La
véhémence des invasions divines répond à l’héroîsme des poursuites ou plutôt le
prévient. Une rédaction balbutiante ne donne que plus de jaillissement à
l’impétuosité de l’amour. Nul mystique n’a exprimé avec cette force le tragique
de la destinée chrétienne, faite des folies d’un Dieu crucifié. La sagesse de
ses conseils spirituels, nés de l’expérience d’une époque très troublée, assure
son disciple contre toute déviation, mais ses cris d’amour réveilleront les
âmes les plus endormies et toucheront les cœurs même incroyants. Angèle de
Foligno est une cime spirituelle de l’Eglise catholique et du monde.
Derniers enseignements
Mon âme reçut davantage
du Seigneur Dieu quand je pleurai et souffris pour les péchés du prochain avec
tout mon cœur, que quand je pleurai mes péchés. Et, en vérité, il n’est charité
plus grande sur terre que de pleurer les péchés du prochain. Le monde se gausse
de ce que je dis : car cela me semble être contre nature, savoir que l’homme
puisse pleurer et souffrir des péchés du prochain comme des siens, plus que des
siens. Mais la charité qui fait cela n’est pas de ce monde. O mes petits
enfants ! efforcez-vous d’avoir cette charité.
Divers enseignements de
sainte Angèle de Foligno touchant l’oraison
L'oraison est là où est
trouvé Dieu. Et sont trois écoles, savoir, trois parties de l'oraison, hors
desquelles Dieu n’est pas trouvé. Il y a, en effet, oraison corporelle, mentale
et surnaturelle.
Corporelle est celle qui
se fait avec son de paroles et exercice corporel, comme génuflexions. Et
celle-ci, jamais je ne l'abandonne. Pour ce qu'en effet, quelquefois, je
voulais m'exercer en la mentale, et quelquefois j’étais trompée par paresse et
sommeil et perdais mon temps. Aussi je m'exerce en la corporelle. Et cette
corporelle mène à la mentale. Elle doit, en effet, être faite avec attention,
et quand tu dis : « Notre Père », considère ce que dis. Non en courant,
t'efforçant d’achever certain nombre, comme ces petites femmes qui font
certains travaux aux pièces.
Elle est mentale, quand
la méditation de Dieu occupe tellement l’âme qu'elle ne pense à rien d'autre
qu’à Dieu. Et si quelque autre cogitation entre en l'esprit, je ne l'appelle
pas mentale. Et cette oraison coupe la langue, car elle ne peut parler. L’âme,
en effet, est totalement pleine de Dieu, tellement qu'elle ne peut être occupée
à aucune autre chose en pensant ou en parlant, sinon de Dieu et en Dieu. Et de
cette mentale on vient à la surnaturelle.
J’appelle surnaturelle,
celle où l'âme est ravie par cette pitié de Dieu et méditation, tellement
qu'elle est entraînée quasi au delà de sa nature ; et elle comprend de Dieu
plus qu'elle ne voit que par sa nature peut être compris ; et elle connaît
qu’elle ne peut comprendre. Et ce qu’elle comprend, elle ne peut l'expliquer :
car tout ce qu'elle voit et sent est au-dessus de sa nature.
En ces trois écoles donc,
chacun se connaît soi-même et Dieu. Et de ce qu'on connaît on aime. Et plus on
aime, plus on désire avoir ce qu'on aime. Et c'est signe du vrai amour, que
celui qui aime ne transforme pas une part de soi, mais tout soi en l'aimé. Mais
par ce que cette transformation n'est pas continue, et ne dure pas, le désir
prend l’âme de rechercher tous les modes par lesquels elle pourrait être
transformée en la volonté de l'aimé, afin de revenir de nouveau en cette
vision. Et elle cherche ce qu'aima celui qu'elle aime.
Sainte Angèle de Foligno
SOURCE : http://missel.free.fr/Sanctoral/01/04.php
Sainte Angèle de Foligno
(1245-1309)
Mystique catholique
Jusqu'à l'âge de 37 ans,
rien ne laissait supposer qu'Angèle de Foligno, bourgeoise particulièrement
frivole, deviendrait une figure emblématique de la mystique du XIIIème siècle.
Profondément tourmentée
par une vie d'adultère, Angèle se confesse à saint François d'Assise. Mais
l'apparition du saint lui accordant sa miséricorde n'apaise pas pour autant son
âme. Angèle ressent alors le besoin de diriger sa vie sur le chemin de la
purification.
A la fugacité des
plaisirs de ce monde, elle tente douloureusement d'opposer une vie de
continence et de pauvreté. Après la mort soudaine de son mari et de ses fils,
qu'elle avait demandée « selon la volonté de Dieu », sachant au plus profond
d'elle-même que leurs âmes refusaient de la suivre dans sa conversion et préféraient
« partir », elle entre dans le tiers ordre franciscain, accablée par le poids
de la souffrance. Dès lors, secouée par les épreuves-faveurs que Dieu lui
envoie, Angèle ne cessera de communiquer et de communier avec le ciel.
Devenue libre par la mort
de son mari, elle entra dans le Tiers-Ordre de Saint-François. Sa vie dès lors
fut remplie de sacrifices et d'austérités. Un jour qu'elle était tentée de
découragement: "Quand il serait vrai, Seigneur, dit-elle, que Vous
m'auriez condamnée à l'enfer que je mérite, je ne cesserais de faire pénitence
et de demeurer, s'il Vous plaît, à Votre service." Une fois, après avoir
lavé les pieds d'un lépreux, elle proposa à sa compagne de boire l'eau qui leur
avait servi. Surmontant toute délicatesse, elle avala toute cette eau fétide:
"Je n'ai jamais, disait-elle, trouvé meilleur goût à aucune liqueur, et
cependant j'avais bien senti dans ma bouche les écailles qui étaient tombées
des mains de ce pauvre."
Sa grande grâce fut
l'amour de Jésus crucifié. La contemplation des souffrances du Sauveur lui
devint si familière, que la vue d'un crucifix provoquait spontanément chez elle
des torrents de larmes: "Quand je méditais sur la Passion, dit-elle, je
souffrais le supplice de la Compassion; j'éprouvais dans les os et les
jointures une douleur épouvantable et une sensation comme si j'avais été
transpercée corps et âme." Cette grande pénitente ne fut pas moins
admirable par ses visions, ses écrits et ses extases que par ses vertus.
Lorsque le Christ en
croix lui apparaît pour l'inviter à contempler ses plaies, elle en éprouve une
telle souffrance qu'elle demande de partager sa Passion. Saint Jean lui fera
alors éprouver un peu de sa souffrance devant la croix. Elle boira ensuite le
sang du Christ s'écoulant de ses plaies et c'est d'ailleurs dans ce même esprit
de communion qu'elle absorbera la lavure des mains d'un lépreux.
Alors qu'elle se retrouve
dans les bras du Christ dans le saint sépulcre, c'est toute l'humanité
qu'Angèle semble incarner et que le Seigneur étreint de son Amour : « j'ai
voulu naître pour toi, pour toi, m'abaisser à un tel degré d'indignité et
d'abjection qu'en retour, tu dois naître à Dieu et mourir à tes vices». « Je
veux que tu sois utile à tous les hommes » continue le Christ l'exhortant à répandre
l'Amour qu'elle porte en elle.
C'est à présent l'Esprit
Saint qui vient la visiter sous l'apparence d'une « forme pleine », source
d'une indicible suavité. Mais voulant s'assurer de la véracité de ses visions,
elle demande un signe à l'Esprit qui lui dit : « Tu auras l'expérience de Dieu
et tu seras toujours brûlante d'Amour pour lui, tu connaîtras dans ton
intériorité que nul ne peut opérer cela sinon moi ».
Au sommet de son
ascension, Angèle connaît alors la « certitude de Dieu ». « Mon âme ne voit
rien, et elle voit absolument tout » dit-elle, nous faisant ainsi goûter à
l'expérience parfaite de Dieu dans les suprêmes ténèbres. « Trouves-tu en moi
autre chose que de l'Amour ? » lui dit le Seigneur... « Pleine de la jouissance
de Dieu », Angèle connaît enfin l'oraison suprême où le Je et le Tu se
confondent dans la délectation de l'Amour. « Tu es moi, je suis toi » lui dit
le Christ. « Je suis devenue Dieu » s'écrie Angèle démontrant que « la vertu de
l'Amour transforme l'Amant en l'Aimé et l'Aimé en l'Amant ».
« O mon épouse, ô toi que
j'ai aimée d'Amour… je viendrai à toi en personne » lui dit le Christ.
SOURCE : http://jesusmarie.free.fr/angele_de_foligno.html
Efrem
Maria z Kcyni (Stanisław Klawitter), Obraz olejny: Najświętsze Serce Jezusa,
św. Bonawentura z Bagnoregio i św. Aniela z Foligno (Asyż 1935), Muzeum
Franciszkańskie w Rzymie
Efrem
Maria da Kcynia (Stanisław Klawitter), Sacro Cuore di Gesù con s. Bonaventura
da bagnoregio e santa Angela da Foligno (Assisi 1935, olio su tela), Museo
Francescano di Roma
SAINTE ANGÈLE DE FOLIGNO (+
1309)
Née à Foligno en Ombrie,
dans une famille riche, elle est mariée toute jeune par ses parents et elle
connaît alors une vie mondaine et frivole qui lui fait abandonner la pratique
des sacrements. Subitement convertie, elle voudrait bien se confesser, mais
elle n’ose avouer toutes ses fautes au confesseur. Elle s’en va communier et
reste tourmentée par cette communion sacrilège. C’est à ce moment-là qu’elle
reçoit la vision de saint François d’Assise, mort vingt ans avant sa propre
naissance. Elle multiplie alors les austérités, médite de longues heures,
distribue aux pauvres ce qu’elle possède et passe pour folle aux yeux des
siens. Et puis, elle perd coup sur coup, sa mère, son époux, ses fils. Elle se
livre alors à la pauvreté absolue. Des visions du Christ crucifié lui font
atteindre les sommets de la mystique dans des crises violentes qui effraient
ses amis. Les Frères Mineurs, disciples de saint François, se méfient d’elle
d’autant qu’elle prend part aux controverses qui opposent dans l’Ordre, les
partisans d’une pauvreté mitigée et ceux d’une application stricte de l’idéal
franciscain primitif. Les dernières années de sa vie seront plus paisibles,
favorisées de grâces extraordinaires. "Elle semblait jouir du bonheur
céleste." On la fête le 04 janvier.
Sainte Angèle de Foligno,
femme des grandes passions
Angèle est de ces femmes
généreuses qui vivent tout dans les grandes largeurs ! Des fastes de sa vie
mondaine aux plaisirs charnels, jusqu'à sa conversion radicale émaillée
d'expériences mystiques ... chez elle, tout est excessif. Elle naît à Foligno,
près d'Assise, vers le milieu du XIIIe siècle, dans une riche famille. Frivole,
elle évolue avec aisance dans l'opulente société de cette petite ville
d'Ombrie. Elle se marie et a plusieurs enfants.
Comment sa conversion
s'opère-t-elle ? Nous ne le savons pas. Mais dès lors, Angèle s'engage dans les
voies de la prière et de la pénitence :
« Je prononçais tous les
mots du Pater avec tant de contrition et de recueillement, que, quoique je
fusse plongée dans une grande douleur par le souvenir de mes péchés, je
ressentais néanmoins d'ailleurs une grande consolation, et je savourais quelque
chose de ces douceurs célestes ...»
« Je n'ai jamais trouvé
de meilleur moyen pour bien connaître les miséricordes et les bontés de Dieu
sur les hommes que de réciter cette prière, dont Jésus est l'auteur.» Elle
expérimente la miséricorde du Père et pleure ses péchés. Son époux et ses
enfants meurent : elle vend alors ses biens et quitte le monde, pauvre et
mendiante, pour vivre recluse en compagnie d'une dénommée Marie, âme très
simple.
Vers 1290, la pénitente
est reçue dans le tiers ordre franciscain, de mouvance plutôt rigoriste. Un
document du XIVe siècle la présente comme suscitée par Dieu pour confondre en
lâcheté ceux qui jugent impraticable la règle de saint François. Angèle éprouve
un amour tout particulier pour Jésus crucifié. A partir de ses grâces
mystiques, son confesseur rédige le Mémorial, achevé en 1297. Ces écrits,
auxquels se sont référés François de Sales, Alphonse de Liguori, Fénelon et
Bossuet, inaugurent un nouveau genre littéraire ascétique et mystique.
Dès sa mort en 1309, les
fidèles la vénèrent, si bien que Benoît XIV la « range parmi ces bienheureux
qui se trouvent en possession de culte, bien qu'ils n'aient pas été l'objet
d'un procès canonique ».
Par Marie-Christine
LAFON, dans Famille chrétienne N°1250 du 29 décembre 2001 au 04
janvier 2002
SOURCE : http://ansart.pagesperso-orange.fr/Sanctoral/Prenoms/ABC/Angele-Foligno-0104.htm
Sainte Angèle
(Angela) de Foligno
Grande Mystique
médiévale
(v. 1248-1309)
Angèle (Angela) naquit à
Foligno, à trois lieues d'Assise, aux alentours de 1248. Mariée fort jeune,
elle ne prit point au sérieux ses devoirs d'épouse et de mère, et elle connut
trop, avec les plaisirs du monde, ses excès et ses désordres.
Plusieurs événements, comme le violent tremblement de terre de 1279, un
ouragan, l’antique guerre contre Pérouse et ses dures conséquences, ont une
influence sur la vie d’Angèle, qui prend progressivement conscience de ses
péchés, jusqu’à accomplir un pas décisif : elle invoque Saint François,
qui lui apparaît en vision, pour lui demander conseil en vue d’une bonne
Confession générale à accomplir : nous sommes en 1285, Angèle se confesse
à un Frère à San Feliciano.
Trois ans plus tard, la voie de la conversion prend un nouveau tournant :
la dissolution des liens affectifs, étant donné qu’en quelques mois, à la mort
de sa mère suit celle de son mari et de tous ses enfants. Elle vend alors ses
biens et, en 1291, rejoint le Tiers-Ordre de Saint François.
En 1291, elle fut admise dans le Tiers-Ordre de Saint François. Elle se plongea
alors encore plus profondément dans la prière, vit à plusieurs reprises Le
Christ lui apparaître, dans des manifestations de Mysticisme qui effrayaient
son entourage.
Elle bénéficia de
nombreuses visions de la Passion du Christ, qui devinrent de plus en plus
réalistes.
En particulier, un Jeudi Saint, Angèle de Foligno rapporte qu'après un silence
de plusieurs jours durant la Semaine Sainte, elle entendit Le Christ prononcer
cette phrase qui la bouleversa :
Ce n'est pas pour rire
que je t'ai aimée.
Sa vie dès lors fut remplie de sacrifices et d'austérités. Un jour qu'elle
était tentée de découragement :
« Quand il serait
vrai, Seigneur, dit-elle, que vous m'auriez condamnée à l'enfer que je
mérite, je ne cesserais de faire pénitence et de demeurer, s'il vous plaît, à
votre service. »
Sa grande grâce fut
l'Amour de Jésus crucifié. La Contemplation des souffrances du Sauveur lui
devint si familière, que la vue d'un crucifix provoquait spontanément chez elle
des torrents de larmes :
« Quand je méditais
sur la Passion, dit-elle, je souffrais le supplice de la Compassion ;
j'éprouvais dans les os et les jointures une douleur épouvantable et une
sensation comme si j'avais été transpercée corps et âme. »
Cette grande Mystique ne fut pas moins admirable par ses visions, ses écrits et
ses extases que par ses vertus. Elle meurt à Foligno le 4 janvier 1309.
Un texte inspiré — écrit en latin — vibrant d'Amour, à la fois humble et
impétueux dans l'expression des grandes visions qui le traversent, nous a
transmis l'enseignement de la Religieuse italienne.
Connu sous le titre Le
Livre d'Angèle de Foligno, il est considéré comme l'un des purs chefs-d'œuvre
de l'écriture Mystique.
Ce n'est pas un ouvrage
spéculatif mais le témoignage d'une expérience vécue : celle de
l'irruption du Dieu sensible au cœur, dans l'existence d'une femme qui, ayant
tout perdu, se laissa perdre elle-même dans l'Amour du Christ.
Elle est Béatifiée le 11 Juillet 1701 par le Pape Clément IX et Canonisée par
le Pape François le 9 Octobre 2013 (Canonisation équipollente).
La Canonisation
équipollente signifie que le Pape étend d’autorité à toute l’Église le culte, à
travers l’inscription de sa Fête, avec Messe et office, dans le Calendrier de
l’Église universelle).
Also
known as
Mistress of Theologians
31
January (Apparition of Our Lady to Saint Angela)
Profile
Born to a wealthy non-Christian family.
She married young,
and was the mother of
several children.
Angela lived a wild, adulterous, and sacrilegious life for a while, but
following a vision received
in 1285,
she had a conversion.
After the death of
her mother,
husband, and children,
she turned to God and
penance. Franciscan tertiary,
and led a group of other tertiaries.
Noted for her charity,
patience and humility. Visionary, mystic,
and mystical writer.
Born
1248 at Foligno, Umbria, Italy
4 January 1309 at Foligno, Italy of
natural causes
buried in
the Church of Saint Francis in Foligno, Italy
4
February 1693 by Pope Innocent
XII (cult
confirmed)
3 April 1701 by Pope Clement
XI (concession of indult for Mass and Office)
9 October 2013 by Pope Francis (equipollent canonization)
people
ridiculed for their piety
being invited by Our Lord
to receive Holy Communion
chaining the devil
Additional
Information
Among
the Franciscan Tertiaries, by Nesta De Robeck
Lives
of the Saints, by Sabine Baring-Gould
Pope
Benedict XVI, General Audience, 13
October 2010
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
Studies
in the Lives of the Saints, by Edward Hutton
The Book of Divine
Consolation of the Blessed Angela of Foligno
books
Lives of the Saints II, by Father Thomas
J Donaghy
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
images
video
audio
The Book of Divine Consolation, by Blessed Angela
of Foligno (Librivox audiobook)
webseiten
auf deutsch
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
sites
en français
fonti
in italiano
Dicastero delle Cause dei Santi
websites
in nederlandse
nettsteder
i norsk
spletne
strani v slovenšcini
Readings
God presents himself in
the inmost depths of my soul. I understand not only that he is present, but
also how he is present in every creature and in everything that has being, in a
devil and a good angel, in heaven and hell, in good deeds and in adultery or
homicide, in all things, finally, which exist or have some degree of being,
whether beautiful or ugly. I also understand that he is no less present in a
devil than a good angel. Therefore, while I am in this truth, I take no less
delight in seeing or understanding his presence in a devil or in an act of
adultery than I do in a good angel or
in a good deed. This mode of divine presence in my soul has become almost
habitual. Moreover, this mode of God’s presence illuminates my soul with such
great truth and bestows on it such divine graces that when my soul is in this
mode it cannot commit any offense, and it receives an abundance of divine
gifts. Because of this understanding of God’s presence my soul is greatly
humiliated and ashamed of its sins. It is also granted deep wisdom, great
divine consolation, and joy. – Blessed Angela
MLA
Citation
“Saint Angela of
Foligno“. CatholicSaints.Info. 30 June 2023. Web. 4 January 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-angela-of-foligno/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-angela-of-foligno/
Selige
Angela von Foligno, 1890
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Saint Peter's Square
Wednesday, 13 October
2010
Blessed Angela of Foligno
Dear Brothers and
Sisters,
Today I would like to
speak to you about Blessed Angela of Foligno, a great medieval mystic who lived
in the 13th century. People are usually fascinated by the consummate experience
of union with God that she reached, but perhaps they give too little consideration
to her first steps, her conversion and the long journey that led from her
starting point, the "great fear of hell", to her goal, total union
with the Trinity. The first part of Angela's life was certainly not that of a
fervent disciple of the Lord. She was born into a well-off family in about
1248. Her father died and she was brought up in a somewhat superficial manner
by her mother. She was introduced at a rather young age into the worldly
circles of the town of Foligno, where she met a man whom she married at the age
of 20 and to whom she bore children. Her life was so carefree that she was even
contemptuous of the so-called "penitents", who abounded in that
period; they were people who, in order to follow Christ, sold their possessions
and lived in prayer, fasting, in service to the Church and in charity.
Certain events, such as
the violent earthquake in 1279, a hurricane, the endless war against Perugia
and its harsh consequences, affected the life of Angela who little by little
became aware of her sins, until she took a decisive step. In 1285 she called
upon St Francis, who appeared to her in a vision and asked his advice on making
a good general Confession. She then went to Confession with a Friar in San
Feliciano. Three years later, on her path of conversion she reached another
turning point: she was released from any emotional ties. In the space of a few
months, her mother's death was followed by the death of her husband and those
of all her children. She therefore sold her possessions and in 1291 enrolled in
the Third Order of St Francis. She died in Foligno on 4 January 1309.
The Book of Visions and
Instructions of Blessed Angela of Foligno, in which is gathered the
documentation on our Blessed, tells the story of this conversion and points out
the necessary means: penance, humility and tribulation; and it recounts the
steps, Angela's successive experiences which began in 1285. Remembering them
after she had experienced them, Angela then endeavoured to recount them through
her Friar confessor, who faithfully transcribed them, seeking later to sort
them into stages which he called "steps or mutations" but without
managing to put them entirely in order (cf. Il Libro della beata Angela da
Foligno, Cinisello Balsamo 1990, p. 51). This was because for Blessed
Angela the experience of union meant the total involvement of both the
spiritual and physical senses and she was left with only a "shadow"
in her mind, as it were, of what she had "understood" during her
ecstasies. "I truly heard these words", she confessed after a
mystical ecstasy, but it is in no way possible for me to know or tell of what I
saw and understood, or of what he [God] showed me, although I would willingly
reveal what I understood with the words that I heard, but it was an absolutely
ineffable abyss". Angela of Foligno presented her mystical
"life", without elaborating on it herself because these were divine
illuminations that were communicated suddenly and unexpectedly to her soul. Her
Friar confessor too had difficulty in reporting these events, "partly
because of her great and wonderful reserve concerning the divine gifts"
(ibid., p. 194). In addition to Angela's difficulty in expressing her
mystical experience was the difficulty her listeners found in understanding
her. It was a situation which showed clearly that the one true Teacher, Jesus,
dwells in the heart of every believer and wants to take total possession of it.
So it was with Angela, who wrote to a spiritual son: "My son, if you were
to see my heart you would be absolutely obliged to do everything God wants,
because my heart is God's heart and God's heart is mine". Here St Paul's
words ring out: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in
me" (Gal 2: 20).
Let us then consider only
a few "steps" of our Blessed's rich spiritual journey. The first, in
fact, is an introduction: "It was the knowledge of sin", as she
explained, "after which my soul was deeply afraid of damnation; in this
stage I shed bitter tears" (Il Libro della beata Angela da Foligno, p.
39). This "dread" of hell corresponds to the type of faith that
Angela had at the time of her "conversion"; it was a faith still poor
in charity, that is, in love of God. Repentance, the fear of hell and penance
unfolded to Angela the prospect of the sorrowful "Way of the Cross",
which from the eighth to the 15th stages was to lead her to the "way of
love". Her Friar confessor recounted: "The faithful woman then told
me: I have had this divine revelation: "after the things you have written,
write that anyone who wishes to preserve grace must not lift the eyes of his
soul from the Cross, either in the joy or in the sadness that I grant or permit
him'" (ibid., p. 143). However, in this phase Angela "did not
yet feel love". She said: "The soul feels shame and bitterness and does
not yet feel love but suffering" (ibid., p. 39), and is unrequited.
Angela felt she should
give something to God in reparation for her sins, but slowly came to realize
that she had nothing to give him, indeed, that she "was nothing"
before him. She understood that it would not be her will to give her God's
love, for her will could give only her own "nothingness", her
"non-love". As she was to say: only "true and pure love, that
comes from God, is in the soul and ensures that one recognizes one's own shortcomings
and the divine goodness.... Such love brings the soul to Christ and it
understands with certainty that in him no deception can be found or can exist.
No particle of worldly love can be mingled with this love" (ibid., p.
124-125). This meant opening herself solely and totally to God's love whose
greatest expression is in Christ: "O my God" she prayed, "make
me worthy of knowing the loftiest mystery that your most ardent and ineffable
love brought about for our sake, together with the love of the Trinity, in
other words the loftiest mystery of your most holy Incarnation.... O
incomprehensible love! There is no greater love than this love that brought my
God to become man in order to make me God" (ibid., p. 295). However,
Angela's heart always bore the wounds of sin; even after a good Confession she
would find herself forgiven and yet still stricken by sin, free and yet
conditioned by the past, absolved but in need of penance. And the thought of
hell accompanied her too, for the greater the progress the soul made on the way
of Christian perfection, the more convinced it is not only of being
"unworthy" but also deserving of hell.
And so it was that on
this mystical journey Angela understood the central reality in a profound way:
what would save her from her "unworthiness" and from "deserving
hell" would not be her "union with God" or her possession of the
"truth" but Jesus Crucified, "his crucifixion for me", his
love.
In the eighth step, she
said, "However, I did not yet understand whether my liberation from sins
and from hell and conversion to penance was far greater, or his crucifixion for
me" (ibid., n. 41). This was the precarious balance between love and
suffering, that she felt throughout her arduous journey towards perfection. For
this very reason she preferred to contemplate Christ Crucified, because in this
vision she saw the perfect balance brought about. On the Cross was the man-God,
in a supreme act of suffering which was a supreme act of love. In the
third Instruction the Blessed insisted on this contemplation and
declared: "The more perfectly and purely we see, the more perfectly and
purely we love.... Therefore the more we see the God and man, Jesus Christ, the
more we are transformed in him through love.... What I said of love... I also
say of suffering: the more the soul contemplates the ineffable suffering of the
God and man Jesus Christ the more sorrowful it becomes and is transformed
through suffering" (ibid., p. 190-191). Thus, unifying herself with
and transforming herself into the love and suffering of Christ Crucified, she
was identifying herself with him. Angela's conversion, which began from that
Confession in 1285, was to reach maturity only when God's forgiveness appeared
to her soul as the freely given gift of the love of the Father, the source of
love: "No one can make excuses", she said, "because anyone can
love God and he does not ask the soul for more than to love him, because he
loves the soul and it is his love" (ibid., p. 76).
On Angela's spiritual
journey the transition from conversion to mystical experience, from what can be
expressed to the inexpressible, took place through the Crucified One. He is the
"God-man of the Passion", who became her "teacher of
perfection". The whole of her mystical experience, therefore, consisted in
striving for a perfect "likeness" with him, through ever deeper and
ever more radical purifications and transformations. Angela threw her whole
self, body and soul, into this stupendous undertaking, never sparing herself of
penance and suffering, from beginning to end, desiring to die with all the
sorrows suffered by the God-man crucified in order to be totally transformed in
him. "O children of God", she recommended, "transform yourselves
totally in the man-God who so loved you that he chose to die for you a most
ignominious and all together unutterably painful death, and in the most painful
and bitterest way. And this was solely for love of you, O man!" (ibid., p.
247). This identification also meant experiencing what Jesus himself experienced:
poverty, contempt and sorrow, because, as she declared, "through temporal
poverty the soul will find eternal riches; through contempt and shame it will
obtain supreme honour and very great glory; through a little penance, made with
pain and sorrow, it will possess with infinite sweetness and consolation the
Supreme Good, Eternal God" (ibid., p. 293).
From conversion to mystic
union with Christ Crucified, to the inexpressible. A very lofty journey, whose
secret is constant prayer. "The more you pray", she said, "the
more illumined you will be and the more profoundly and intensely you will see
the supreme Good, the supremely good Being; the more profoundly and intensely
you see him, the more you will love him; the more you love him the more he will
delight you; and the more he delights you, the better you will understand him
and you will become capable of understanding him. You will then reach the
fullness of light, for you will understand that you cannot understand"
(ibid., p. 184).
Dear brothers and
sisters, Blessed Angela's life began with a worldly existence, rather remote
from God. Yet her meeting with the figure of St Francis and, finally, her
meeting with Christ Crucified reawakened her soul to the presence of God, for
the reason that with God alone life becomes true life, because, in sorrow for
sin, it becomes love and joy. And this is how Blessed Angela speaks to us.
Today we all risk living as though God did not exist; he seems so distant from
daily life. However, God has thousands of ways of his own for each one, to make
himself present in the soul, to show that he exists and knows and loves me. And
Blessed Angela wishes to make us attentive to these signs with which the Lord
touches our soul, attentive to God's presence, so as to learn the way with God and
towards God, in communion with Christ Crucified. Let us pray the Lord that he
make us attentive to the signs of his presence and that he teach us truly to
live. Thank you.
To special groups
Dear Brothers and
Sisters,
I am pleased to welcome
the delegates of the International Association of Financial Executives
Institutes. I also extend greetings to all the English-speaking pilgrims and
visitors, especially those from England, Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, Norway,
South Africa, Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and the United
States. May God bless you all!
I now address
the young people, the sick and the newlyweds. My
thoughts turn to Our Lady of Fatima, whose last Apparition we are commemorating
on this very day. I entrust you, dear young people, to the heavenly
Mother of God so that you may respond generously to the Lord's call. May Mary
be for you, dear sick people, a comfort in your suffering; and may she
accompany you, dear newlyweds, in your family journey that is just
beginning.
© Copyright 2010 -
Libreria Editrice Vaticana
SOURCE : https://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20101013.html
St. Angela of Foligno,
Franciscan
“My place is in the
world.” This conviction accompanied Angela da Foligno throughout her life: from
the years of her youth, characterized by worldliness and an apparent
indifference to God, to those of her spiritual maturity, which followed, in
which she realized that she was called to better things: to serve and imitate
the Lord, to live a life of holiness in the concreteness of the everyday. Born
in Foligno on January 4, 1248 to a well-to-do family, she soon lost her father,
and received little supervision from her mother. Thus, did she spend youth far
from faith.
Beautiful, intelligent,
passionate, she married a notable local man, by whom she had several children.
Conversion and the fear
of hell
The frivolity and
light-heartedness of her youth were upset by a series of events in quick
succession: the violent earthquake of 1279, an impetuous hurricane and then the
long war against Perugia led her to question the precariousness of life and to
feel the fear of hell. The desire to approach the Sacrament of Penance was born
in her. Nevertheless, the chronicles narrate, “shame prevented her from making
a complete confession and for this she remained in torment.” In prayer she
obtained from St. Francis of Assisi the reassurance that she would soon know
God's mercy.
The encounter with the
merciful love of God
Angela then returned to
the confessional and this time she was fully reconciled with the Lord. At the
age of 37, despite the hostility of her family, conversion began in the sign of
penance and renunciation of things, affections, and herself. After the
premature death of her mother, husband and children in close succession, the
woman sold all her goods, distributing the proceeds to the poor. She went on a
pilgrimage to Assisi in the footsteps of the Poor One, and in 1291 entered the
Third Order of St. Francis, relying for spiritual direction on the friar
Arnaldo, a fellow citizen and blood relation,, who later became her biographer,
author of the famous Memorial. In this text, the stages of Angela's
vocation and her constant ecstasies and mystical experiences, culminating in
the dwelling in the soul of the Holy Trinity, are divided into thirty “steps”
or stages. “I saw something full,” she told her confessor, regarding the vision
of the Triune God, “an immense majesty, which I can not say, but it seemed to
me that it was all good. (...) After his departure, I began to scream aloud
(...) Oh, unknown Love, why do you leave me?” The youthful fear of
damnation soon gave way to the awareness of not being able to save oneself by
one’s own merits, but, with a repentant heart, only through the infinite
merciful love of God.
Assiduous in prayer and
tenderness towards the least
In addition to constant
prayer, especially expressed in Eucharistic adoration, Angela of Foligno always
conducted charitable activity, assisting lepers and all the sick with a
tenderness in which they saw Christ Crucified. Known already in life as Magistra
Theologorum, she promoted a theology based on the Word of God, on obedience to
the Church and on the direct experience of the Divine in its most intimate
manifestations.
Fruitful in her spiritual
motherhood
Passionately involved in
the controversies that tore the Franciscan order, Angela drew around her person
a cenacle of spiritual children, who saw in her a guide and a true teacher of
faith: for this reason her figure embodies one of the models of the feminine
genius in the Church. Even before her death, which occurred on January 4, 1309,
the title of saint was attributed by the people, unofficially. On 9 October
2013, Pope Francis completed what had already been started by his predecessors
by canonizing Angela da Foligno, using the process of “equipollent”
canonization.
SOURCE : https://www.vaticannews.va/en/saints/01/04/st--angela-of-foligno--franciscan.html
St. Angela of Foligno
Feastday: January 4
Patron: of those afflicted by sexual temptation, widows
Birth: 1248
Death: January 3, 1309
Beatified: July 11, 1701, Saint Peter's Basilica, Papal States by Pope Clement XI
Canonized: October 9, 2013, Apostolic Palace, Vatican City by Pope Francis
Franciscan tertiary and
mystic. Born in Foligno, Italy, in 1248, Angela married and had several
children. Wealthy, she took part in the social events of the city until 1285,
when she had a vision. Following that mystical experience, Angela became a
member of the Franciscan Third Order. When her husband died, she gave away her
possessions and started a community of tertiaries devoted
to the care of the needy. Her visions, which were recorded by her confessor,
demonstrated a mature mystical union with Christ and the gift of
revelation. She is sometimes called "the Mistress of Theologians."
Her tomb is
in the church of St. Francis in Foligno. Many miracles have been recorded
there.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=505
Vatican cardinal explains
why Pope Francis canonized St. Angela of Foligno
January 07, 2014
In an interview published
in L’Osservatore Romano, the prefect of the Congregation for the
Causes of Saints discussed why Pope Francis canonized St. Angela of Foligno
(1248-1309) in October. St. Angela, a member of the Third Order of St. Francis,
was beatified in 1701.
Pope Francis declared her
a saint by “equivalent canonization.” In equivalent canonization – a procedure
described by Pope Benedict XIV in the eighteenth century – the Pope waives the
usual judicial process and declares that a blessed’s liturgical cult is
extended to the universal Church. Pope Benedict canonized St. Hildegard of
Bingen (1098-1179) by equivalent canonization in 2012, and Pope Francis also
canonized St. Peter Faber by equivalent canonization in December.
“Equivalent canonization,
though not frequent, is not rare in the Church,” Cardinal Angelo Amato had said
in a December interview. “The best known are Gregory VII, Gertrude of Helfta,
Peter Damian, Cyril and Methodius, John Damascene, the Venerable Bede, Albert
the Great, Thomas More, John of Avila.”
In a new interview,
Cardinal Angelo Amato said that St. Francis de Sales, St. Alphonsus Maria de’
Liguori, Pope Benedict XIV, Bishop Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet all held St. Angela
of Foligno in high esteem. In the 1940s, various French bishops petitioned for her
canonization.
In 1983, Cardinal Amato
continued, Blessed John Paul II used her writings as meditations during the Via
Crucis in the Colosseum on Good Friday, and in 1993, he called her “teacher of
theologians” during a homily. Later that day, as he prayed before her relics,
he continued to praise her – prompting a petition for her canonization from her
religious community.
In 2010, Pope Benedict
devoted a general audience to Blessed Angela of Foligno, renewing interest in
her. During the audience, he referred to her as a saint – a reference that is
clearer in the original Italian (“la vita di santa Angela”) than in the
official English translation (“Blessed Angela’s life”).
Following Pope Benedict’s
equivalent canonization of St. Hildegard in May 2012, the superiors of five
Franciscan communities petitioned him to canonized St. Angela. In December
2012, Pope Benedict authorized the preparation of the necessary documentation.
For all current
news, visit our News home
page.
Further information:
Non
ti ho amata per scherzo (L’Osservatore Romano)
Pope
Benedict XVI: General audience on St. Angela of Foligno
Cardinal
explains Pope Francis’s ‘equivalent canonization’ of St. Peter Faber (CWN,
12/24)
Pope
declares new saint, advances several causes (CWN, 10/11)
SOURCE : https://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=20123
Blessed Angela of Foligno
Umbrian penitent
and mystical writer.
She was born at Foligno in
Umbria, in 1248, of a rich family;
died 4 January, 1309. Married at an early age, she loved the
world and its pleasures and, worse still, forgetful of her dignity and duties as
wife and mother, fell into sin and
led a disorderly life. But God,
having in His mercy inspiredher with a deep sorrow for her sins,
led her little by little to the height of perfection and to the
understanding of the deepest mysteries. Angela has herself
recorded the history of her conversion in
her admirable "Book ofVisions and Instructions", which contains
seventy chapters, and which was written from Angela's dictation
by herFranciscan confessor,
Father Arnold of Foligno.
Some time after her conversion Angela had
placed herself under the direction of Father Arnold and taken
the habit of the Third
Order of St. Francis. In the course of time the
fame of her sanctity gathered
around her a number of Tertiaries, men and women,
who strove under her direction to advance in holiness.
Later she established at Foligno a
community of sisters, who to the Rule of theThird
Order added the three vows of religion,
without, however, binding themselves to enclosure, so that they
might devote their time to works
of charity. Angela at last passed away, surrounded by
her spiritual children. Her remains repose in the church of
St. Francis at Foligno.
Numerous miracles were
worked at her tomb,
andInnocent
XII approved the immemorial veneration paid to her.
Her feast is
kept in the Order on the 30th of March. Bl. Angela's high
authority as a spiritual teacher may be gathered from the fact
that Bollandus, among other testimonials, quotes Maximilian Sandaeus, of
the Society
of Jesus, who calls her the "Mistress of Theologians", whose
whole doctrine has
been drawn out of the Book of Life, Jesus
Christ, Our Lord.
Sources
The life of Blessed
Angela has been written by Mariano of Florence and Marx of Lisbon in their
chronicles; also by Jacobill, Vite de' Santi e Beati dell' Umbria, and
Wadding, Annales Minorum. These writers have principally derived their
information from her Book of Visions and Instructions. The editio princeps
of this book, known as the Theology of the Cross (Paris, 1598)
remains the chief source for her life and teaching. B. Angelæ de Fulgineo Visionum
et Instructionum Liber (reprinted Cologne, 1601) was reedited by Bollandus, Acta
Sanctorum, I, Jan., 186-234; by Lammertz with German tr. (Cologne, 1851); and
Faloci Pulignani (Foligno, 1899); the English translation by Cruikshank (Derby,
1872) has been lately re-issued (New York, 1903). See also Lives of the
Saints and Blessed of the Three Orders of St. Francis (Taunton, 1887), I,
536-554.
Robinson, Paschal. "Bl.
Angela of Foligno." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New
York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 4 Jan. 2016 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01482a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by the
Cloistered Dominican Nuns of the Monastery of the Infant Jesus, Lufkin,
Texas. Dedicated to an increase in vocations to the religious life.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2021 by Kevin
Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01482a.htm
Blessed Angela of
Foligno, OSF (AC)
Born in Foligno (near Assisi), Italy, c. 1260-70; died January 4, 1309; cultus
confirmed in 1693.
Blessed Angela was
self-indulgent early in life, living a worldly life of riches. She was quite
young when she married, and when she was widowed about 1290. Around that time
she experienced a conversion and joined the Third Order of Saint Francis. Once
her husband and all her children had died, she gave herself up completely to
God. Consistent with a life dedicated to penance, she donated all her
possessions to the poor and lived only on charity.
Angela is remembered as a
mystic, a form of spirituality that gained prominence in the Western Church
around the mid-11th century. Mysticism is an attempt to reach a knowledge of
and union with God directly and experientially. The mystic renounces his senses
and the images they offer of God, called the via negativa, in order to allow
God to replace them.
Mysticism is
characterized by an abnormal psychic state which may culminate in ecstasy. Such
states are sanctified when the individual is perfectly united with God and the
whole personality is fully free; otherwise, it may simply be a sign of
psychosis. True mystical experience leads the individual to an ever more
passionate love of God. As a rule, mystics exhibit extraordinary
self-knowledge.
At the request of her
confessor, Friar Arnold, Angela dictated to him an account of her visions and
ecstasies in which she reveals herself as one of the greatest mystics.
Authentic transcriptions of the visions and messages of Blessed Angela are now
housed in Assisi, Subiaco, and Rome. These originals are much more vivid than
the logical arrangements made from them in the 15th century and reproduced by
the Bollandists. They make it possible to sense the overwhelming religious
ecstasy of Blessed Angela.
In them it is especially
the Passion that we relive with her: a vision of absolute torture in which even
the words of Christ seem to be heard:
"Then, as He was
showing me all that He had endured for me, He said to me: 'What can you do
which suffices you?' . . . He showed me His torn beard, His eyebrows and His
head; He enumerated the entire list of His sufferings of the scourging . . .
and He said: 'I suffered all that for you . . .' and He said: 'What can you do
for me which suffices you?' And then I wept and moaned so ardently that the
tears burnt my flesh. Then I had to pour cold water on myself to cool off (1)."
". . . When I had
arisen for the prayer, Christ appeared to me on the Cross . . . And He called
me and told me to put my mouth on the wound on His side. And it seemed to me
that I saw and drank His blood flowing from His side . . . and He purified me.
And then I experienced a great joy, although contemplating the Passion I felt
very sorrowful. And I prayed to God to have me, as He Himself had done, shed
all my blood (2)."
"And He began by
saying to me: 'My daughter, sweet to me, my daughter, my delight, my temple, my
daughter, love me, for you are greatly loved by me, more than you love me.'
(3)."
"And I swooned and
lost the use of my speech. And it seemed to me that my soul entered into the
side of Christ; and it was not sadness, but a kind of indescribable joy
(4)."
"On Thursday of Holy
Week I went to meditate upon the incarnate Son of God . . . and a divine voice
spoke to my soul, saying: 'I did not love you as a joke.' These words caused me
mortal pain for immediately the eyes of my soul were opened and I saw all that
He suffered in life and death . . . and that it was not as a joke but because
of perfect and tender love that He loved me. And I say that it was just the
opposite with me; for I only loved Him as a joke and not really. And it caused me
mortal pain and such unbearable suffering that I thought I would die.
"And after He had
said: 'I did not love you as a joke' . . . He said: 'I did not serve you by
pretending. . . .' My soul then exclaimed: 'Oh master, what you say is not in
your heart fills mine completely. For I never wished to approach You in truth
so as to feel the pains you bore for me. And I served You only through
simulation and falsehood.' . . . And on seeing just the opposite in me such
pain and suffering filled my heart that I thought I would die; and I felt as if
the sides of my chest were being disjoined and that my heart would burst . . .
And He continued, saying: 'I am closer and more intimate with your soul than
your soul is with itself!' And this increases my suffering."
This is just a small
sampling of Blessed Angela's writing about her mystical experiences.
The collection of the
Rotuli is enriched by a large number of letters or notes that Angela wrote to
her disciples and in which she develops her spiritual doctrine. Through poverty
and detachment, she lead them to the contemplation of the Passion. In the midst
of the doctrines of the so-called Spirituals, among whom she lived, Angela
defended orthodoxy. She and her group trace out a road on which all the ardor
of human love as well as contemplation aspire to be united to divine wisdom.
She died surrounded by many of these male and female disciples whom she loved
as children. Considered by her contemporaries as a saint, Angela became the
subject of a faithful cultus immediately after her death--a cultus that has
been approved by the Church (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Harrison, Martindale).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0104.shtml
Baring-Gould’s
Lives of the Saints – Blessed Angela of Foligni
Article
(a.d. 1309)
[Blessed Angela was
beatified by Pope Innocent XII in 1693. Her life and revelations were written
by her confessor, Arnald, friar of the order of Saint Francis, in her lifetime,
and the revelations were submitted to her for correction.]
The Blessed Angela, of
Foligni, belonged to a rich and honourable family in Umbria. She was married,
and had children. Upon the death of her mother, husband, and children, her
heart turned in an agony of love to God alone, and appeared filled to
overflowing with that divine charity of which an earthly affection is but a
reflection. She was frequent in prayer, and made a discreet use of the
Sacrament of penance. “Once she confessed her sins to me,” says Friar Arnald,
“preserving the most perfect knowledge of her sins, and was filled with so much
contrition and tears, from the beginning of her confession to the end, and with
so great humility, that I wept in my heart, believing most surely, that if the
whole world was deceived, God would not permit her, who was full of so much
truth and integrity, to be deceived. The following night she was sick, well
nigh to death, and next morning she drew herself, with great effort, to the
Franciscan Church, and I was then saying mass, and I communicated her, and I
know that she never communicated without God giving her some great favour, and
that a new one continually. But so great were the consolations and
illuminations which she received in her soul, that frequently they seemed to
overflow into her body. Thus, when she was standing with me, and her soul was
lifted up, her face and body were transformed, through joy, at the divine words
of address, and devotion, and delight at the consolations, that her eyes shone
as candles, and her face flushed like a rose, and became radiant and angelical,
as was beyond nature.”
The inner life and
meditations of the Blessed Angela were written down from her lips, and were
read over to her by the confessor. They are full of instruction and beauty, and
are of considerable length. She died on the 4th January, 1309.
Her body reposes in a
shrine in the Franciscan Church at Foligni.
MLA
Citation
Sabine Baring-Gould.
“Blessed Angela of Foligni”. Lives
of the Saints, 1872. CatholicSaints.Info.
17 December 2023. Web. 4 January 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/baring-goulds-lives-of-the-saints-blessed-angela-of-foligni/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/baring-goulds-lives-of-the-saints-blessed-angela-of-foligni/
Studies
in the Lives of the Saints: The Blessed Angela of Foligno
That Christian mysticism
is neither a mere reproduction of the experience of Asiatic ascetics nor a
madness that has occasionally possessed the mind of those few who, it may be,
have dared to think too profoundly and intimately of God is evident to us
almost at once on reading the Book of the Visions of the Blessed Angela of
Foligno. A daughter of Saint Francis, she is even in her wildest experiences
still in touch with the world that had not always been a matter of indifference
to her. While failing to reach the profound and solemn wisdom of Saint Teresa
or Saint John of the Cross she continues always to retain a little humanity, so
that one loves her more than those others, finding in her simplicity something
that is almost of ourselves, transfigured by a great light. Of her life we know
almost nothing beside the few facts contained in her autobiography, and even
the year of her birth is doubtful. And yet one is content; the few facts of her
life are significant of much ; they suggest at least what can never be made
certain.
It is perhaps almost with
a feeling of relief we learn that her childhood was not overshadowed by the
seriousness of that dream of eternal life, that self-examination and
introspection, that in the lives of Saint Teresa and Saint Catherine of Siena
are to the modern mind, with its curious delight in childhood, so distressing.
Happiness! after all that is the peculiar right of childhood, a right less
often enjoyed than is generally supposed, one may think. And yet, indeed, that
freedom from serious preoccupation, that dreamy well-being, with the limitless
horizons of childhood, ignorant of the necessity of death, have something of
that serious, almost profound contentment that is happiness or something very
near to it, that one loses completely as one grows older, how completely one
only realizes in reading the lives of the saints.
For Blessed Angela we may
believe that state of childhood lasted long – till indeed we find her married
and the world breaking in on that silence and the sweetness of life concealing
the true death, calling her, calling her, and almost without thinking, scarcely
wakened from that pleasant dream, she runs with open arms into the world that
has entrapped her. How long her captivity lasted we do not know – “many years,”
she herself says – until one day at dawn perhaps, or at evening, in the silence
of the sunshine, or in the song of the stars, she hears a voice irresistible,
implacable, and almost like a frightened child she discovers herself, sees
herself really for the first time, becomes self-conscious, and bursts into
tears. And in the overwhelming impulse of that moment she decides to go to
confession, a duty forgotten in the long sweet business of the world. But
before that crucifix that was gradually becoming so real and terrible a fact to
her she was afraid and could not tell the more grievous of her sins; and again,
with a feeling of remorse almost, profoundly curious, fearing the impossibility
of ever separating herself from that supreme and terrible love, she swiftly
communicated, adding sacrilege to her other sins.
And now her conscience,
hitherto almost silent, awakens, suddenly and violently accusing her day and
night without rest, so that in utter dismay and terror she flies to her old
Father Saint Francis, beseeching him for his aid in many things, especially
asking him to send her a confessor who will understand her sins. And it was in
the morning after her appeal to Saint Francis that she finds a friar, “a true
Chaplain of Christ,” preaching in the church of Saint Felician, to whom she
makes a full confession in bitterness, shame and grief, receiving, still with
those after sobs shaking her like a weary child, his absolution.
It was from this point
Blessed Angela set out upon her slow and wonderful journey towards purification.
Nor is there anything easy, or even pleasant by the way. For many years, she
says, she was full of grief and without consolation.
In her simple and still
child-like way she traces her progress for us in the little chapters of her
life. Here she considers among other things the mercy of God; applying herself
after she began to be enlightened by that profound love, to a severer penance
“of which,” says she, “I speak not here.”
In the terrible caverns
of the self-accusing spirit, far from any light of day or sound of life, what
agony of darkness has not the soul of man suffered, what fear in the hissing
silence, since Christ rose from the dead! The experiences of man in these
encounters with himself have become in our own day something very far removed
from the Visions of Blessed Angela, have become indeed ugly and consumed with a
desire that is almost never spiritual. Yet gross as one may suppose had been
the life of the Blessed Angela before she heard that most sweet voice calling
her over the Umbrian hills, it is in a mood as simple as that of a maiden that
she desires to be gathered to the heart of God, that she hears indeed the words
of Christ as the words of a splendid Lover.
“After this,” she says,
speaking of an ecstasy of prayer, “after this I went to Saint Francis’s, at
Assisi, and as I went along the way praying, just as I had arrived between the
cave and the narrow path which leadeth up to Assisi, and a little beyond the
cave, in that place it was said unto me, “Thou hast asked of My servant Francis,
and I have been pleased to send another messenger. I am the Holy Ghost, and I
have come unto thee to give thee consolation which otherwise thou hadst never
tasted. And I will come with thee, inwardly within thyself as far as Saint
Francis’s, and some of those who are with thee will notice it a little. And it
is My will to come with thee and speak with thee the whole of that way, and I
will not give over speaking nor wilt thou be able to listen to anything else
but Me ; for I have bound thee fast and I will not depart from thee … if thou
lovest Me . . . Love Me, for thou art much beloved by Me, much more than I am
loved by thee!” And He added in an under breath, “I love thee more than any
woman in the valley of Spoleto. Because My servant Francis hath loved me much
therefore have I done much for him.” And Christ speaks further with her,
telling her that there were few good and at that time but little faith; and
complaining, as she says, He speaks to her of the Love He bears the soul. “So
great I say is the love which I have for the soul that loveth Me, without
malice, that were there now any soul that perfectly loved Me I would give unto
it greater grace than formerly I gave unto saints. Ah, there is not any one who
can excuse himself from this love, because He Himself truly loveth the soul and
He is Himself her love.”
In all the lives of the
saints there is not to be found anything more lovely than that walk with Christ
through the vineyards of Umbria. Even Saint Francis, who alone of all the
saints has conquered the world, has no sweeter experience to tell, no lovelier
vision, no calmer or quieter hour in all his life.
Trembling with the
eagerness of love that shall be satisfied, on the eve of an experience almost
too good to be true, she doubts not quite seriously, but playfully as it were,
that this most sweet companion is indeed the Bridegroom. “He said unto me,” she
says, “I am He who was crucified for thee, and I had hunger and thirst for thy
sake, and so much have I loved thee that I shed My blood for thee.” And He told
her of His passion. Then my soul cried out, “If Thou who hast talked with me
from the beginning wert the Holy Ghost, Thou wouldst not tell me such great
things; and if Thou wert indeed within me, so great ought to be my joy that I
could not bear to live.”
And like the miraculous
and lovely bridegroom, Christ gives to her to whom He spoke of love, a sign.
“Try now to speak with thy companions and think of other things whatsoever thou
wilt whether good or evil, and thou wilt not be able to think of aught but Me.”
Wrapped in the arms of
Him who had silenced, not only the world, but her own spirit also, all her evil
deeds came back into her memory on account of which she realized it may be for
the first time that she was worthy of Hell. And it is only in great terror she
can contemplate the end of the way in which Jesus accompanied her, nor is she
ever willing to loose His hand again “for the whole time that the world should
last.”
What a fund of human
nature, resolved from all discord it is true, but still poignantly human in its
cheerfulness and its simplicity, is there in that experience or vision!
After all she was a true
Franciscan. It was against the rules of her order to be more than a little sad,
cheerfulness being indeed a kind of duty in those who had heard the very voice
of Jesus.
So she explains to us
very sweetly that the first companion that accompanied Our Lord Jesus even unto
death was Lady Poverty – most perfect, who, so great was the love of God for
Saint Francis, was sent even that same sweet Princess to be his companion, and
the companion of all his little poor ones, all the days of the world. And with
a passionate love and regret she exclaims, “O measureless madness of the world,
which after that such and so great a Lord and King of kings has been treated
with ignominy and contempt, is ever aspiring unto dignities and wishing for
liberty, none being desirous of obedience and subjection for the love of Him,
Our Lord Jesus Christ.”
It was to her confessor,
Brother Arnold of the Friars Minor, that she told the history of that inner
life of the soul, ignoring almost entirely her actual life in the world, which
was to her indeed but a dream. He says of her in his second Prologue to her
Book of Visions and Instructions, that when at times, standing before him, her
soul was lifted up she was not able “to understand anything of what I was
reading to her; she was changed in the face and in the body by reason of the
word which God spoke to her, and so great was her devotion and delight in these
consolations that at times her eyes shone like candles and her face was as a
rose.”
And she who had held the
rose of the world so tightly in youth, so that the thorns had torn her bosom,
and the perfume of the bruised petals had enveloped her, having known the wild
love of the world well, ah well, threw it from her for that more excellent
desire, that so transfigured her before Brother Arnold.
And it is almost with
passionate ecstasy that in the last little chapter of her book she enumerates
the seven gifts of this new bridegroom, who had loved her almost in spite of
herself, and brought her “out of the wilderness” and spoken so sweetly to her.
Beginning really at the
very beginning, she tells this Lover, as in some delightful confidence, that
the first gift he gave her was Life, and the second Eternity, the third the
Sacrifice of His own life, and the fourth the Reason to understand this, the
fifth a Capacity to understand Him, the sixth Wisdom whereby we know the
burning Love of God, and the seventh, Love himself, for God is Love.
And indeed almost her
last words are concerning that sweet Charity without which there is neither
“salvation nor merit.”
“The world jests,” she
whispers to her children, “at what I say, namely, that a man can weep for the
sins of his neighbours as for his own or even more than for his own, for it
seemeth against nature. But it is charity which doeth this, and charity is not
of this world.”
She makes no testament,
recommending to them instead, “Mutual love and profound humility.”
And it was about
Christmas time that she came to pass away to that Lover who had never left her
for a moment since He called her from a little distance over the Umbrian hills
and valleys on that morning in her youth.
Hesitating on the abyss
of God’s infinity, she tells those few gathered around her the profound thought
that had come to her almost from that other world for which she was about to
set out. “Know ye not,” she says, “that Christ was in the ship while the
Tempest was great? Even so is it sometimes in the world, when He permitteth
temptations to come, and He Himself seemeth to sleep.”
It was after Compline on
the Octave of the Innocents’ Day that having lain all day exceeding joyful in
quiet of body and gladness of spirit, at the last hour of the day she fell into
a light sleep, and caught up in some dream or vision more lovely by far than
any that had come to her before, she let life fall, and was presented to God by
Him who had loved her even from the beginning.
– from Studies in the Lives of the Saints by
Edward Hutton, 1902
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/studies-in-the-lives-of-the-saints-the-blessed-angela-of-foligno/
Among
the Franciscan Tertiaries – Blessed Angela of Foligno
One torch lights another.
By the time Saint Francis
died the Third Order had spread over nearly the whole of Italy and beyond the
Alps. There was a spiritual romance in the Franciscan vocation which could
transcend the suffering and misery of human life, a sublime simplicity which could
overcome all difficulties, and a liberty which knew no bounds. It was the
particular atmosphere of joyous freedom which made many people feel that here
was the way of life for which they had been waiting, and the practical
spirituality of the rule made it not only the Order of Penance but also that of
Joy. All too often the Franciscan ideal has been confused with a vague
picturesqueness and poetical romanticism, but no conception could be more
false. The preaching to the birds was a charming incident, and the love of all
God’s creatures his beautiful characteristic; but Saint Francis was also the
penitent, who knew the folly of the Cross and whose whole being had received
its seal. This double spirit of sorrow and joy is, moreover, reflected in all his
great followers. It is not surprising that during the early years of its
existence the Third Order shone with numerous examples of holiness. Blessed
Lucchesio and his wife Bonadonna are commonly known as the first Tertiary
Beati, but they had many companions in their heroic voluntary poverty and
devotion. The most beautiful example of the life of penance and unquenchable
charity is of course Saint Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231), the Patroness of
the Third Order. Who does not know her legend? Her short life was full of human
trials and sorrows, conquered by a love as burning as that of Saint Francis
himself. She became poor among the poor, did penance for others’ sins in a
radiant spirit of generosity, while to the last she spent herself nursing the
most repulsive forms of misery and degradation.
As Saint Francis had
eagerly served the lepers at Rivo Torto, so his followers sought out all the
most miserable and suffering, and the brothers and sisters of the Order of
Penance were indeed servants of love. There were others, however, who looked to
Saint Francis the contemplative rather than to the active apostle. They saw him
living in retirement at one of the hermitages, or in the solitude of La Verna,
where, according to Celano’s fine phrase, he became “Non tarn orans, quam
oratio factus,” and him they rightly aspired to follow. Moreover Saint Francis
had himself provided special rules for those of his disciples who wished to
embrace a life of prayer apart from the others, and thus the hermit vocation
was fully justified as part of the Franciscan call.
In those early Franciscan
communities there was not only a spirit of active charity, but a strong leaning
to the contemplative life. Holy souls like Blessed John of La Verna, or Blessed
Conrad of Offida, could not have led or organised the Order, nor were they
called upon to do so, but their lives of prayer and penance had an immense
influence on its development.
Through contemporary
records we catch glimpses of many others, such as Blessed Nuvolone, the cobbler
of Faenza, who gave away all his earnings and was renowned for his lengthy
pilgrimages to distant shrines. Blessed Giovanna da Signa, Blessed Torello da
Poppi, and Santa Verdiana of Castelfiorentino were Franciscan hermits for
upwards of thirty years. There were also Blessed Pier Pettignano, whose gift of
prayer was celebrated by Dante, the mysterious Cecilia of Florence, the
mistress of Ubertino da Casale in the higher contemplation of the life of
Christ, and the pathetic Blessed Umiliana dei Cerchi who did so much to spread
the Franciscan message among the Florentines. And this is to mention but a few.
The First Companions of
Saint Francis were still alive, Bernard, Angelo, Rufino, Leo, Masseo,
Illuminato, Silvestro, and Egidio, living mostly in retirement, and it is not
difficult to imagine the veneration in which they were held. Better than anyone
they could tell the sublime significance of the Franciscan message as they had
heard it at Rivo Torto and the Porziuncula, and their mere presence must have
lent a peculiar fervour and mystical atmosphere to the Umbrian fraternities.
How natural, therefore, that the greatest contemplative of the Order, Blessed
Angela of Foligno, should have appeared in their midst.
Franciscan mysticism has
never found a greater exponent than this woman, and her influence has travelled
far and wide and is still strong among us today.
Blessed Angela’s
revelations, moreover, came at a critical moment. Many of the followers of the
Abbot Joachim da Flores were in close touch with the Franciscans, some had
joined the Order. His prophetic books had been removed to the Franciscan
convent at Pisa, and restless spirits bewildered themselves with conjectures
and interpretations of his prophecies, while discontented ones often sheltered
their own spiritual pride behind his apocalyptic visions. Not satisfied with
the Gospel as preached by Saint Francis, they advanced the most absurd
pretensions and theories on behalf of the Everlasting Gospel, as it came to be
called. All forgetful of him who had so repeatedly enjoined reverence and
obedience to the Church on his disciples, they clamoured for an age of liberty
when popes and priests and sacraments should be no more. It was the old trouble
of the Cathari coming up again. Joachimism at its worst was responsible for the
horrible distortions of the message of Saint Francis as seen in the Fraticelli
and Zealots, and unfortunately some of the most spiritual natures amongst the
Franciscans were led away into a maze of undisciplined mysticism which could
only be a danger to themselves and the whole Order. Their mystical speculations
were not the seeds of new life; they did not communicate to others new ardour,
strength, and courage; did not offer to succeeding generations an enlarged
vision or deeper consciousness of God.
To these Blessed Angela
affords a striking contrast. She must be numbered amongst the greatest of
Catholic mystics of the highest contemplative and creative type. Her spiritual
experience was strikingly complete, and it was won by an unrelenting battle
against her natural inclinations. Hers was an intensely dynamic nature, and we
can feel in her the opposing currents, the difficult adjustments of a rich
complex personality. One of the many heretical sects of Umbria, the Brothers of
the Free Spirit, maintained that man should live free of all desire, to whom
Angela, then an elderly woman, retorted that such an assertion was completely
false. Man, as God has created him, lives by desire, and Angela’s desire was
concentrated upon God, and upon conforming her own life to the pattern life of
Christ. There was no touch of passivity in her, or of quietism even in her
final enjoyment of Divine Union. Fruition and action were to her two closely
connected states, and she turns from her highest vision to live the unitive
life day by day and to teach others to follow her. She fully earned the title
of Mistress of TheologianSj and her mission in the spiritual life seems
constantly to increase and her message to unfold.
Like Saint Teresa, Saint
Ignatius, or Saint Francis of Sales, she belongs to the great teachers and her
doctrine is all in one magnificent book: Liber sororis Lelle de Fulgineo
ordinis continentium sine postibus. Cujus principium est V ere fidelium
experientia probat. Thus runs its title in the inventory dated 1381 at the
library of the Sacro Convento in Assisi, and it is this manuscript that the
Pere Ferre has given us in the complete Latin text and French translation, and
compiled a valuable chronology of Angela’s life. Other manuscripts and editions
exist, but it is from this one especially that we can perhaps seize something
of the extraordinary human being whose spiritual experience is here recorded.
She was born of wealthy
parents in 1248, twenty years after the canonisation of Saint Francis, and she
was therefore roughly the contemporary of Saint Bonaventure, Saint Margaret of
Cortona, and Jacopone da Todi. During her youth Umbria rang with the message of
Saint Francis, and she lived among people who must have heard and seen and
known him. She practised a conventional piety, but for years Angela was a gay,
pleasure-loving, tolerant, cultivated woman of the world, and nothing more. Yet
she liked to be thought religious, and though her later self-accusations were
probably exaggerated, we can see that there was some truth in the statement
that she was “vain and egoistic, painted in false colours, a dissembler within
and without,” for such is the judgment of Angela the saint upon her former
self.
We do not know the exact
circumstances of her conversion, but there is no mention of a sudden onslaught
as in the case of Jacopone. Angela’s marriage had not been happy, and hers was
a nature needing love above all things. Love was the ruling theme of her life.
She knew all its delights and dangers, and in her later warnings to her
disciples we hear the voice of someone who had only reached the highest love by
a long steep road and after many falls.
In 1285 her husband,
mother, and children were all living, but their lives seem to have been both
empty and frivolous, and she grew more and more dissatisfied. She was disgusted
with her surroundings and above all with herself. Slowly her spiritual sense
strove to assert itself, she began to consider her sins, she was in terror of
being damned and “wept bitterly.” Such is the first of the thirty steps in
which Angela told of her conversion, and it is the foundation of them all. Her
conscience was stirred, and she begged Saint Francis to send her a confessor.
He appeared to her promising her that her prayer was heard, and the next day in
the cathedral she met her cousin Fra Arnaldo, to whom she made a general
confession of her life.
Fra Arnaldo for about the next ten years was Angela’s director, guide, and secretary, and no position could have been more difficult. He was harassed by his penitent, whose mystical powers he could not follow, harassed by his own conscientious desire to write her words down with absolute precision, harassed by the notoriety he found forced upon him, and which brought him severe reprimands from his superiors. At one time he was forbidden to see her. He wrote hurriedly first of all on odd scraps of paper; their interviews were constantly interrupted, once because the sacristan wished to shut the church where they were. The book of Sister Leila was produced under the greatest human difficulties. After Fra Arnaldo laid down the pen, at least two other friars took it up, like him translating into Latin as best they could, the Italian that fell from Angela’s lips. Finally, others added certain portions, which though they represent her thought, do not reproduce her words. It is to these intermediaries, above all to Fra Arnaldo, that we owe this vivid autobiography and record of the spiritual life.
After her confession
Angela resolved to lead a new life, but all was dark and comfortless in her
soul, and she emphasises the fact that her conversion was the result of will,
not of sentiment. She only caught glimpses of the Divine Mercy as rifts in the
cloud that oppressed her. She realised, moreover, that in offending the Creator
she had also offended and harmed all His creatures. “With an overwhelming sense
of human solidarity she prays them not to accuse her to God,” she asks of Our
Lady and the saints to intercede for her, and feels at last that all turn to
her in compassion and love. Then in the midst of her misery her thoughts turn
to the Cross, to all that Christ had suffered for her. Tremblingly she offers
herself to Him, and sees the way of the Cross opening before her.
The next five or six
years were very difficult ones for Angela. It needed heroic courage for a
middle-aged woman of her position to give up all the comforts and refinements
of life, and she tells of the effort it meant to even change her way of
dressing. Her husband, her relations and friends made everything exceedingly
hard, and she, self-conscious and sensitive, had to bear their reproaches,
above all, their amusement, as best she could.
Her mother was
particularly unsympathetic, and Angela says quite openly that when the whole
family died, one after another, it was a relief to her. The wording of this
paragraph has often been quoted against her, but it must be remembered that at
the time she was tossed and tormented by the awakening of tremendous spiritual
.powers which had hitherto lain dormant. Her reaction was bound to be violent.
Every human tie seemed to her a danger and hindrance in the path of the soul,
not a God-given gift capable of sublime sanctification.
With her first sight of
the way of the Cross had come the realisation that she must follow it
unencumbered, and that her material possessions, earthly loves, and personal
desires, her whole self, must all be sacrificed.
Such had been the poverty
sung by Jacopone, and Angela must surely have known his words:
Dio non alberga in core
stretto, tant’ e grande, quant’ hai affetto
Poverta ha si gran petto, che ci alberga Deitate
Poverta e nulla avere e
nulla cosa poi volere,
Ed omne cosa possedere in spirito di libertate.
This is poverty indeed,
if it is to be a living experience and not a mere pious sentiment. Like many
another, Angela recoiled before it, but the vision of the Cross took increasing
possession of her, and she seemed to stand beneath it with Our Lady and Saint
John. Her resolution strengthened, but still she was held back. “How slowly the
soul moves to penitence, how heavy are the chains of the world!” she exclaims,
and sets out on a pilgrimage to Rome to beg the grace of true poverty from
Saint Peter. She gradually sold all her property, even the country house which
she evidently loved, and distributed the money among the poor. Her friends, we
may be sure, were lavish with advice and counsels of prudence, but “le cceur a
ses raisons que la raison ne connait pas,” and no half-measures could now
satisfy her. An increasing sense of God gave her the courage she needed.
Early in 1291 she entered
the Third Order, and soon afterwards she made her first famous visit to the
tomb of Saint Francis. She had with her a few friends, and as they entered the
church for the second time Angela fell on her knees in ecstasy, uttering
unintelligible cries, quite unconscious of her surroundings. The friars
hastened to see what was the matter, and with them Fra Arnaldo, who tells us
that he was so ashamed of the commotion caused by his cousin and penitent, that
his only feeling was of anger. Afterwards, when he heard the whole story, he
first of all thought her demented, and only slowly became convinced that
something quite different from ordinary madness had seized her. For Angela told
him how, as they came up the narrow road which leads from Spello to Assisi, she
was praying for the grace to lead the life of a true follower of Saint Francis.
Suddenly she felt within her the presence of the Spirit of God, and heard the
words: “I will bear thee company and speak with thee all the way, … I will make
no end of speaking, and thou wilt not be able to attend to aught but me. . . .
My daughter who art sweet to me, who art my beloved and my temple, do thou love
me, for I love thee greatly and much more than thou lovest me. . . . Thou didst
pray to my servant Francis. He loved me greatly and therefore I accomplished
great things in him. If any soul loved me more than he, in her I would do still
more.” Fearing an illusion she tried to distract her attention by looking round
at the vineyards, but wherever she turned the inner voice said: “This too is my
creature,” and “If the whole world came to thee now, thou couldst not speak to
it, for it is the whole world which is within thee.” Angela, thinking of her
own sins, was plunged into a new humility; she listened while the Spirit told
her of all that He had suffered for her, her soul filled with overwhelming
sweetness and certainty and joy. This state lasted through the first visit to
the church, but when she returned a second time, still held in this close
embrace of the Spirit, she heard the Spirit say: “Now, my sweet daughter and
temple, is the moment when I shall accomplish what I said, and under the form
of this consolation I leave thee, but know that I shall never leave thee if
thou lovest me.”
When Fra Arnaldo asked
Angela what she saw at that instant, she said: “I saw something perfect, an
immense majesty which I cannot describe, but which seemed to me the Highest
Good. It said many sweet words to me as it withdrew slowly, evenly, with
immense sweetness.” And Angela, left to herself, could only fall to the ground,
crying: “O Love unknown, why hast Thou left me? Why, why, why?” “I cried,” she
said afterwards, “because I wished to die and it was great sorrow to me to have
to live.”
Angela returned to
Foligno another woman; and from this time onwards until her death eighteen
years later she was led through every phase of mystical experience. She lived
first of all in comparative solitude with only one or two companions, but
gradually other Tertiaries gathered round her. They devoted themselves to works
of charity in the local hospital and especially among the lepers. They lived a
life of penance, surely rigorous even to medieval ideas. All penance seemed to
Angela small compared with sin and the Love it had offended. Penance to her was
not a matter of a month or a year, but a lifetime, the natural result of
spiritual awakening. She would say to her followers: “In proportion to your
strength God wishes you to do penance all your lives. If you live one day, do
penitence for a day; if you live an hour, do penitence for an hour; if you live
longer, then do penitence longer.” And this was the rule she lived by.
Besides her own chosen
penitence, she was often tormented spiritually in the most grievous way.
Supersensitive, she endured temptations unknown in the past, she felt her whole
being immersed in vice, in body and mind she seemed a prey of the power of
evil. She was continually ill; indeed her physical constitution must have been
robust to stand such a strain so long. As in the case of Saint Catherine of
Genoa, however, her ecstasies were often a source of bodily strength; from them
she received new strength, her energy was increased, and her face so
transfigured and shining that one of her companions complained of the attention
they attracted in the streets while the supernatural radiance was upon her.
Angela returned several
times to Assisi, and received some of her greatest revelations in the
Porziuncula. Otherwise she never left Foligno, and it was there that Ubertino
da Casale came to visit her. She was the intimate friend of some of the most
prominent members of the spiritual party, and her convert life was spent among
the disciples of the First Companions. In their midst she found the atmosphere
of prayer and contemplation she needed, and to them she owed a great deal of
her spiritual balance.
Few other mystics combine
so ecstatic a flight with such joyful simplicity. By nature Angela was inclined
to the philosophical and metaphysical attitude of the neo-Platonists, and she
is completely at home in the most transcendental spheres, soaring far above the
things of sense and human understanding. Only too easily she might have lost
touch with the spiritual realities which are so near the earth. That she did
not do so is largely thanks to the Franciscan tradition. The sublime
spirituality of Saint Francis was that of the Gospel, and one of his most
characteristic acts was instituting the Presepio of Greccio, which through
seven hundred years has renewed the Christmas story for millions of human
beings. The spirit of the Gospel radiated from Saint Francis and his first
disciples, and in its light Angela’s mystical powers awakened and developed.
She had responded to the
supernatural call with all the enthusiasm of her great nature. Turning to the
spiritual life as she did when no longer young, she gave herself up to it with
the generosity of a person capable only of the all or none reaction, and hers
was both an exceptional temperament and a special vocation. She was moreover
guarded perhaps by the fact that she was a woman, from letting her spiritual
powers expend themselves upon the internal differences of the Franciscan Order.
She makes but few direct
references to the questions then agitating the Order. No one was a greater
lover of poverty than Angela, or desired it more, as is shown in her splendid
letters to her disciples, but she never advocated the uncompromising ideas of
some of the zealots. She always emphasised the spiritual rather than the
material point of view.
In spite of her rapidly
increasing powers of mystical contemplation, Angela evidently did not feel the
need, which might have seemed so natural, to join the Poor Ladies. In one sense
hers was a wider vocation. Great powers of self-expression accompanied her
extraordinary spiritual gifts; she became the centre of a group of ardent
disciples drawn to her by the “splendour of her radiant virtue,” and through
them her influence radiated out into the world beyond.
She received every grace,
not only for herself but for others, and once she heard these words: “I who
speak to thee am the Divine Power and I bring thee a grace, which is that I
wish thee to be of profit to all who shall see thee; still more, for I will
that thou shalt help and be of use to all who think of thee or hear thy name.
The more a soul possesses Me, the more then it shall be profited by thee.” This
until her death was Angela’s mission. The inmost secret of a soul’s apprehension
of God can never be repeated in human language, but all that could be
transmitted she gave without stint for the enlightenment of her spiritual sons
and daughters. Often she complains of the insufficiency of Fra Arnaldo’s words;
sometimes the glory of her vision was far beyond her own power to describe.
“Before the Divine Goodness all words are as a grain of millet seed in
comparison with the universe,” she declares, and “of these excellent and divine
workings in the soul whereby God does manifest Himself man can in no wise speak
or even stammer.” It is the complaint of Dante, the cry of every soul which
tries to tell the secrets of its deepest intuition.
We come now to Angela’s doctrine;
her message to us. It is scattered throughout her writings, in which one looks
in vain for doctrinal or biographical sequence. Probably, as the Abbé Ferre has
suggested, the order is, if anything, chronological. This very confusion makes
it all the more living, for it is not a book of devotion carefully edited and
compiled, but a book of experience in which human details are noted down beside
the highest spiritual truth.
Angela’s inner life
stands before us in all its intensity and power, and she is a sure guide in
every phase of the spiritual life. She answers indeed to a double need of the
human soul in her double apprehension of God. She perceives Him as the Absolute
Reality, the Universal Life, and Immovable Wisdom, into the sea of whose Infinite
Being man can empty his little personality, and find that rest for which he is
ever seeking. She perceives Him, however, not only as transcendent but
immanent, a personal Father to each created thing. She sees God as Justice,
Wisdom, Power, Love, Beauty, and Truth; she sees and understands in a way which
she can only describe “as an abyss in which the truth opened before me straight
as a road, and upon this road passed all those who went towards God, and those
others who were turning away from Him.”
Angela sees the Divine
Power upholding all things, and she tells us that “I saw a fullness in God in
which I embraced the whole universe, above and beyond the seas, the abyss, the
ocean, and everything. In all these things I saw only the Divine Power and I saw
it in a way impossible to describe. Then my soul could not contain itself for
marvelling and cried out: ‘This world is full of God.’ And I understood how
small is the world, above and beyond the seas, the abyss, the ocean, and
everything, and how the power of God fills and overflows all.”
“The whole world is full
of God.” What is this but the attitude of Saint Francis summed up in seven
words, and no conception of creation could be more complete. In the Divine
Wisdom and Justice she sees every creature, good and bad, as a servant of the
glory of God, and finds the solution of every problem of good and evil, of the
creation, and the salvation of man.
To Angela everything
presents itself in contrasts which complete one another. The absolute,
unapproachable Divinity, and God, immanent in His creation; the abyss of
Holiness and that of sin; the abyss of Humility, and that of power, of Love,
and suffering; of God who is All, and everything else nothing; all the contrast
contained in that cry of Saint Francis: “My God, who art Thou, my most sweet
Lord, and what am I, Thy miserable servant?”
This cry is shown by
Angela as the foundation and centre of all spiritual life. She develops it with
great eloquence, forcing her disciples to open their eyes to this double abyss
of knowledge of God and of themselves. This is the way of spiritual poverty,
greatest of blessings, the way of humility and truth, by which alone the soul
can truly know God, love and serve Him. It is the one safeguard against pride,
false knowledge, false love; and to the soul who truly follows it, God surely
reveals Himself dwelling within her, “O my sons,” exclaims Angela, “every
vision, every revelation, every sweetness, all sentiment, knowledge, elevation,
and contemplation is useless if man has not the knowledge of God and of
himself!” This is indeed the abyss of wisdom by which the soul is prepared for
the abyss of Love.
Divine Love was revealed
to Angela’s soul, she tells us, in a vivid colour unlike any she had ever seen.
“I saw the beginning but not the end, for it is a continuing without end. I saw
my soul divided as it were by a road. On one side I saw only love and all that
is good, which came from God and not from me; on the other I saw myself arid
and that from me came nothing good. By this I saw that it was not I who loved,
although I was transformed in love, but that it came only from God. Then the
two parts reunited and this union gave me a much greater and more ardent love.
… It seemed to me that there could be no love greater or sweeter than this, and
so I believed until another love was given me, the love which takes all,
annihilates all, love so extreme that it is like death.”
The final experience of
Love came to Angela, as to other great mystics, as an all-revealing darkness in
which her soul was exalted to see God as she had never done before. “In this
vision my soul was raised, and I saw God in a clearness and fullness that I had
never before seen. I no longer saw Love. It was then that I lost the love I
had, and became non-loving. After that I saw God in a darkness, and all was
dark because it was a good too great to be imagined or understood, and all that
can be thought of or seized by the understanding does not reach or even
approach it. Then my soul was given a sure faith, a firm and certain hope, a
continual certitude of God which took from me all fear. I was gathered into the
good within the darkness. I became so sure of God that never could I doubt Him,
never doubt that I possess Him. In this dark good, which is essentially active,
all my hope is henceforth concentrated.”
Fra Arnaldo wanted more
details, his questions striving to bridge the distance between Angela and
himself. At first she did not hear, but after a time could say: “My soul was
ravished in a state where I tasted unspeakable joy. I knew all that I wished to
know, I possessed all that I could desire I saw all good. . . . My soul sees
nothing that the tongue or heart could tell. I see all and absolutely nothing.
My hope is no longer in any of the good things that can be described or
imagined. I have placed it in this secret good, very secret and hidden, that I
understand in this great darkness. . . . Everything is inferior to this secret
Good, because the Good that I see in the darkness is the whole, and all other
things are but parts.”
This great darkness only
came to Angela three times, and she quotes it as her supreme spiritual
experience. Often in a lesser darkness she was conscious of the Blessed
Trinity, and of herself at rest in God; but then she felt her own soul as a
living being, able to respond, to love, to act. The joy of the Humanity of Our
Lord was with her almost continually, drawing her to Himself and saying: “Thou
art Me and I am thee”; and Angela continues: “I see His Eyes full of love, and
He embraces my soul and holds it fast. And the joy and good which emanate from
those Eyes and that Face is the same Good that I saw interiorly in the
darkness, that Good which fills me with joy beyond all words.”
From this simple and
ineffable experience of God, which is at once the goal and starting-point of
the spirit, sprang all Angela’s truly Catholic religion. She touched the
highest point that a soul on earth can attain, and at one stroke she sweeps
back our narrow horizon. She carries us out with her on to the ocean of
contemplation, for surely the fire which burns in the great mystical lovers of
God exists, if only as a tiny spark, in every unsatisfied human heart.
Had Angela’s mystical
life however been limited to the transcendent spheres of her highest
revelations she would have remained remote from the ordinary run of Christians.
Where she is so great is in her power to bring her vision, and the teaching it
implies, into the practical round of daily life. Patiently she shows her
disciples each step of the road of prayer they are to follow. She tells them of
the three grades of prayer, vocal, mental, and the prayer of contemplation; and
first of all she warns them never to abandon vocal prayer for something they
think higher, “For when once I did so, I found myself overcome by sleep and
laziness, and only wasted my time. . . . Moreover, it is an acceptable thing to
God if you pray and are zealous in good works when grace illuminates you, and
love burns within you; but O, my sons, it is more acceptable still to God if
when you feel nothing you continue to pray and seek after all good.”
For every grace they are
to pray unceasingly; and the “easiest means of obtaining of God His light and
grace is a devout, humble, continual, and violent prayer. By this I do not mean
a prayer only of the mouth, but of the spirit and heart and all the power of
the soul and body.
“Nothing is necessary to
us but God. To find Him we must concentrate our soul in Him. That the spirit
may be more recollected it is necessary to curtail outside relationships, too great
familiarity, useless speech, love of novelty. In short, we must separate our
spirit from that which distracts it, and make it enter into itself that it may
know the depth of its own lowliness. It is prayer which teaches this to the
soul and causes it to increase in love.
“There are three degrees
of transformation of a soul in love. The first is to be wholly united to the
Will of God. This seems to me the way He has shown us of poverty, sorrow,
lowliness, and true obedience; and when the soul gives herself up entirely to these
she is strong against vice and temptation.
“The second degree is
when the soul ardently desires to become herself like her Beloved, and wishes
to love all creatures with a rightful love. God then gives her a sure
stability, for the nearer a soul is to God the less she is subject to change.
“The third degree is when
the soul is completely transformed into God. She is then free of temptation,
because she no longer dwells in herself but in God. I pray thee, my son, never
give thyself to any creature but only entirely to God thy Creator. Then God
increases in the soul the capacity of union with Himself, until she can contain
not that which she desires to receive, but that which He desires to give her.”
Perfect love is when the
soul is brought to the vision of the Divine Being, and in this she sees how
every creature has its being from Him the Supreme Being, and outside of Him
nothing can be. In this vision the soul obtains an admirable wisdom and is
excited to new love. She learns to love all living things, both reasonable and
unreasonable, for love of Him. . . . And when she sees the Supreme Being
incline in love to His creatures she also desires to love them as they are
loved by Him. . . .
God Incarnate, our
Creator, the Sovereign Good is all love. He loves us with His whole Being and
He wishes for a like love. . . . The soul which desires to be raised to this
perfect love must give herself up to God and not serve Him in view of any
reward, but for Himself. Knowing God in His truth, the soul understands that He
is the Perfect Good. Seeing this, she loves Him; loving Him, she desires to
possess Him, and gives all that she has, her whole self, that she may arrive at
this possession. Then the soul tastes His Sweetness; and possessing, feeling,
tasting God, she holds Him with an incomparable joy. . . . This love has the
power to transform the lover in the Beloved. As the iron in the fire takes on
the form, colour, heat, and virtue of the flame and becomes itself like unto
the flame, and this because it is entirely given over to the fire, so the soul
united to and with God in the perfect fire of Divine Love gives herself
entirely to God and is transformed into Him without losing her own substance.
She then transforms her whole life in this love of God, and by love it becomes
almost divine. Knowledge must come first, then love, to transform the lover in
the Beloved. . . . This knowledge and love cannot be given to the soul by any
creature; it comes only from the Divine Light and is a special gift from God.
This love of God can
never be idle. Action is the sign and measure of love, and those who have been
raised by the way of the Cross to this vision of the uncreated love will find
peace in virtue and good works; their love will constantly be increased, and
will urge them on to ever purer actions.
Those who do not live in
the spirit of truth, make idols of their virtues and good works, and their
first idol is the Divine Light which has been given them.
Here is the sign of true
love: that he who loves does not transform a part, but all of himself in his
Beloved. Because this transformation is not continuous, the soul is filled with
a desire to find all the means by which she may be transformed in the will of
the Beloved, that thus she may regain her vision. She seeks henceforth only for
that which her Beloved loves. Continual prayer illumines the soul, raises and
transforms her; illumined by the light which can only be perceived in prayer,
the soul sees clearly the way of Christ prepared and trodden by the Feet of the
Crucified One, and she runs to it with a joyful heart, and rises above herself
to the power of Divine Sweetness. Prayer finds all in the contemplation of the
Cross. . . .
If, therefore, thou
wishest to be supernaturally illumined and taught, read in the book of the life
of Christ; and the more thou prayest the more thou wilt be enlightened, the
more perfect and profound thy vision will become; and the more thou lovest the
greater joy thou shalt find. Then thou wilt come to the fullness of light,
because thou wilt understand that it passes thy comprehension.
The Son of God Himself
has given us the example of prayer and taught us to persevere therein. Jesus
prayed, that seeing His example we might love prayer above all things. Place
Christ before thee, and strive to obtain something of that prayer, for He
prayed not for Himself, but for thee. Christ always preferred the Divine Will
to His own, and do thou imitate Him. All Christ’s life was a prayer, and
without prayer thou canst do nothing.
We have also the example
of the Mother of God. Do we think her continual prayer was useless? Rather let
us follow what she has taught us in her most holy prayer and contemplation of
the vision of God.
In all this, too, we must
tread in the steps of our glorious father Saint Francis. He has shown us how to
concentrate ourselves in God; and because the Holy Spirit permeated all his
works and actions he was sanctified in body and soul. I see in him a perfect
lover and follower after poverty, for when the soul has seen the infinity of
God, and then the vile beings with which He has deigned to contract the bonds
of love, she is then more deeply moved by the sufferings of the Incarnate God
Jesus Christ. The divine light which shines in the Life of Christ has taught me
that the sorrows of Christ are the road by which the soul may reach God and
rest in Him, and that the road trodden by Christ the Head is also that for all the
members of His mystical Body.
“Let us therefore seek in
all things to make ourselves like Him who made Himself like us down to taking
on Himself all our misery. … ineffable Love of God above all others! by it God
has become man to unite me to Himself … O Incomprehensible! for me Thou art
made comprehensible; O Thou Uncreated! for me Thou art become a creature; Thou
whom no thought can reach! Thou hast become the light of my mind; Pure Spirit,
Thou hast taken a body for me to touch. Lord, make me worthy to see the depth
of Thy immense Love in Thy most holy Incarnation.”
In this love Angela sees
the separate mysteries of the Incarnation, the Nativity, Death, Resurrection,
and Ascension of Our Lord, signs of the infinite Love extending between the two
poles of our creation and redemption. She dwells tenderly on the episodes of
the human life of Christ, especially upon the two favourite Franciscan themes
of the Passion and Poverty.
Both are intimately
united in Angela’s spiritual life. Poverty is the first and greatest of all
virtues, and far transcends any giving up of earthly possessions. The worst
poverty is ignorance, she warns her followers: ignorance of God’s greatness and
ignorance of man’s nothingness; and true poverty is twin-sister to humility and
to charity. The material poverty of Christ was but the outer garment of that
Divine love-impelled poverty of spirit that consented to every limitation of
power, to every temptation; consented to be at the mercy of men and of all the
conditions of human life.
Christ accepted to appear
before the world as the Friend of the fallen and ignorant; and His poverty
opens such vast horizons of humility that the human mind reels before them.
“Oh, if only this unequalled and invincible humility could confound and
annihilate the pride of our nothing! Oh, the immensity of our folly that after
seeing the Poverty of Christ we should still aspire to position and dignities,
to possessions and riches! The Author of all life became obedient to His
creatures, even to the inanimate ones, in order to give back that life to thee
who wast dead to divine things. Thou didst ignore it all, O man, and He,
deserted by all, loved thee with the truest love, and died to open to thee the
way of perfection. The spear should have bent, and He could have caused it to
do so, sooner than pierce that sacred Side, and so all other creatures could
and should have refused to work against their Creator. But He willed to submit
to their power.” Angela perpetually returns to the practice of this virtue
which, rightly understood, unites man’s individual will to the Will of God.
Perforce it destroys pride, or self-will, or uncharitableness, and she makes it
the spiritual foundation of daily life.
Poverty leaped like a
bride to the Cross with Christ, she who with sorrow had been His daily companion
since His birth. From the first moment He had foreseen and suffered and
accepted all, and only the sorrows of Christ equalled His love. The exterior
sufferings inflicted on Him by men were but the veil of that mystery which none
can penetrate, and Angela can but exclaim: “If anyone should be able to speak
of the Passion of Christ I would say to him: ‘Thou must be He who suffered
it.'”
With her usual devotion
to the Blessed Virgin she turns to her with a beautiful prayer: “Holy Mary,
Mother of Sorrow, tell me something of the passion of thy Blessed Son of God,
for thou didst feel it more than any saint because of thy boundless love. Thou
didst see it both with the eyes of the body and of the soul, for he sees most
who loves most.”
Angela realised that the
Passion of Christ is as profound a mystery as the Divine Being. Along with the
purely interior experience of God revealed in the darkness, through all her
last years she lived in an almost continual visionary state. In this she saw
the many details of the Passion, especially of the inner hidden agony of
Christ. She suffered herself acutely and perpetually for what she felt as her
own personal share in His death, and all her life her tears of contrition were
never dried. Yet with them came that joy of love which even the thought of the
Passion could not cloud, and the way of the Cross became the way of hope and
light for herself and for all other sinners.
In the revelations
concerning the Passion there came to Angela an ever-growing insight into the
mystery of the Eucharist. For the last eighteen years of her life it was her
daily food and strength, and many of her visions are directly connected with
it. She saw Our Lord often in the Host under many different forms, and she was
intensely conscious of the wonderful communion of saints in the living Christ.
The Blessed Sacrament is the supreme proof of the Love of God, and in it man is
drawn away from all creatures, from himself, and directly united to God. Its
power, moreover, reaches beyond the bounds of this world, and Angela sees the
saints and angels rejoicing in the Sacrament which is the means of union
between Christ the Head and each one of His members. “How,” she asked, “can man
think of the Son of God in the Blessed Sacrament and not be moved to tears of
love and joy before Him here present whom all the angelic hosts adore? We may
say that the most Holy Trinity instituted this Blessed Sacrament to draw to
Itself the human soul and to lift that soul to God, and by detaching it from
all created things to unite it to all the uncreated Divine essence that it may
die to all evil and live only by the spirit in the ether of divine things. The
most Holy Trinity has willed to become part of us that we may become part of
It, that man may dwell in God and God dwell in man. . . . All that is good,
beautiful, and holy is in this most Blessed Sacrament. There is the greatest
uncreated Good the pure Divinity; there the greatest created good the Humanity
of Christ; therefore we should praise Him unceasingly like the angels, never
tired of repeating Holy, Holy, Holy.”
She continues: “Let him
who approaches this mystery consider that he comes to receive Him in whom alone
all good is to be found. . . . One day I was about to communicate when I heard
a heavenly Voice which said: ‘Thou hast all good and art about to receive It.’
. . . Then I thought how could it be that I should receive a greater good, if I
already possessed it? At once I was answered: ‘I am He who can abound and
superabound.’ Thus as I approached the altar I heard these words: ‘The Son of
God is on the altar in His Humanity and His Divinity, surrounded by a multitude
of angels.’ Then I greatly desired to see Him thus, and my eyes were opened and
I saw this glory. I saw God. Then I heard a Voice which said to me: ‘ Beloved,
thus thou shalt stand before God for all eternity.'”
Angela’s last letters to
her disciples are meditations on the love of God in the Blessed Trinity and the
Incarnation, and at the end she turns to thank God for His gifts to His
creatures, saying: “Most sweet Lord, I pray Thee to grant that I may know seven
of Thy present gifts to us Thy creatures. Firstly, the ineffable gift of our
creation. Secondly, the wonderful election by which Thou hast destined us to
share in Thy glory. Thirdly, the gift of Thy Son Jesus Christ, who was born and
died to give us life. Fourthly, the precious gift of reason, because when Thou
didst create me it was only by Thy Goodness that Thou didst not make me like to
the animals. From this gift of reason I feel a triple grace: to know and
recognise Thy wonderful greatness, to know and estimate rightly my own sins, to
resist by Thy grace the temptations to sin. Incomprehensible One! what other
gift could be superior to this one? Thou hast created us in Thy likeness and
image, Thou hast clothed us by our reason with Thy own light, Thou hast given
us intelligence. Lord, grant that I may know how precious is this fifth gift of
intelligence, by which I may know Thee, and worship Thee in all Thy works and
call Thee my God. The sixth gift is wisdom, and grant me grace to assimilate
also this gift of Thy Love, a gift above all others which gives me the power of
knowing and feeling Thy Truth. The seventh gift is Love. O most pure Essence!
grant me to know Love, for the saints and angels do not ask for more than to
see Him whom they love, and to love Him whom they contemplate. Gift without
equal! for Thou Thyself, Lord, art Love.
“O supreme Good! how much
we owe Thee who hast made us able to know and to love Love, according to the
measure of which we shall be judged and rewarded when we stand in Thy Divine
Presence, and there is no other power but Love which can bring the contemplative
soul to contemplate Thee. O most admirable Lord! how many wonders dost Thou not
work in Thy children. perfect Good and Incomprehensible Kindness and Ardent
Charity! O Divine Personality which makes our substance one with Thine own!
“Substance of Thy substance!
Truly this is the miracle of miracles, the marvel so far surpassing our
imagination, Mystery of mysteries! There is no human intellect which,
contemplating Thee, doth not stop short, baffled by its own impotence. But by
Thy grace and Divine light we can feel and taste that same substance which we
can never in this world arrive at understanding. That substance is the sweet
‘Token and promise for all who live in solitude of spirit, in the loneliness of
this harsh desert.’ God grant that man in this solitude may be drawn to the
contemplation of Him even as are the angels in Heaven. Then they are true
contemplatives, detached from created things, solitary in spirit, and their
communion and conversation is with God, to whom be glory. Amen.”
Before her death Angela
blessed her spiritual sons and daughters in very simple words: “Fatevi piccoli,
fatevi piccoli,” she repeated, praying that they might follow Christ in poverty
and humility. Fra Arnaldo tells us that after this she spoke but little, though
they caught words coming as from a great way off: “The Word was incarnate. . .
. No creature is sufficient … no intelligence even of angels is sufficient “;
and we asked: “For what is all the intelligence of angels not enough? ” and she
answered: “To understand.” Then, immersed in joy, her bodily and spiritual
sufferings ended, she passed into the peace of God.
This was on 4 January,
1309, and she was buried in the Franciscan church of Foligno. She was beatified
by Innocent XII in 1693.
Thus ended the life of
this great visionary and teacher, who will always remain as a link in the long
chain of mystical religion. She had won the battle over herself; she has
transmitted to many generations her own abundant spiritual energy, and her
message is as alive today as ever it was in thirteenth-century Umbria. I have
not attempted here to try to trace the connection between Angela and the other
great mystics and mystical poets before and after her; that were a study in
itself. In her outlook of soul, her mystical experience, and doctrine she is
sometimes akin to Plotinus, and especially to Dionysius the Areopagite and the
Christian Fathers. With them she escapes to the illimitable world of God beyond
the heights of Heaven. She perpetually echoes their words, although probably
she had never heard them with her outward ears. She is the direct precursor of
Ruysbroeck, and his words on the deified souls sum up much that Angela taught
and what she herself undoubtedly enjoyed. He says: “Because they have given
themselves to God in every action, mission, or submission, they possess a peace
and joy, a consolation and savour that none can comprehend – neither the world,
nor the creature adorned for himself, nor whosoever prefers himself before God.
These interior souls, these men of lucid vision have before their eyes,
whensoever they will, the invitation of love which draws them towards the One
and says ‘Come home.’ . . . Further, illuminated men are caught up above reason
into the domain of naked vision. There the Divine Unity dwells and calls. Hence
their bare vision, cleansed and free, penetrates the activity of all created
things, and pursues and searches it out, even to its heights. This bare vision
is penetrated and impregnated by the Eternal Light as is the air by the sun.
The naked will is transformed by the Eternal Love as is fire by fire. The naked
spirit stands erect, it feels itself to be wrapped round, affirmed, and fixed
by the formless immensity of God. Thus, far above reason, the created image is
united by a three-fold bond with its eternal type the Source and Principle of
its life.”
All this is true of Sister
Leila, the humble Franciscan Tertiary and great contemplative. Well can it be
said of her, in the words of Saint Augustine: “Her life was a real life, being
full of God.”
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/among-the-franciscan-tertiaries-blessed-angela-of-foligno/
Sergio
Marini, Estasi di sant'Angela da Foligno (1985)
Sant' Angela da Foligno Terziaria
francescana
Foligno, 1248 - 4 gennaio
1309
Dopo essersi recata ad
Assisi ed aver avuto esperienze mistiche avviò un'intensa attività apostolica
per aiutare il prossimo e soprattutto i suoi concittadini affetti da lebbra.
Una volta morti marito e figli diede tutti i suoi averi ai poveri ed entrò nel
Terz'Ordine Francescano: da quel momento visse in modo cristocentrico, ovvero
tramite l'amore giunge all'identica mistica con Cristo. Per i suoi scritti
assai profondi è stata chiamata "maestra di teologia". Il 3 aprile
1701 furono concessi Messa ed Ufficio propri in onore della Beata. Infine il 9
ottobre 2013 Papa Francesco, accogliendo la relazione del Prefeto della
Congregazione delle Cause dei Santi, ha iscritto Angela da Foligno nel catalogo
dei Santi, estendendone il Culto liturgico alla Chiesa Universale.
Etimologia: Angela =
messaggero, nunzio, dal greco
Martirologio Romano: A
Foligno in Umbria, beata Angela, che, morti il marito e i figli, seguendo le
orme di san Francesco, si diede completamente a Dio e affidò alla propria
autobiografia le sue profonde esperienze di vita mistica.
Già in vita conosciuta come Magistra Theologorum (Maestra dei Teologi), Angela da Foligno (1248-1309) il 9 ottobre scorso ha ricevuto da Papa Francesco la canonizzazione per equipollenza (possesso antico del culto; costante e comune attestazione di storici degni di fede sulle virtù o sul martirio; ininterrotta fama di prodigi).
Innocenzo XII la beatificò nel 1693 e San Pio X ne sanzionò la tradizione fissando la sua festa al 4 febbraio. Mistica contemporanea di Dante e di Jacopone da Todi, Angela nacque a Foligno in una ricca famiglia e visse fra i benesseri e i piaceri del mondo. Si sa con certezza che si sposò, ebbe dei figli e la madre soddisfaceva tutti i suoi capricci. Ma cominciò, come lei stessa racconterà al Direttore Spirituale, il Conventuale Minore A. (la tradizione decifra la A. con fra’Arnaldo) a «conoscere il peccato», come è riportato nel Memoriale steso dallo stesso francescano. Andò a confessarsi, ma «la vergogna le impedì di fare una confessione completa e per questo rimase nel tormento».
Pregò San Francesco che le apparve in sogno, rassicurandola che avrebbe conosciuto la misericordia di Dio. E la pace arrivò nel 1285, attraverso una confessione totale: aveva 37 anni. Iniziò così una vita di austera penitenza: povertà dalle cose, povertà dagli affetti, povertà da se stessa. A motivo della drastica conversione dovette affrontare ostilità ed ingiurie da parte della famiglia. Ma lei perseverò anche quando morirono madre, marito, figli.
Angela si presenta come una delle più brillanti incarnazioni dell’ideale francescano della fine del Duecento. In un primo tempo, in preda a strani fenomeni, fu giudicata sospetta dai frati minori; ma intorno al 1290 la accettarono fra i penitenti del Terz’ordine. Il teologo Ubertino da Casale (citato nella Divina Commedia) fu conquistato dal suo ideale spirituale e con lui fu strettamente coinvolta nelle controversie che laceravano l’Ordine francescano, diventando una dei responsabili del movimento rigorista.
Il Memoriale fu sottoposto ad esperti, fra cui il Cardinale Giacomo Colonna, che lo approvò intorno al 1297. Questa autobiografia spirituale mostra i trenta passi che l’anima compie raggiungendo l’intima comunione con Dio, attraverso la meditazione dei misteri di Cristo, l’Eucaristia, le tentazioni e le penitenze. Esso rappresenta la prima sezione del Liber. La seconda parte, nota come Instructiones, contiene documenti religiosi di vario tipo, curati da diversi e ignoti redattori, dove si trovano anche le lettere che Angela scriveva ai suoi figli spirituali.
Nel 1291, come la mistica narrò al suo confessore, lungo il cammino che la conduceva ad Assisi, fu alla presenza della Trinità: «Ho visto una cosa piena, una maestà immensa, che non so dire, ma mi sembrava che era ogni bene. (…) dopo la sua partenza, cominciai a strillare ad alta voce (…) Amore non conosciuto perché? (…) perché mi lasci?». La mistica di Foligno insegna che non c’è vera vita spirituale senza l’umiltà e senza la preghiera. Questa può essere corporale (vocale), mentale (quando si pensa a Dio) e soprannaturale (contemplazione): «In queste tre scuole uno conosce sé e Dio; e per il fatto che conosce, ama; e perché ama, desidera avere ciò che ama. E questo è il segno del vero amore: che chi ama non trasforma parte di sé, ma tutto sé nell’Amato».
Nel corso dei secoli, fra i tanti che aderirono alla sua spiritualità,
ricordiamo Santa Teresa d’Avila e la Beata Elisabetta della Trinità. Angela
comprese che la profonda comunione con Dio non è un’utopia, ma una possibilità,
impedita solo dal peccato: di qui la necessità della mortificazione e del
sacrificio; per raggiungere l’unione profonda con il Signore sono
indispensabili l’Eucaristia e la meditazione della Passione e Morte di Cristo,
ai piedi della Croce, insieme a Maria Santissima.
Autore: Cristina Siccardi
Papa Giovanni Paolo II davanti all'urna della beata Angela, nella chiesa di San Francesco a Foligno (20 giugno 1993)
Da alcuni anni ormai non
è infrequente imbattersi in articoli di giornali e riviste di un certo spessore
culturale nella ‘notizia’ del ritorno del sacro, della rinascita della
religione, del risveglio religioso... del «ritorno di Dio» come se questi si fosse
ritirato da questo mondo, «disgustato» dal comportamento dell’uomo (vedi
ideologie e guerre del secolo XX). Sembra strano quando per decenni si era
posto l’accento più sull’eclisse di Dio, sul tramonto delle religioni definite
istituzionali o strutturate, sulla fine del sacro (e quindi di Dio) come
bisogno esistenziale dell’uomo moderno impegnato nel transito dalla modernità
alla post modernità. I giochi sembravano chiusi: Dio fuori dalla scacchiera
della storia e del pensiero umano, fuori dall’organigramma di quelli da
consultare. Non c’era più posto per lui nella nostra società secolarizzata,
iper tecnologica, guidata e dominata dalla razionalità tecnico scientifica. E
invece no. Non solo si dice che c’è un certo ritorno del sacro, ma addirittura
si parla anche del nascere (o ri-nascere?) dell’interesse per la mistica. Sì,
addirittura della mistica. Ma di che si tratta?
Le due mistiche
Ci sono due tipi di mistica. La prima è quella a cui ci si riferisce spesso
nelle riviste (esplicitamente non religiose) e qui fa capolino la New Age
(seguita dalla Next Age) di cui apparentemente oggi si parla di meno ma solo
perché molti suoi concetti sono già stati assimilati e sono parte della cultura
dominante.
Ebbene in queste forme di neomisticismo l’io è considerato l’autorità finale, sia rispetto alla pratica religiosa sia rispetto ad un credo già strutturato, come nel Cristianesimo. Siamo di fronte alla religione «fai-da-te», ad una religiosità senza Dio, creata su misura del proprio «io» e dei propri bisogni. Tanto che si potrebbe cambiare il primo dei Comandamenti in «Non avrai altro dio che il tuo io». È una mistica insomma senza un riferimento al Totalmente Altro, che è Dio (come nel Cristianesimo), senza un Tu Trascendentale con cui confrontarsi, seguendo il quale ri-programmarsi e a cui finalmente affidarsi.
Ben diverso il secondo concetto di mistica, quello cristiano.
Così scrive il Catechismo della Chiesa Cattolica (2014):
«Il progresso spirituale tende all’unione sempre più intima con Cristo. Questa unione si chiama “mistica”, perché partecipa al mistero di Cristo mediante i sacramenti – “i santi misteri” – e, in lui, al mistero della SS. Trinità. Dio ci chiama tutti a questa unione intima con lui, anche se soltanto ad alcuni sono concesse grazie speciali o segni straordinari di questa vita mistica, allo scopo di rendere manifesto il dono gratuito fatto a tutti».
Come dire tutti chiamati alla vita mistica, ma pochi (purtroppo?) gli eletti. Tutti i credenti infatti possono avere il sentimento e la convinzione della presenza immediata e trasformante di Dio nel loro cuore (specialmente dopo certe esperienze spirituali forti), poi magari tutto si indebolisce o svanisce divorato dalla fretta e dalle preoccupazioni quotidiane. Invece l’unione spirituale o mistica di quelli che chiamiamo... i mistici (santi e sante) non è passeggera, non è contingente o parziale ma abituale, è inoltre costante o per lo meno ritrovata con facilità lungo la giornata.
I mistici pur immersi nella normale quotidianità sembrano sempre animati e
guidati da una luce intima trascendente, che ridona le giuste proporzioni a
tutto il resto che è e rimane per loro terreno, parziale, contingente e
transeunte. E di questo processo Dio ha l’iniziativa. È Lui che dilata l’anima
e la guida, è sempre Lui che la orienta, la rinforza e la sostiene. Lui solo ne
è l’alimento costante e la gioia totale e totalizzante.
Il mistico è tutt’altro che un alienato
È chiaro (e si evince dalla storia dei grandi mistici della Chiesa Cattolica)
che questi uomini e donne erano tutt’altro che alienati, frustrati, umanamente
insoddisfatti, ripiegati su se stessi o concentrati sul proprio io. Vivevano di
Dio e per Dio, ri-centrati su di Lui, vivevano con Dio attingendo al suo Amore,
che naturalmente manifestavano sul prossimo in mille modi e in molteplici
attività. Dio era per loro un fuoco interiore incontenibile (come per il
profeta Geremia), che li portava a «bruciare» di esso e con esso tutti quelli che
avvicinavano.
Per dirla col filosofo H. Bergson:
«L’amore che lo (il mistico) consuma non è più semplicemente l’amore di un uomo verso Dio, è l’amore di Dio per tutti gli uomini. Attraverso Dio, con Dio, egli ama tutta l’umanità di un amore divino...».
L’incontro con Dio e con Cristo non depaupera o depotenzia assolutamente il mistico ma lo arricchisce e dà un’altra dimensione al suo essere uomo o donna.
«L’umanità dei mistici viene come potenziata dall’incontro del mistico stesso con Cristo: attraverso l’esperienza di Cristo egli plasma ulteriormente il proprio profilo umano... Ne risulta sempre che l’incontro personale con il Dio-Uno in Gesù Cristo non sminuisce la personalità ma la rafforza» (Joseph Sudbrack).
Questa lunga introduzione per capire meglio la figura della Beata Angela da Foligno, una mistica contemporanea di Dante e di Jacopone da Todi, vissuta nella verde Umbria poco tempo dopo il grande Francesco d’Assisi. Tutto per comprendere e assimilare il suo messaggio spirituale, valido ancora oggi.
Angela vide la luce a Foligno nel 1248, in una famiglia ricca di beni materiali. Lei stessa visse nel benessere, negli agi e piaceri del tempo. Si sa anche con certezza che fu sposata ed ebbe figli e che visse con la madre che soddisfaceva tutti i suoi capricci, come lei stessa dirà.
Intanto in quegli anni ci fu una notevole fioritura del Terz’Ordine di San
Francesco, ed il messaggio del Poverello d’Assisi era presente anche a Foligno.
Poi in città ci fu anche l’esempio di un ricco possidente, tale Pietro Crisi,
che aveva lasciato tutte le ricchezze e si era fatto penitente, tra il
disprezzo dei ricchi della città e anche le beffe della famiglia di Angela.
Il mio posto è nel mondo
Come disse lei stessa in quegli anni cominciò a «conoscere il peccato». Andò
anche a confessarsi ma «la vergogna le impedì di fare una confessione completa
e per questo rimase nel tormento». Finché tra le lacrime pregò San Francesco
che le apparve nel sogno rassicurandola che avrebbe conosciuto la misericordia
di Dio. E la pace arrivò attraverso una confessione totale. Siamo nell’anno
1285 e Angela aveva 37 anni: quindi una donna matura, non una ragazzina
sprovveduta.
Iniziò così una vita di austera penitenza (l’esempio di Francesco la guidava) puntando le proprie energie sulla povertà in particolare su tre aspetti: povertà dalle cose, povertà dagli affetti, povertà da se stessa. Cominciò dai vestiti, dal vitto, dalle varie acconciature. Dovette anche affrontare la ostilità, gli ostacoli e le ingiurie della famiglia: marito, figli e madre stessa. Tutti a remare contro. Ma Angela continuò nella via e nella vita di povertà che ormai si era tracciata.
Lei perseverò anche quando, in breve tempo le morirono madre, marito e figli. Rimasta sola continuò sempre più decisa il proprio tracciato esistenziale alla sequela di Cristo povero. Vendette quasi tutti i beni e cominciò a passare ore in ginocchio davanti al Crocifisso, nutrendosi quotidianamente della Scrittura.
Al ritorno da un pellegrinaggio a San Pietro a Roma vendette anche un cascinale che possedeva.
Accettata nel Terz’Ordine francescano, decise di nuovo un pellegrinaggio a
Assisi per «consultarsi» con Francesco. Durante il viaggio si fermò dalla sua
amica badessa del monastero di Vallegloria che le chiese se voleva rimanere con
loro. Ma Angela, pensando anche agli amici che l’accompagnavano (un piccolo
cenacolo di «filioli»), rispose: «Il mio posto è nel mondo». Aggiungendo che
intendeva rimanere e fare penitenza nella città dove aveva peccato.
«Amore non conosciuto perché mi lasci?
Siamo nel 1291, a sei anni dalla conversione. Un anno centrale e decisivo per
Angela e per il suo cammino spirituale. È l’avvenimento dell’esperienza mistica
di Assisi che la segnerà per sempre. Cosa successe?
Come lei stessa narrò a frate Arnaldo, suo confessore (che poi scrisse il Memoriale) lungo il cammino verso Assisi Angela ebbe un lungo dialogo con lo Spirito Santo, e poi con il Cristo. Al pomeriggio tornò nella chiesa di San Francesco e qui ebbe una travolgente esperienza mistica di Dio Trinità, della sua immensità e del suo Amore.
E poiché io – frate scrittore – qui le chiedevo e le dicevo: “Cosa hai visto?, essa rispose. Dicendo: “Ho visto una cosa piena, una maestà immensa, che non so dire, ma mi sembrava che era ogni bene. E mi disse molte parole di dolcezza quando partì e con immensa soavità e partì piano, con lentezza. E allora, dopo la sua partenza, cominciai a strillare ad alta voce – o urlare – e senza alcuna vergogna strillavo e urlavo, dicendo questa parola, cioè: “Amore non conosciuto perché? Cioè, perché mi lasci? Ma non potevo dire – o non dicevo – di più; gridavo solo senza vergogna la predetta parola, cioè: “Amore non conosciuto, e perché e perché e perché”».
Oltre ad una certa Masazuola (che Angela chiama «la mia compagna» e si tratta della beata Pasqualina da Foligno) aveva attirato attorno a sé un piccolo cenacolo di «figli» che trovarono in lei una guida spirituale ed una vera maestra nel riconoscere la via della croce, oltre che un esempio ed un sostegno nel percorrerla con decisione, in povertà e in preghiera. Angela morì il 4 gennaio 1309, ma il suo ricordo ed il suo insegnamento attraversarono i secoli. Tra i tanti che la «conobbero», ricordiamo Teresa d’Avila (grande mistica del 1500) ed Elisabetta della Trinità (una mistica morta nel 1906 e beatificata nel 1984) che apprezzarono il messaggio. Valido per la verità ancora oggi.
Quale messaggio? Sergio Andreoli, studioso della Beata, lo sintetizza affermando che la spiritualità di Angela parte dall’affermazione centrale che «Dio è tutto Amore e perciò ama in modo totale» e che per corrispondere a questo amore non si dovrà fare altro che seguire il Cristo «che si è fatto e si fa ancora via in questo mondo; via... veracissima e diritta e breve».
Angela ha mostrato di aver chiaramente compreso che la profonda comunione con Dio non è un’utopia, ma una possibilità offerta che viene impedita solo dal peccato: di qui la necessità di una costante e severa mortificazione per aderire all’amore di Dio, che è ogni bene e gioia per l’anima. Angela inoltre ha capito che questa unione profonda si realizza specialmente nell’Eucarestia, espressione altissima e misteriosa dell’Amore di Cristo per noi. Un’altra costante della sua vita fu la meditazione dei misteri di Cristo, particolarmente della sua Passione e Morte (insieme a Maria di Nazaret ai piedi della Croce), pratica, secondo lei, molto fruttuosa per rimanere in comunione con Dio e per perseverare nella donazione a Dio e al prossimo.
Sappiamo tutti che non c’è vera vita spirituale senza l’umiltà e senza la preghiera. Questa può essere corporale (vocale) mentale («quando non si pensa nient’altro che a Dio») e soprannaturale (o di contemplazione).
«In queste tre scuole uno conosce sé e Dio; e per il fatto che conosce, ama; e perché ama, desidera avere ciò che ama. E questo è il segno del vero amore: che chi ama non trasforma parte di sé, ma tutto sé nell’Amato».
Considerazioni queste che ritengo sempre attuali per tutti: per chi comincia il proprio cammino spirituale, e per chi è già avanti e con la guida dello Spirito, vuole continuare l’avventura della conoscenza dell’Amore di Dio nella sua vita, seguendo Cristo «la via breve».
Autore: Mario Scudu sdb
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/30700
Francesco Mancini, Saint Félicien invoquant Sainte Angela de Foligno, fresque, Dôme de la Cathédrale de San Feliciano (Foligno Cathedral)
Francesco Mancini (1679–1758),
St Felician entrusting Foligno to religion, fresco on the ceiling of the apse
in the Cathedral of San Feliciano, Foligno, Italy
BENEDETTO XVI
UDIENZA GENERALE
Piazza San Pietro
Mercoledì, 13 ottobre
2010
Beata Angela da Foligno
Cari fratelli e sorelle,
oggi vorrei parlarvi
della beata Angela da Foligno, una grande mistica medioevale vissuta nel XIII
secolo. Di solito, si è affascinati dai vertici dell’esperienza di unione con
Dio che ella ha raggiunto, ma si considerano forse troppo poco i primi passi, la
sua conversione, e il lungo cammino che l’ha condotta dal punto di partenza, il
“grande timore dell’inferno”, fino al traguardo, l’unione totale con la
Trinità. La prima parte della vita di Angela non è certo quella di una fervente
discepola del Signore. Nata intorno al 1248 in una famiglia benestante, rimase
orfana di padre e fu educata dalla madre in modo piuttosto superficiale. Venne
introdotta ben presto negli ambienti mondani della città di Foligno, dove
conobbe un uomo, che sposò a vent’anni e dal quale ebbe dei figli. La sua vita
era spensierata, tanto da permettersi di disprezzare i cosiddetti “penitenti” -
molto diffusi in quell’epoca – coloro, cioè, che per seguire Cristo vendevano i
loro beni e vivevano nella preghiera, nel digiuno, nel servizio alla Chiesa e
nella carità.
Alcuni avvenimenti, come
il violento terremoto del 1279, un uragano, l’annosa guerra contro Perugia e le
sue dure conseguenze incidono nella vita di Angela, la quale progressivamente
prende coscienza dei suoi peccati, fino ad un passo decisivo: invoca san
Francesco, che le appare in visione, per chiedergli consiglio in vista di una
buona Confessione generale da compiere: siamo nel 1285, Angela si confessa da
un Frate a San Feliciano. Tre anni dopo, la strada della conversione conosce
un’altra svolta: lo scioglimento dai legami affettivi, poiché, in pochi mesi,
alla morte della madre seguono quelle del marito e di tutti i figli. Allora
vende i suoi beni e nel 1291 aderisce al Terz’Ordine di San Francesco. Muore a
Foligno il 4 gennaio 1309.
Il Libro della beata
Angela da Foligno, in cui è raccolta la documentazione sulla nostra Beata,
racconta questa conversione; ne indica i mezzi necessari: la penitenza,
l’umiltà e le tribolazioni; e ne narra i passaggi, il susseguirsi delle esperienze
di Angela, iniziate nel 1285. Ricordandole, dopo averle vissute, ella cercò di
raccontarle attraverso il Frate confessore, il quale le trascrisse fedelmente
tentando poi di sistemarle in tappe, che chiamò “passi o mutazioni”, ma senza
riuscire a ordinarle pienamente (cfr Il Libro della beata Angela da
Foligno, Cinisello Balsamo 1990, p. 51). Questo perché l’esperienza di unione
per la beata Angela è un coinvolgimento totale dei sensi spirituali e
corporali, e di ciò che ella “comprende” durante le sue estasi rimane, per così
dire, solo un’“ombra” nella sua mente. “Sentii davvero queste parole - ella
confessa dopo un rapimento mistico -, ma quello che vidi e compresi, e che egli
[cioè Dio] mi mostrò, in nessun modo so o posso dirlo, sebbene rivelerei volentieri
quello che capii con le parole che udii, ma fu un abisso assolutamente
ineffabile”. Angela da Foligno presenta il suo “vissuto” mistico, senza
elaborarlo con la mente, perché sono illuminazioni divine che si comunicano
alla sua anima in modo improvviso e inaspettato. Lo stesso Frate confessore fa
fatica a riportare tali eventi, “anche a causa della sua grande e mirabile
riservatezza riguardo ai doni divini” (Ibid., p. 194). Alla difficoltà per
Angela di esprimere la sua esperienza mistica si aggiunge anche la difficoltà
per i suoi ascoltatori di comprenderla. Una situazione che indica con chiarezza
come l’unico e vero Maestro, Gesù, vive nel cuore di ogni credente e desidera
prenderne totale possesso. Così in Angela, che scriveva ad un suo figlio spirituale:
“Figlio mio, se vedessi il mio cuore, saresti assolutamente costretto a fare
tutte le cose che Dio vuole, perché il mio cuore è quello di Dio e il cuore di
Dio è il mio”. Risuonano qui le parole di san Paolo: “Non vivo più io, ma
Cristo vive in me” (Gal 2,20).
Consideriamo allora solo
qualche “passo” del ricco cammino spirituale della nostra Beata. Il primo, in
realtà, è una premessa: “Fu la conoscenza del peccato, - come ella precisa – in
seguito alla quale l’anima ebbe un gran timore di dannarsi; in questo passo
pianse amaramente” (Il Libro della beata Angela da Foligno, p. 39). Questo
“timore” dell’inferno risponde al tipo di fede che Angela aveva al momento
della sua “conversione”; una fede ancora povera di carità, cioè dell’amore di
Dio. Pentimento, paura dell’inferno, penitenza aprono ad Angela la prospettiva
della dolorosa “via della croce” che, dall’ottavo al quindicesimo passo, la
porterà poi sulla “via dell’amore”. Racconta il Frate confessore: “La fedele
allora mi disse: Ho avuto questa divina rivelazione: «Dopo le cose che avete
scritto, fa’ scrivere che chiunque vuole conservare la grazia non deve togliere
gli occhi dell’anima dalla Croce, sia nella gioia sia nella tristezza che gli
concedo o permetto»” (Ibid., p. 143). Ma in questa fase Angela ancora “non
sente amore”; ella afferma: “L’anima prova vergogna e amarezza e non sperimenta
ancora l’amore, ma il dolore” (Ibid., p. 39), ed è insoddisfatta.
Angela sente di dover
dare qualcosa a Dio per riparare i suoi peccati, ma lentamente comprende di non
aver nulla da darGli, anzi di “essere nulla” davanti a Lui; capisce che non
sarà la sua volontà a darle l’amore di Dio, perché questa può solo darle il suo
“nulla”, il “non amore”. Come ella dirà: solo “l’amore vero e puro, che viene
da Dio, sta nell’anima e fa sì che riconosca i propri difetti e la bontà divina
[…] Tale amore porta l’anima in Cristo e lei comprende con sicurezza che non si
può verificare o esserci alcun inganno. Insieme a questo amore non si può
mischiare qualcosa di quello del mondo” (Ibid., p. 124-125). Aprirsi solamente
e totalmente all’amore di Dio, che ha la massima espressione in Cristo: “O mio
Dio - prega - fammi degna di conoscere l’altissimo mistero, che il tuo
ardentissimo e ineffabile amore attuò, insieme all’amore della Trinità, cioè
l’altissimo mistero della tua santissima incarnazione per noi. […]. Oh
incomprensibile amore! Al di sopra di quest’amore, che ha fatto sì che il mio
Dio si è fatto uomo per farmi Dio, non c’è amore più grande” (Ibid., p. 295).
Tuttavia, il cuore di Angela porta sempre le ferite del peccato; anche dopo una
Confessione ben fatta, ella si trovava perdonata e ancora affranta dal peccato,
libera e condizionata dal passato, assolta ma bisognosa di penitenza. E anche
il pensiero dell’inferno l’accompagna perché quanto più l’anima progredisce
sulla via della perfezione cristiana, tanto più essa si convincerà non solo di
essere “indegna”, ma di essere meritevole dell’inferno.
Ed ecco che, nel suo
cammino mistico, Angela comprende in modo profondo la realtà centrale: ciò che
la salverà dalla sua “indegnità” e dal “meritare l’inferno” non sarà la sua
“unione con Dio” e il suo possedere la “verità”, ma Gesù crocifisso, “la sua
crocifissione per me”, il suo amore. Nell’ottavo passo, ella dice: “Ancora però
non capivo se era bene maggiore la mia liberazione dai peccati e dall’inferno e
la conversione a penitenza, oppure la sua crocifissione per me” (Ibid., p. 41).
E’ l’instabile equilibrio fra amore e dolore, avvertito in tutto il suo
difficile cammino verso la perfezione. Proprio per questo contempla di
preferenza il Cristo crocifisso, perché in tale visione vede realizzato il
perfetto equilibrio: in croce c’è l’uomo-Dio, in un supremo atto di sofferenza
che è un supremo atto di amore. Nella terza Istruzione la Beata
insiste su questa contemplazione e afferma: “Quanto più perfettamente e
puramente vediamo, tanto più perfettamente e puramente amiamo. […] Perciò
quanto più vediamo il Dio e uomo Gesù Cristo, tanto più veniamo trasformati in
lui attraverso l’amore. […] Quello che ho detto dell’amore […] lo dico anche
del dolore: l’anima quanto contempla l’ineffabile dolore del Dio e uomo Gesù
Cristo, tanto si addolora e viene trasformata in dolore” (Ibid., p. 190-191).
Immedesimarsi, trasformarsi nell’amore e nelle sofferenze del Cristo
crocifisso, identificarsi con Lui. La conversione di Angela, iniziata da quella
Confessione del 1285, arriverà a maturazione solo quando il perdono di Dio
apparirà alla sua anima come il dono gratuito di amore del Padre, sorgente di
amore: “Non c’è nessuno che possa portare scuse – ella afferma - perché
chiunque può amare Dio, ed egli non chiede all’anima se non che gli voglia
bene, perché egli l’ama ed è il suo amore” (Ibid., p. 76).
Nell’itinerario
spirituale di Angela il passaggio dalla conversione all’esperienza mistica, da
ciò che si può esprimere all’inesprimibile, avviene attraverso il Crocifisso.
E’ il “Dio-uomo passionato”, che diventa il suo “maestro di perfezione”. Tutta
la sua esperienza mistica è, dunque, tendere ad una perfetta “somiglianza” con
Lui, mediante purificazioni e trasformazioni sempre più profonde e radicali. In
tale stupenda impresa Angela mette tutta se stessa, anima e corpo, senza
risparmiarsi in penitenze e tribolazioni dall’inizio alla fine, desiderando di
morire con tutti i dolori sofferti dal Dio-uomo crocifisso per essere
trasformata totalmente in Lui: “O figli di Dio, - ella raccomandava -
trasformatevi totalmente nel Dio-uomo passionato, che tanto vi amò da degnarsi
di morire per voi di morte ignominiosissima e del tutto ineffabilmente dolorosa
e in modo penosissimo e amarissimo. Questo solo per amor tuo, o uomo!” (Ibid.,
p. 247). Questa identificazione significa anche vivere ciò che Gesù ha vissuto:
povertà, disprezzo, dolore, perché – come ella afferma - “attraverso la povertà
temporale l’anima troverà ricchezze eterne; attraverso il disprezzo e la
vergogna otterrà sommo onore e grandissima gloria; attraverso poca penitenza,
fatta con pena e dolore, possederà con infinita dolcezza e consolazione il Bene
Sommo, Dio eterno” (Ibid., p. 293).
Dalla conversione
all’unione mistica con il Cristo crocifisso, all’inesprimibile. Un cammino
altissimo, il cui segreto è la preghiera costante: “Quanto più pregherai – ella
afferma - tanto maggiormente sarai illuminato; quanto più sarai illuminato,
tanto più profondamente e intensamente vedrai il Sommo Bene, l’Essere
sommamente buono; quanto più profondamente e intensamente lo vedrai, tanto più
lo amerai; quanto più lo amerai, tanto più ti diletterà; e quanto più ti diletterà,
tanto maggiormente lo comprenderai e diventerai capace di capirlo.
Successivamente arriverai alla pienezza della luce, perché capirai di non poter
comprendere” (Ibid., p. 184).
Cari fratelli e sorelle,
la vita di santa Angela comincia con un’esistenza mondana, abbastanza lontana
da Dio. Ma poi l'incontro con la figura di san Francesco e, finalmente,
l'incontro col Cristo Crocifisso risveglia l'anima per La presenza di Dio, per
il fatto che solo con Dio la vita diventa vera vita, perché diventa, nel dolore
per il peccato, amore e gioia. E così parla a noi santa Angela. Oggi siamo
tutti in pericolo di vivere come se Dio non esistesse: sembra così lontano
dalla vita odierna. Ma Dio ha mille modi, per ciascuno il suo, di farsi
presente nell'anima, di mostrare che esiste e mi conosce e mi ama. E santa
Angela vuol farci attenti a questi segni con i quali il Signore ci tocca
l'anima, attenti alla presenza di Dio, per imparare così la via con Dio e verso
Dio, nella comunione con Cristo Crocifisso. Preghiamo il Signore che ci renda
attenti ai segni della sua presenza, che ci insegni a vivere realmente. Grazie.
Saluti:
Je salue cordialement les
pèlerins venus de Guadeloupe, du diocèse d’Arras et de celui d’Évry accompagné
par Mgr Michel Dubost. Je salue aussi les choristes de la cathédrale de
Saint-Malo et les paroissiens de Malonne, en Belgique. Que la bienheureuse
Angèle de Foligno soit pour vous un exemple et un guide spirituel qui vous
conduira vers le Christ. Bon pèlerinage et que Dieu vous bénisse!
I am pleased to welcome
the delegates of the International Association of Financial Executives
Institutes. I also extend greetings to all the English speaking pilgrims and
visitors, especially those from England, Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, Norway,
South Africa, Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and the United
States. May God bless you all!
Von Herzen grüße ich alle
Pilger deutscher Sprache, heute besonders die Ministranten aus dem Erzbistum
Köln, die sich mit Kardinal Meisner nach Rom aufgemacht haben, und ebenso die
Meßdiener aus Borken in Westfalen. Ich grüße auch die Neupriester aus dem Germanikum
mit ihren Gästen und nicht zuletzt die Schwestern der heiligen Elisabeth. Der
Aufenthalt in Rom schenke euch geistliche Kraft für euren Alltag. Gott segne
euch alle.
Saludo a los peregrinos
de lengua española, en particular a las Hermanas de la Compañía de la Cruz; a
los miembros de la Hermandad de Nuestra Señora de la Estrella, de Sevilla; a
los representantes de la Cofradía de Investigadores de Toledo, acompañados por
el Señor Cardenal Antonio Cañizares Llovera; a los fieles de la Arquidiócesis de
Santiago de los Caballeros, con su Arzobispo, Monseñor Ramón Benito de la Rosa
Carpio, así como a los demás grupos procedentes de España, México, Honduras,
Argentina y otros países latinoamericanos. Que la Beata Ángela de Foligno nos
ayude a comprender que la verdadera felicidad consiste en la amistad con
Cristo, crucificado por amor nuestro. A su divina bondad sigo encomendando con
esperanza a los mineros de la región de Atacama, en Chile. Muchas gracias y que
Dios os bendiga.
Saúdo com profunda
amizade os peregrinos lusófonos presentes nesta Audiência, particularmente os
fiéis portugueses de Valongo e os brasileiros de Ribeirão Pires, Porto Alegre e
São Paulo. Sobre todos invoco as luzes e bênçãos do Céu que possam, a exemplo
da Baeta Ângela de Foligno, ajudar-vos a compreender o quanto Cristo nos amou e
nos ama. Ide com Deus. Obrigado!
Saluto in lingua polacca:
Z serdecznym
pozdrowieniem zwracam się do Polaków. Zbliża się rocznica wyboru Jana Pawła II.
Wraz z Wami dziękuję Bogu za świadectwo wiary, nadziei i miłości, jakie dawał
nam mój wielki poprzednik na Stolicy Piotrowej. Modlę się, aby owoce jego
życia, posługi i nauczania trwały w Kościele i w sercach ludzi. Waszym
modlitwom polecam prace Synodu Biskupów dla Bliskiego Wschodu. Niech będzie
pochwalony Jezus Chrystus!
Traduzione italiana:
Con un cordiale saluto mi
rivolgo ai polacchi. Si avvicina l’anniversario dell’elezione di Giovanni Paolo
II. Insieme a voi ringrazio Dio per la testimonianza della fede, della speranza
e dell’amore che ci ha dato il mio grande predecessore sulla Sede di Pietro.
Prego, che i frutti della sua vita, del ministero e dell’insegnamento
permangano nella Chiesa e nei cuori degli uomini. Alle vostre preghiere
raccomando i lavori del Sinodo dei Vescovi per il Medio Oriente. Sia lodato
Gesù Cristo!
Saluto in lingua croata:
Od srca pozdravljam i
blagoslivljam sve hrvatske hodočasnike, a na poseban način svećenike i vjernike
riječke nadbiskupije predvođene njihovim nadbiskupom monsinjorom Ivanom
Devčićem, kao i vjernike iz župe Gospe Fatimske iz Splita te Zbor Kraljica
Jelena iz Solina.
Dragi prijatelji, Crkva
polaže veliku nadu u vas, vaše obitelji i župne zajednice kako biste neprestano
u vašoj domovini gradili ljubav i pomirenje. Ojačani u vjeri, molite zagovor
Blažene Djevice Marije da ustrajete. Hvaljen Isus i Marija!
Traduzione italiana:
Di cuore saluto e
benedico i pellegrini croati, ed in modo particolare i sacerdoti ed i fedeli
tutti dell’Arcidiocesi di Rijeka, guidati dal loro Arcivescovo Mons. Ivan
Devčić, come pure i fedeli della Parrocchia di Nostra Signora di Fatima di
Split ed il Coro Kraljica Jelena di Solin. Cari amici, la Chiesa pone
grande speranza in voi, nelle vostre famiglie e comunità parrocchiali affinché
costantemente costruiate l’amore e la riconciliazione nella vostra patria.
Rafforzati nella fede, invocate l’intercessione della Beata Vergine Maria
perché vi aiuti a perseverare. Siano lodati Gesù e Maria!
Saluto in lingua
slovacca:
Srdečne pozdravujem
slovenských pútnikov, osobitne z Nitry, zo Spiša, z farnosti svätého Michala z
Bajerova ako aj skupinu diakonov Košickej arcidiecézy.
Bratia a sestry, ruženec
je pre nás školou modlitby. Nech vaša púť v tomto ružencovom mesiaci októbri,
vám pomôže odkryť krásu tejto modlitby, takej jednoduchej, ale účinnej. S týmto
želaním žehnám vás i vašich drahých.
Pochválený buď Ježiš
Kristus!
Traduzione
italiana :
Saluto cordialmente i
pellegrini slovacchi, specialmente quelli provenienti da Nitra, Spiš, dalla
Parrocchia di San Michele di Bajerov, come pure il gruppo dei diaconi
dell’Arcidiocesi di Košice.
Fratelli e sorelle, il
Rosario è per noi una scuola di preghiera. Auguro che il vostro pellegrinaggio
in questo mese del Rosario di ottobre, vi aiuti a scoprire la bellezza di
questa preghiera semplice, ma efficace. Con questo desiderio benedico voi ed i
vostri cari.
Sia lodato Gesù Cristo!
Saluto in lingua
ungherese:
Szeretettel köszöntöm a
magyar híveket, különösen azokat, akik Miskolcról, Tesmagról, Gödről, Dányból
és Kislétáról jöttek. Megemlékezem a kolontáriakról, akiknek el kellett
hagyniuk otthonukat és mindenkiről, akiket a mérgező iszap sújtott. Imáimba
zárom azokat, akik életüket veszítették.
Szívesen adom apostoli
áldásomat Rátok és mindazokra, akik az érintettek segítségére sietnek.
Dicsértessék a Jézus Krisztus!
Traduzione italiana:
Con grande affetto saluto
i fedeli ungheresi, specialmente quelli che sono arrivati da Miskolc, Tesmák,
Göd, Dány, Kisléta.
Ricordo nelle preghiere
gli abitanti di Kolontár, che hanno dovuto lasciare le loro case, e tutti
coloro i quali sono stati colpiti dal fango tossico, specialmente coloro che
hanno perso la vita.
Volentieri imparto la
Benedizione Apostolica a voi ed anche a tutti che aiutano alle persone colpite.
Sia lodato Gesù Cristo!
Saluto in lingua ucraina:
Щиро вітаю українських
паломників і закликаючи їх повсюдно давати великодушне християнське свідчення,
уділяю кожному Апостольське Благословення. Слава Ісусу Христу!
Traduzione italiana:
Rivolgo un cordiale
saluto ai pellegrini ucraini e mentre li esorto a rendere ovunque una generosa
testimonianza cristiana, invoco su ciascuno la Benedizione Apostolica. Sia
lodato Gesù Cristo!
* * *
Rivolgo un cordiale
benvenuto ai pellegrini di lingua italiana. In particolare, saluto i
partecipanti al pellegrinaggio promosso dalle Suore Francescane del Signore,
guidato dal Vescovo di Caltanissetta Mons. Mario Russotto e, nell’associarmi
alla loro gioia per la ricorrenza giubilare dell’Istituto religioso fondato dal
Servo di Dio Angelico Lipani, auspico per ciascuno una rinnovata effusione di
favori celesti, perché siano rafforzati i generosi propositi di testimonianza
evangelica. Saluto il gruppo “Amici e Benefattori di Telepace”, che ricordano
il 20° anniversario di presenza a Roma: possa la vostra benemerita emittente continuare
a crescere sotto lo sguardo materno di Maria. Saluto i fedeli di Piani
d’Imperia e li esorto a vivere con entusiasmo la fede cristiana, nella
consapevolezza che essa è la risposta pienamente valida alle speranze e alle
attese di ogni uomo e di ogni società
Mi rivolgo ora ai
giovani, agli ammalati ed agli sposi novelli. Il mio pensiero va alla Madonna
di Fatima, di cui proprio oggi ricordiamo l'ultima apparizione. Alla celeste
Madre di Dio affido voi, cari giovani, perché possiate generosamente rispondere
alla chiamata del Signore. Maria sia per voi, cari malati, conforto nelle
vostre pene; ed accompagni voi, cari sposi novelli, nel vostro incipiente
cammino familiare.
© Copyright 2010 -
Libreria Editrice Vaticana
SOURCE : http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/it/audiences/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20101013.html
Angela da Foligno
(1248-1309)
Beatificazione:
- 07 maggio 1701
- Papa Clemente XI
Canonizzazione:
- 09 ottobre 2013
- Papa Francesco
- Canonizzazione
equipollente
Ricorrenza:
- 4 gennaio
Religiosa, dell’Ordine Secolare di San Francesco, morti il marito e i figli, seguendo le orme di san Francesco, si diede completamente a Dio e affidò alla propria autobiografia le sue profonde esperienze di vita mistica, quando comprese che per meglio servire e somigliare al Signore era chiamata a vivere la santità nella concretezza del quotidiano
“Il mio posto è nel mondo”
Nata a Foligno il 4
gennaio 1248 da una famiglia agiata, presto rimase orfana di padre e ricevette
dalla madre un’educazione superficiale che la portò a consumare la giovinezza
lontana dalla fede. Bella, intelligente, passionale, andò in sposa ad un notabile
folignate da cui ebbe diversi figli.
La frivolezza e
spensieratezza della gioventù furono sconvolte nel giro di pochi anni da una
serie di eventi: il violento terremoto del 1279, un uragano impetuoso e poi la
lunga guerra contro Perugia la portarono ad interrogarsi sulla precarietà della
vita e ad avvertire la paura dell’inferno. Nacque in lei il desiderio di
avvicinarsi al sacramento della penitenza, ma – narrano le cronache – “la
vergogna le impedì di fare una confessione completa e per questo rimase nel
tormento”. In preghiera ottenne da san Francesco d’Assisi la rassicurazione che
avrebbe presto conosciuto la misericordia di Dio.
Angela tornò quindi al
confessionale e questa volta si riconciliò pienamente con il Signore. All’età
di 37 anni, nonostante l’ostilità dei familiari, ebbe inizio la conversione nel
segno della penitenza e della rinuncia alle cose, agli affetti, a sé stessa.
Dopo la morte ravvicinata e prematura della madre, del marito e dei figli la
donna vendette ogni suo bene distribuendone il ricavato ai poveri, si recò in
pellegrinaggio ad Assisi sulle orme del Poverello e nel 1291 entrò nel
Terz’Ordine di San Francesco, affidandosi alla direzione spirituale del frate
Arnaldo, concittadino e consanguineo, che divenne poi suo biografo, autore del
celebre “Memoriale”. In questo testo le tappe della vocazione di Angela e le
sue costanti estasi ed esperienze mistiche, culminate nell’inabitazione
nell’anima della Santissima Trinità, sono suddivise in trenta “passi”.
“Ho visto una cosa piena,
– raccontava al confessore a proposito della visione del Dio Trino – una maestà
immensa, che non so dire, ma mi sembrava che era ogni bene. (…) Dopo la sua
partenza, cominciai a strillare ad alta voce (…) Amore non conosciuto perché mi
lasci?”. Il giovanile timore della dannazione lasciò presto il posto alla
consapevolezza di non potersi salvare per i propri meriti, ma, con animo
pentito, solo per mezzo dell’infinito amore misericordioso di Dio.
Alla costante dimensione
orante, esplicatasi in special modo nell’adorazione eucaristica e nella
preghiera la folignate affiancò sempre l’attività caritativa a fianco degli
ultimi, assistendo con tenerezza i lebbrosi e i malati nei quali scorgeva il
Cristo Crocifisso. Conosciuta già in vita come Magistra Theologorum, promosse
una teologia basata sulla Parola di Dio, sull’obbedienza alla Chiesa e
sull’esperienza diretta del divino nelle sue manifestazioni più intime.
Coinvolta con passione
nelle controversie che laceravano l’ordine francescano, Angela attirò attorno
alla sua persona un cenacolo di figli spirituali che vedevano in lei una guida
ed una vera maestra di fede: per questo motivo la sua figura incarna uno dei
modelli del genio femminile nella Chiesa. Già prima della morte, sopraggiunta
il 4 gennaio del 1309, le venne attribuito dal popolo, in modo non ufficiale,
il titolo di santa.
Il 9 ottobre 2013 Papa
Francesco ha portato a compimento quanto già avviato dai suoi predecessori
canonizzando Angela da Foligno per equipollenza.
SOURCE : https://www.causesanti.va/it/santi-e-beati/angela-da-foligno.html
Lettera Decretale di Papa
FRANCESCO sulla Canonizzazione equipollente della BEATA ANGELA DA FOLIGNO
Creato: 02 Gennaio 2014
“L’incontro con la figura di san Francesco e, finalmente, l’incontro col Cristo
Crocifisso risveglia l’anima per la presenza di Dio, per il fatto che solo con
Dio la vita diventa vera vita, perché diventa, nel dolore per il peccato, amore
e gioia: così parla a noi santa Angela da Foligno”.
Queste parole, che concludevano la catechesi del nostro venerato predecessore
Benedetto XVI il 13 ottobre 2010, costituiscono un ponte ideale tra la vicenda
di una donna vissuta nel Medio Evo e il cammino che il Popolo di Dio è
continuamente chiamato a compiere nella sua storia. Infatti la vita, la
spiritualità e la cultura di Angela da Foligno testimoniano con
chiarezza e coerenza il valore assoluto e intramontabile della profonda
comunione con Dio, che rende possibile l’incontro con tutte le creature come
opera del Creatore. Ella visse costantemente alla presenza del Signore, per
accogliere senza esitazioni la sua volontà.
Nata a Foligno intorno al 1248 da una famiglia benestante, Angela rimase presto
orfana di padre e fu educata dalla madre in modo piuttosto superficiale. A poco
piú di venti anni, andò sposa a un maggiorente folignate, da cui ebbe vari
figli.Angela è una donna bella, seducente, passionale e intelligente; conduce
un’esistenza mondana, dissipata, assapora ogni gioia della vita e non si cura
della salvezza della sua anima. Varcata la soglia dei trent’anni, si
verificarono alcuni eventi, come il violento terremoto del 1279, un impetuoso
uragano, la lunga guerra contro Perugia, che la costrinsero a una presa di
coscienza della sua vita e a una maggiore riflessione. Nel 1285, toccata dalla
grazia e da un’apparizione di San Francesco d’Assisi, decise di cambiare vita:
fece la confessione generale e intraprese un cammino di penitenza e di
conversione. Sospinta inizialmente dalla paura dell’inferno e dalla necessità
del pentimento, trasforma man mano la sua vita in un’ascesa continua verso la
santità per la via della croce e dell’amore fino all’unione totale con la
Trinità.
Tre anni dopo, la decisione di percorrere il cammino della perfezione
evangelica divenne definitiva e radicale, favorita anche dalla morte, avvenuta
in breve tempo, della mamma, del marito e dei figli. Rimasta sola, si sentì
pienamente libera di aderire a Dio; perciò, come aveva già fatto il nobile
folignate Pietro Crisci, vendette tutti i suoi beni, ne distribuì il ricavato
ai poveri e nel 1291 entrò nel Terz’Ordine di San Francesco, affidandosi alla
direzione spirituale del frate francescano fra Arnaldo, suo concittadino e
consanguineo. Nello stesso anno compì un pellegrinaggio ad Assisi, durante il
quale sperimentò speciali doni mistici.
Dopo un periodo di grande penitenza e austerità, la Terziaria francescana,
attraverso un intenso cammino spirituale, venne condotta da Dio alle più alte
vette dell’esperienza mistica, fino a sperimentare l’inabitazione nella sua
anima della Santissima Trinità. Tutte queste cose si trovano riflesse nel
cosiddetto Libro della Beata Angela, la cui prima parte è il Memoriale messo
in latino dal suo confessore fra Arnaldo da Foligno. In esso viene raccolta
l’esperienza interiore di Angela, a partire dal momento della sua conversione
fino al 1296. Il Documento fu approvato da otto teologi dell’Ordine Francescano
e più tardi anche dal cardinale Giacomo Colonna. La seconda parte del medesimo
libro è costituita dalle Instructiones che Angela dava ai suoi
discepoli.
Conclusa la stesura del Memoriale, sembra che ci sia stata una diminuzione
delle esperienze mistiche; infatti, negli ultimi anni della sua vita, la Beata,
imitando la Vergine Maria di cui era particolarmente devota, sviluppò una
speciale maternità spirituale, che la rese particolarmente nota nel mondo
francescano. Raccolse, infatti, intorno a sé numerosi discepoli, provenienti da
varie parti d’Italia e anche dall’estero, pronti ad accoglierne gli
insegnamenti e i consigli spirituali. In tale insegnamento merita particolare
attenzione la prudenza che impiegò nel distogliere i “frati del libero spirito”
e i “fraticelli” dall’intransigenza e dagli estremismi.
Ben nota è anche la grande opera di assistenza caritativa svolta da Angela da
Foligno. Assistette, infatti, sull’esempio di Francesco, i lebbrosi
nell’ospedale della sua città. In ognuno di loro vedeva la persona di Cristo.
Gli ultimi momenti della sua vita sono narrati in un racconto
particolareggiato, che è conosciuto con il titolo di De felici exitu
beatae Angelae. La Beata si spense santamente a Foligno il 4 gennaio 1309,
circondata dall’affetto e dalla venerazione dei suoi figli spirituali.
Come sono i Vangeli per Gesù, così per Angela da Foligno, la sola fonte
obbligata per conoscere la sua vita è il suoLiber. Così le parole e i fatti
riferiti da questo preziosissimo Documento diventano i testimoni delle
virtù della Beata, che rifulse anzitutto per la sua fede forte e luminosa, per
la sua carità viva e ardente e per la sua speranza lieta e operosa. Molte volte
nel Memoriale frate Arnaldo la chiama “fidelis Christi”, che
significa sì la fedele di Cristo, ma soprattutto la “credente” che si affida
totalmente al suo Signore, la convertita che vive con fede, gioia e fedeltà,
colei che pone a fondamento della sua nuova esistenza la fede e l’amorosa
unione con il Signore. Angela è la donna piena di fede, ma anche immagine
“fedele” di Gesù Cristo e del suo stile di vita, espressione piena di quello
che Dio voleva comunicare all’umanità al tempo di Angela, quindi profetessa nel
senso più autentico della parola. Ai discepoli Angela insegna: «Si vis
fidem, ora». A chi si apre alla verità e alla carità di Dio, la fede dà anche
una forza straordinaria per affrontare ogni prova, compreso il martirio. Angela
ha avuto questa forza arrivando a desiderare ardentemente – come confessa nel
suo libro – una morte più spregevole di quella di Gesù Cristo. Ai suoi
discepoli, che desiderano il dono della speranza, Angela prima consiglia di
volgere lo sguardo verso Gesù Cristo crocifisso, che ha accettato le sofferenze
della passione e l’esperienza dell’abbandono da parte del Padre, e poi li
invita perentoriamente a invocare tale dono nella preghiera: “si vis spem, ora”.
L’Eucaristia, la preghiera, la contemplazione e la partecipazione alla vita
soprannaturale della Chiesa la introdussero sempre più profondamente nell’amore
di Dio che le fa sentire la sua presenza e tiene vivo in lei il desiderio di
essere disprezzata dal mondo e di condividere l’umiliazione della croce.
Parlando dei doni divini e in particolare della carità, piena di stupore si
rivolge a Dio con queste parole: «O Summum Esse, fac me dignam intelligere
istud donum quod est supra omne donum; quia omnes angeli et omnes sancti non
habent aliud videre, nisi te videre amatum et amare te et te contemplari. O
donum quod est supra omne donum, quia tu ipse es et es amor. O Summum Bonum,
dignasti nos facere te amorem cognoscere, et facis nos amare talem
amorem». Angela in tante visioni, estasi e locuzioni afferma di sentirsi
bruciare d’amore per il suo Signore. Quanto all’amore per il prossimo ella
invita ad amare, quasi in un abbraccio cosmico, ogni creatura razionale e non
razionale e presenta l’amore di Dio come il modello a cui ispirarsi. L’amore verso
tutti è vivamente raccomandato da Angela ai suoi discepoli anche alla vigilia
del suo beato transito dalla terra al cielo. Nessuno può essere escluso da
questo Amore, perché tutti sono figli dello stesso Padre e perciò fratelli e
sorelle fra loro. Angela vive l’amore verso il prossimo bisognoso in modo così
radicale che vende tutti i suoi beni per distribuirne il cospicuo ricavato ai
poveri, mettendosi poi a servire con squisita tenerezza i lebbrosi. Donna forte
e sapiente, Angela si distacca dalle cose del mondo per aspirare con tutte le
sue forze alle cose di lassù, dove Cristo si trova assiso alla destra del Padre
(cf. Col. 3,1). Intuisce che la scelta radicale della povertà è la via
indispensabile per arrivare alla croce di Cristo. Tra le virtù che Angela è
andata progressivamente acquisendo nel suo lungo itinerario di conversione, la
castità è forse quella che, insieme con la povertà, ha maggiormente richiesto
tagli dolorosi e aspre battaglie. A trentasette anni, sotto l’azione dello
Spirito, inizia un percorso esistenziale radicalmente nuovo, legandosi come
sposa a Cristo, a cui un giorno promette castità perfetta con un sorprendente
gesto di spoliazione. Dopo l’incontro con il Signore si lascia umilmente
prendere per mano da lui e condurre come un bambino verso traguardi
inimmaginabili. L’umiltà è descritta da lei come la matrice delle altre
virtù. Persino la prima virtù, la carità (insieme a tutte le altre), nasce
dalla radice dell’umiltà.Angela contempla la kenosis del Figlio di
Dio “umanato” e “passionato”, e con frequenza ne parla e si sforza di
percorrere la stessa strada.
Tutto ciò mostra che Angela si colloca tra le mistiche più insigni.
Viene considerata come colei che, attraverso le differenti vicende della vita e
il quotidiano esercizio delle virtù cristiane, ha raggiunto l’apice della
perfezione evangelica, divenendo profetessa e maestra della vera scienza di
Cristo compendiata nel mistero della Croce.
La Folignate è perciò considerata modello di un nuovo modo di rapportarsi a Dio
e di parlare di lui, facendo una teologia basata sulla Parola di Dio,
sull’obbedienza alla Chiesa, sull’esperienza diretta del divino nelle sue
manifestazioni più intime. Infatti il testo del Liber, non si allontana
mai dal vissuto personale, interpretato alla luce della divina sapienza.
Lungo i secoli il Liber, scrigno della vita di Angela, è stato
universalmente stimato come fonte di itinerari spirituali da vivere e
trasmettere ben oltre lo spazio spirituale francescano; se ne ritrovano
manoscritti nei conventi benedettini e cistercensi ed è stato oggetto di studio
durante la devotio moderna, dove lei è definita magistra
theologorum.
Questa fontana di spiritualità zampilla ancora. Ancora oggi infatti esiste a
Foligno un cenacolo di preghiera e spiritualità che raccoglie iscritti da tutto
il mondo che guardano con religiosa ammirazione ad Angela.
L’immagine poi di una donna come Angela, diventata madre spirituale di molti
chierici, valorizza la figura e la missione femminile.
Il suo vissuto di fede, rimanendo fedele alla tradizione viva della Chiesa,
mostra un itinerario sorprendentemente moderno: la capacità di Angela in vita
di rivitalizzare il cuore credente, com’è successo per Ubertino da Casale nel
1298 e molti altri suoi discepoli, assicura che ancora oggi la sua
intercessione celeste possa essere foriera di conversioni e trasformazioni del
cuore.
La vita e l’esperienza di Angela da Foligno, pertanto, si presta a mille
approfondimenti ed è ricca di tanti spunti da poter essere considerata una vera
e propria miniera. Così pensavano anche coloro che, dopo la morte di Angela, ne
perpetuarono la memoria e ne coltivarono piamente la devozione, che nel corso
del tempo si consolidò al punto da diventare un vero culto pubblico.
Spontaneamente le venne attribuito sia dalle autorità ecclesiastiche e civili
sia dai fedeli il titolo di Beata o di Santa in considerazione della
solida fama sanctitatis et signorum da essa goduta nella famiglia
francescana e nelle Diocesi di Foligno, dell’Umbria e di altre parti della Chiesa.
In considerazione di queste cose il 7 maggio 1701 il Sommo Pontefice Clemente
XI concesse all’Ordine dei Frati Minori Conventuali e alla città e diocesi di
Foligno la facoltà di recitare l’ufficio divino della Beata. Non molti anni
dopo, il 20 dicembre 1766 il Papa Clemente XIII aggiungeva la facoltà di
celebrare la Messa della Beata. Successivamente fu chiesto più volte a questa
Sede Apostolica di procedere alla canonizzazione di Angela, il cui nome
risuonava sempre più spesso sulle labbra dei pastori della Chiesa, dei teologi
e dei fedeli. Il Beato Giovanni Paolo II il 20 giugno 1993, pellegrino a
Foligno, presso la tomba di Angela, disse: “Grandi meraviglie ha compiuto in te
il Signore. Noi oggi, con animo grato, contempliamo e adoriamo l’arcano mistero
della Divina Misericordia che ti ha guidato sulla via della Croce fino alle
vette dell’eroismo e della santità”.
In seguito alle recenti suppliche in favore di una canonizzazione equipollente
da parte dell’intera Famiglia Francescana dell’8 dicembre 2012 e della
Conferenza Episcopale Umbra del 10 dicembre dello stesso anno, Sua Santità
Benedetto XVI, nell’udienza del 20 dicembre 2012 al Prefetto della
Congregazione delle Cause dei Santi, l’Em.mo Card. Angelo Amato, concesse di
procedere in questa direzione. Preparata la Positio super Canonizatione
aequipollenti, ed essendo ampiamente attestata l’eroicità delle virtù e
la fama signorum dalla quale è sempre stata circondata, il caso fu
esaminato con esito positivo prima dai Consultori Storici, poi dai Consultori
Teologi e infine dai Padri Cardinali e Vescovi radunati nella Sessione
Ordinaria del 24 settembre 2013, essendo Ponente della Causa l’Em.mo Card.
Angelo Amato, Prefetto della suddetta Congregazione. Nell’udienza di oggi lo
stesso Cardinale Amato Ci ha dettagliatamente informati sullo status
quaestionis e sui voti concordi dei Padri della Sessione Ordinaria.
Quindi, omnibus mature perpensis et certa scientia, dopo aver invocato
l’assistenza divina, abbiamo ratificato la sentenza della stessa Congregazione
ed abbiamo stabilito che il culto tributato a questa degnissima sposa di Cristo
e valorosa discepola di San Francesco d’Assisi, da oggi in poi sia esteso a
tutta la Chiesa. Pertanto, per la gloria di Dio, l’esaltazione della fede e
l’incremento della vita cristiana, in forza della nostra autorità
apostolica, decernimus che Angela da Foligno, dell’Ordine Francescano
Secolare, è santa e che, come tale, va iscritta nel catalogo dei Santi e va
piamente onorata e invocata tra i Santi della Chiesa universale.
Vogliamo, infine, che questa Nostra decisione sia ferma, immutabile e
irrevocabile e auspichiamo che sia accolta con gioia e gratitudine sia dai
Pastori che dai fedeli della Chiesa, i quali, contemplando la luce che emana
dalle virtù e dalla sapienza spirituale di Santa Angela da Foligno, si
accendano sempre più di amore per la Santissima Trinità e per Cristo Crocifisso
e, cantando le lodi di Dio, in comunione con i Santi Apostoli Pietro e Paolo e
tutti gli altri cittadini del cielo, possano avanzare alacremente sulla via
della santità.
Dato a Roma, presso San Pietro, nell’anno del Signore 2013, il giorno 9
ottobre, primo anno del Nostro Pontificato.
FRANCESCO
ANGELA da Foligno, beata
di Francesco Valli
Enciclopedia Italiana - I
Appendice (1938)
Le notizie della sua vita
sono molto scarse. Ebbe marito e figli, si convertì a vita ben maggiormente
spirituale dopo la loro morte, forse nel 1285: terziaria francescana, via via
vendette tutti i suoi beni, e ne diede il prezzo ai poveri. Moltissimi venivano
a lei per essere illuminati, e tra gli altri, da Parfu fu approvato nel 1701.
Verso il 1291 Angela si
recò in Assisi per visitare la tomba di S. Francesco, e sulla porta della
chiesa incominciò a gridare e a piangere, tanto che un religioso suo
conterraneo e parente, forse fra Rinaldo, la cacciò di chiesa, e le proibì di
tornare in Assisi. Costui si recò poi in Foligno e volle conoscere da lei la
causa del suo modo di comportarsi in Assisi. Ed ella gli narrò a varie riprese
delle sue visioni, gliele comunicò per mezzo di un giovanetto, ed egli le
tradusse a mano a mano in latino. Dopo la morte di A., raccolse ciò che aveva
tradotto, l'arricchì di elementi tratti specialmente dalla sua corrispondenza e
così nacque, anche con la collaborazione di altri, il Liber de vera
fidelium experientia, di cui la prima edizione è forse del sec. XV. Esiste poi
un'edizione di Colonia del 1505, e una di Venezia del 1521. P. Doncoeur in
collaborazione con M. Faloci Pulignani ne diede una prima edizione sui due
codici migliori, quello d'Assisi e quello di Subiaco, ma con molti errori di
trascrizione (Parigi 1925); L. Ferré (ivi 1927) riprodusse il codice assisiate;
M. Faloci-Pulignani (Città di Castello 1932) quello di Subiaco, con una
versione di Maria Castiglione Umani. Si vedano, tra le altre, le versioni di L.
Fallacara (Firenze 1926) e di G. Battelli (S. Casciano Valdelsa 1926). La
raccolta degli scritti della beata ci rivela uno spirito ansioso di
approfondire l'abisso della propria imperfezione, di togliere francescanamente
ogni impedimento esteriore e soprattutto intimo, a conoscere sempre meglio l'infinito
bene di Dio. La conoscenza di Dio dilata l'amore e d'altra parte tanto più si
conosce quanto più si ama; così si raggiunge la pienezza della vita. La via è
quella del dolore, che è quindi mezzo per trasformarci in Cristo, per salire
all'amore e alla felicità.
Bibl.: M. Faloci Pulignani, Saggio bib. sulla vita e sugli opuscoli della b. A. da F., 2ª ed., Foligno 1889; id., La b. A. da F., Gubbio 1926; L. Ferré, Principales dates de la vie d'A. de F., Parigi 1925; id., La spiritualité d'A. de F., ivi 1929.
© Istituto della
Enciclopedia Italiana fondata da Giovanni Treccani - Riproduzione riservata
SOURCE : https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/angela-da-foligno-beata_(Enciclopedia-Italiana)/
ANGELA da Foligno, beata
di Giorgio Petrocchi
- Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 3 (1961)
ANGELA da Foligno,
beata. - Nata a Foligno nel 1248 circa; di famiglia agiata (si ignora il
casato), non compì studi, ma nonostante la sua ignoranza della scrittura e la
modesta esperienza della lettura, giunse ad intendere perfettamente la lingua
latina. Della sua giovinezza narrò essa stessa gli errori, le intemperanze, le
colpe; i quali, certamente, devono intendersi posti in eccessivo rilievo per i
motivi della successiva esperienza ascetica. Nel 1285 l'inizio della sua
rinascita morale è attestato dalla prima confessione integrale, resa a frate
Arnaldo da Foligno. Da vari anni (forse dal 1270) sposa, in un breve giro di
tempo le morirono (nel 1288 circa) la madre, il marito e i figli; nella solitudine
trovò la via della vocazione religiosa; vendette i suoi beni ed entrò, tra la
fine del 1290 e gli inizi del 1291, nel terz'ordine francescano, ove si diede a
intense opere di carità, specialmente verso i lebbrosi. L'attestazione di
Arnaldo fu, in un primo tempo, affatto personale e privata, ma più tardi,
sparsasi la voce dei rapimenti mistici di A. (dei quali uno, avvenuto durante
un pellegrinaggio ad Assisi nell'autunno del 1291, e nel quale le apparve la S
S. Trinità, diede luogo a molte dispute), frate Arnaldo ebbe l'incarico dai
superiori di riferire in una particolareggiata relazione la specie delle
rivelazioni di A., onde poter stabilire se fossero ispirate o frutto di maligne
suggestioni. La compilazione del Memoriale occupò quattro anni circa,
dal 1292 al 1296; spesso Arnaldo assisteva personalmente al singolo raptus
della beata; comunque ogni volta trascriveva rapidamente in latino quel che
Angela veniva dettando, presumibilmente nel suo dialetto folignate. Molte delle
relazioni verbali avvenivano nel convento di San Francesco, prossimo alla casa
della beata; testimone preziosa dei resoconti era una fedele compagna di Lella
(tale il diminutivo col quale appellavano Angela le sue amiche), la terziaria
Pasqualina, morta nel 1313. Nello stesso 1296 il Memoriale veniva
approvato dal cardinale Giacomo Colonna e da una commissione di otto teologi
francescani. Nel 1298 A., che non prese parte alle dispute dell'Ordine
quantunque si sentisse più vicina agli spirituali, ricevé la visita di Ubertino
da Casale, il quale confessò nell'Arbor vitae aver dovuto a questo
incontro il superamento di una sua grave crisi religiosa; nel 1302 Angela
indirizzava ad Ubertino una calda lettera d'esortazione; in aperta lotta fu
invece A. con la setta dei Fratelli del Libero Spirito. Le sue successive
rivelazioni vennero raccolte, oltreché da Arnaldo, da altri frati;
particolarmente importanti furono le estasi alla Porziuncola (2 agosto 1300) e
durante una grave malattia tra il 29 sett. 1300 e il 2 febbr. 1301. A. venne a
morte, sempre a Foligno, il 4 genn. 1309; i suoi resti sono venerati nella
chiesa di S. Francesco. Fu detta "magistra theologorum". Il culto è
stato sanzionato nel 1701 dalla Congregazione dei Riti.
Il complesso delle sue
visioni è raccolto nel Liber sororis Lelle de Fulgineo, de tertio
ordine sancti Francisci, detto anche Liber de vera fidelium experientia,
contenuto in sette codici; il Liber appare diviso in tre parti: la
prima è costituita dal Memoriale, la seconda da un complesso di massime,
"istruzioni salutifere", lettere, brevi resoconti di estasi, la terza
da qualche altra rapida relazione di rapimenti, e poi dal testamento spirituale
e dal racconto del transito.
Il Liber, che è
opera di notevolissima forza rappresentativa e intensità spirituale, è fondato
sopra una concezione "cristocentrica", che, pur risentendo della
dottrina mistica dei Vittorini e di s. Bonaventura, trova la propria originalità
nella visione di Cristo come stimolo caritativo a salire i vari gradini della
purificazione ascetica fino ad identificare la propria anima in Cristo stesso,
in una perfetta e integrale unione con l'"Ognibene" (cioè Dio come
bellezza e come bontà), unione inesprimibile col linguaggio umano, ma intuibile
per approssimazioni ed analogie.
Si attribuisce ad A.
anche una breve operetta in volgare, La bella e utile dottrina, forse un
compendio, a cura di qualche seguace, di tutta la dottrina di Angela.
L'editio princeps del Liber è
del 1505, a Toledo; si ricordano le seguenti edizioni e traduzioni: Vita e
conversione meravigliosa della B. A. da F. ,volgarizzamento di
Gieronimo da Capugnano, Venezia 1604; B. Angelae Fulginatis vita et
opuscola, a cura di G. B. Boccolini, Foligno 1714; Le livre des visions et
instructions de la B. Angèle de F., traduzione di H. Hello, Paris 1914 (ma
prima ediz. 1868); Il libro della B. A. da F., traduzione
italiana di M. Faloci Pulignani, Perugia 1918; Visioni e consolazioni
della B. A., traduzione italiana di A. Pisaneschi, Sancasciano Val di Pesa
1925; La via della Croce della B. A. da F., a cura di G.
Battelli, Firenze 1925; Le livre de la B. Angèle de F., a cura di P.
Doncoeur, testo latino e traduzione francese, Paris 1925-26; Le livre de
l'expérience des vrais fidèles, a cura di M. J. Ferré, testo latino e
traduzione francese, Paris 1927; L'autobiografia e gli scritti, a cura di
M. Faloci Pulignani, traduzione italiana di M. Castiglione Humani, Città di
Castello 1932; Il libro della B. A. da F., a cura di L.
Fallacara, Firenze 1946 (prima ediz. 1922); Il libro della B.A. da F.,
versione di M. Castiglione Humani, introduzione di A. Blasucci, Roma 1950.
Fonti e Bibl.: Marco da
Lisbona, Delle croniche de' frati minori, II, Venezia 1616, pp. 389-405;
L. Wadding, Annales Ordinis Minorum, VI, Roma 1733; M. Faloci
Pulignani, Saggio bibliografico sulla vita e sugli opuscoli della
B. A., Foligno 1889; A. Thorold, An essay in aid of the better
appreciation of catholic mysticism illustrated from the writings of blessed
A. of F., London 1900; M. J. Ferré, Les principales dates
de la vie d'Angèle de F., in Rev. d'hist. franciscaine II
(1925), pp. 21-34; Id. La spiritualité d'Angèle de F., Paris 1927; M.
Faloci Pulignani, La B. A. da F., Memorie e documenti, Gubbio
1926; G. Medougall Alcan, The spiritual amour by S. Catherina of
Bologna together with the Way of the Cross by B. A. of F.,
London 1926; P. Pourrat, La spiritualité chrétienne, II, Paris 1928, pp.
288-92; F. Vernet, La spiritualité médiévale, Paris 1929; P.
Doncoeur, Angèle de F. maitresse d'oraison, in La Vie
Spirituelle, XXXIX (1934), pp. 34-50; L. Lecleve, Sainte Angèle de F.,
Paris 1936; L. Veuthey, Ascensions spirituelles, in Miscell. Francescana,
XXXVII (1937), pp. 3-19; A. Blasucci, Il cristocentrismo nella vita
spirituale secondo la B. A. da F., Roma 1940; Id., Il cammino
della perfezione negli scritti della B. A. da F., Padova 1950;
G. Petrocchi, Astrattezza e realismo nel Liber di A. da F.,
in Ascesi e mistica trecentesca, Firenze 1957, pp. 3-19.
SOURCE : https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/angela-da-foligno-beata_(Dizionario-Biografico)
Den hellige Angela av
Foligno (1248-1309)
Minnedag:
4. januar
I en epidemi rundt 1290
døde Angelas mor, mann og barn rett etter hverandre, noe som var et hardt slag
for henne. Men det gjorde at båndene til hennes tidligere liv var borte. Nå
viet hun seg fullstendig til Gud og til bot, og med en hellig tjenestekvinne ved
navn Masazuola som sin ledsager begynte hun gradvis å kvitte seg med alle sine
eiendeler og leve som en angrende og botferdig synder. Hun ble leder for en
stor gruppe av tertiarer, menn og kvinner, og grunnla et søsterfellesskap av
fransiskanertertiarer i Foligno. De la til regelen for tredjeordenen en
forpliktelse til fellesliv uten å binde seg til klausur, slik at de kunne vie
sin tid til nestekjærlig arbeid.
Angela var en av
middelalderens store mystikere og kontemplative og hun tilhører de hellige kvinner
som lyste opp i det mørke 1200-tallet, duecento, i Italia. Hun var
samtidig med den hellige Margareta av
Cortona, og de to kvinnenes skjebner har mange likhetstrekk. Etter anmodning
fra sin skriftefar, br, Arnold av Foligno OFM, dikterte hun til ham en
redegjørelse for sine visjoner og ekstaser, siden hun selv ikke kunne skrive.
Denne redegjørelsen i
sytti kapitler, Visionum Et Instructionum Liber («Boken om visjoner
og instruksjoner»), er hovedkilden for det meste som er kjent om hennes liv.
Hennes svært bemerkelsesverdige visjoner er skildret på en behersket og
overbevisende måte, og hun avslører tydelig de åndelige høyder og dybder som
hun ble ledet til. De «Atten trinn til åndelig fullkommenhet» som hun skildrer
i boken, har hjulpet mange til å finne veien til omvendelsen. Teksten var
ferdig i 1298, og Arnold ga den til kardinal Jakob av Colonna og åtte
fransiskanere, som ga den sin godkjennelse. Det synes som om br. Arnold reviderte
den kort etter, i 1299-1300. I den endelige versjonen av boken ble det lagt til
en serie med 36 instruksjoner. Til tross for at Angela var analfabet, bærer hun
med rette tittelen Theologorum magistra, «lærer for teologer».
Den 11. oktober 2013
kunngjorde Vatikanet at Angela av Foligno var blitt helligkåret av pave Frans
den 9. oktober 2013 ved at han stadfestet hennes kult for hele Verdenskirken.
Hennes minnedag er dødsdagen 4. januar, men 30. mars og 13. februar nevnes også
som tidligere minnedager i Martyrologium Romanum for henholdsvis fransiskanerne
og kapusinerne. I USA feires hun den 7. januar. På avbildninger har hun en
lenket djevel.
Kilder:
Attwater/Cumming, Butler (I), Benedictines, Bunson, Engelhart,
Schauber/Schindler, Melchers, Index99, KIR, CE, CSO, Patron Saints SQPN,
Infocatho, Bautz, Heiligenlexikon, santiebeati.it, en.wikipedia.org, zeno.org,
heiligen-3s.nl - Kompilasjon og oversettelse: p. Per Einar Odden
Opprettet: 21. april 2006
SOURCE : https://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/angelafol
Angela van Foligno (ook van
Fulginio), Umbrië, Italië; mystica; † 1309.
Feest 4 januari &
13 februari & 30 maart (bij de franciscanen).
Zij werd rond 1249 in de Italiaanse stad Foligno geboren als dochter van een welgestelde familie. Op jonge leeftijd trad zij in het huwelijk.
Aanvankelijk was zij een vrouw van de wereld. Geruime tijd na de dood van haar man kwam de ommekeer. Zij begon zich meer toe te leggen op het geestelijk leven. Toen ook haar kinderen overleden waren, stond niets haar meer in de weg om zich geheel en al aan de zaken van het geloof te wijden. In 1290 sloot zij zich als tertiaris aan bij de Derde Orde van Sint Franciscus en nam de leiding op zich van een grote groep medetertiarissen, mannen en vrouwen.
Op verzoek van haar geestelijk leidsman Broeder Arnold stelde zij alle visioenen en geestverrukkingen, die zij in haar gebed mocht ontvangen, op schrift. Daaruit blijkt, dat zij een hoog begaafd mystica was en zich vooral liet inspireren door Sint Bonaventura († 1274; feest 15 juli).
Zij werd in 1693 zalig verklaard.
Zij wordt afgebeeld met lijdensattributen of met de duivel aan de ketting.
[000»jrb; 014; 101a; 107; 111p:13; 111p:13; 114; 127»Angèle; 204p:107; 234p:82(3e
rij, 2e re); 288; 403/1p:14; 500; Dries van den Akker s.j./2001.08.17]
© A. van den Akker
s.j. / A.W. Gerritsen
SOURCE : https://heiligen-3s.nl/heiligen/01/04/01-04-1309-angela.php
Angela von Foligno
Gedenktag katholisch: 4. Januar
nicht gebotener Gedenktag im Orden der Franziskaner-Minoriten und bei den
Franziskaner-Tertiaren
Terziarin, Mystikerin
* 1248 (?) in Foligno in Italien
† 4. Januar 1309 daselbst
Angela, wohl aus einer
begüterten und adeligen Familie stammend, verlor schon als Kind ihren Vater und
wurde dann bald verheiratet und Mutter mehrerer Kinder. Sie wird als
willensstark, hochintelligent und von großer Innerlichkeit beschrieben,
zugleich weltlichen Freuden und öffentlicher Anerkennung zugeneigt. Nach
mehreren Versuchen, ihr Leben zu ändern, erlebte sie um 1285 unter dem Einfluss
ihres Verwandten, dem Franziskaner Arnaldo,
ihrem späteren geistlichen Führer, ihre Bekehrung auf einer Pilgerfahrt
nach Assisi.
Angelas Bußpraktiken und
Entbehrungen wurden mit Offenbarungen, Visionen und Gnadengaben belohnt, wie es
sie seit Jahrhunderten nicht mehr gegeben hatte. 1291 wurde sie Franziskaner-Terziarin und
blieb dies auch nach dem Tod aller ihrer Angehörigen. Sie verkaufte ihren
Besitz und lebte nun in Armut und Buße.
Angelas viele Schüler und
Anhänger - darunter Pasqualina -
versammelte sie nun in dem von ihr nach 1285
gegründeten Cenacolo, Abendmahlssaal im Franziskanerkloster -
heute das Sanktuarium Santa Angela - unweit von Angelas
Haus. Männer und Frauen, Geistliche und Laien kamen zusammen, um Wege des
fortschrittlichen religiösen Lebens und des sozialen Engagements zu
beschreiten. Sie selbst widmete sich intensiv caritativer Tätigkeit, besonders
die Pflege von Aussätzigen war ihr wichtig.
Immer mehr wurden Angela
nun mystische Erlebnisse und Gnadenbeweise zuteil. Ihre Visionen wurden von Fra
Arnaldo im Liber de vera fidelium experientia, dem Buch von der
wahren Glaubenserfahrung mit 36
lehrhaften Instructiones, Anweisungen (zum geistlichen Leben)
aufgezeichnet, von der Kirche geprüft und bestätigt. Angela schildert
mystisches Erleben, das sich immer mehr Christus nähert,
bis die Seele sich mit ihm in Liebe und Schmerz vereint und die Erfahrung
Gottes als Ognibene, als höchste Vollendung, ermöglicht.
Angela nahm dann im
religiösen Leben ihrer Zeit eine bedeutende Stellung ein. Krankheiten und
Schmerzen trug sie geduldig.
Kanonisation: Angelas Verehrung wurde von Papst Innozenz XII. 1693 gestattet, am 11. Juli 1701 wurde sie von Papst Clemens XI. seliggesprochen. Am 9. Oktober 2013 gestattete Papst Franziskus die weltweite Verehrung, was der Heiligsprechung gleichkommt.
Attribute: mit Satan an der Kette
Worte der Heiligen
Angela ruft die erste
aufmunternde göttliche Ansprache in Erinnerung, wonach alle Gott lieben könnten
und sollten:
Auf jenem Weg nach Sankt Franziskus [d. h. auf ihrer Pilgerfahrt nach Assisi]
- bei der erstmaligen Ansprache, als er [Christus] sagte: Meine mir liebe
Tochter, liebe mich, denn du bist von mir weit mehr geliebt als du mich liebst,
und ich meine Sünden und Fehler bekannte und dass ich solch großer
Liebesbezeugungen nicht würdig sei -, da sprach er: Übergroß ist die
Liebe, die ich zu einer Seele habe, die mich ohne Arglist liebt. Und mir
schien, dass jede Seele etwas von jener Liebe erhalte, die er selbst uns
entgegenbringt, entsprechend ihrer Fassungskraft, das heißt jener der
jeweiligen Seele. Und wenn diese nur danach Verlangen hätte, sie zu erhalten,
ich selbst würde sie erfüllen.
Weil jetzt aber der Guten nur wenige sind und - so wurde in jener Ansprache gesagt - weil an Glauben wenig vorhanden sei, so schien es mir denn, er beklage sich darüber laut bei mir. Und er sprach: Übergroß ist die Liebe, die ich zu einer Seele habe, die mich liebt ohne Arglist! Deshalb erwiese ich ihr und jedwedem, der wahrhaftige Liebe zu mir trägt, jetzt auch viel größere Gnade, als ich sie den Heiligen in der vergangenen Zeit zukommen ließ, von denen überliefert wird, Gott habe an ihnen viel Großes getan.
Und es gibt niemanden, der sich entschuldigen könnte, denn jeder Mensch vermag ihn zu lieben. Und er verlangt nichts weiter, als dass die Seele ihn liebe. Denn er liebt sie, und er selbst ist die Liebe der Seele.
Und sie [Angela] sagte zu mir, dem Bruder Schreiber: Wie dunkel, das heißt wie abgründig ist das eben ausgesprochene Wort! Dass Gott nämlich von der Seele nichts weiter verlangt, als dass sie ihn liebe. Und danach fügte sie eine Erklärung bei, indem sie sagte: Wer wäre, der etwas zurückzuhalten vermöchte für sich, wenn er liebt?
Und darauf, das andere Wort erläuternd, nämlich dass Gott die Liebe der Seele
ist, sagte sie: Dass Gott die Seele liebt und dass er selbst die Liebe der
Seele ist, dies zeigt er mir in lebendiger Weise durch seine Ankunft und durch
das Kreuz, und dies, obschon er so erhaben war! Und er selbst erklärte alles,
seine Ankunft und sein Leiden am Kreuz, und dies, obschon er so erhaben war!
Und in lebendiger Darstellung zeigte er dies, indem er danach
beifügte: Sieh zu, ob es in mir etwas anderes gibt als Liebe! Und
indem er zuerst darlegte, von wem er gesandt wurde und warum er kam und wie,
erhaben er selbst war, offenbarte er mir auch deutlich sein Leiden und das
Kreuz und all das Genannte. Und schließlich sah und begriff die Seele auf das
Allergewisseste, dass er nichts als Liebe war.
Quelle: Angela von
Foligno: Das Memorial und die letzten Worte, hrsg. und übersetzt von Louise
Gnädinger. St. Ottilien 2012, S. 88f
Zitate von Angela von
Foligno:
Bemüht euch eifrig darum,
dass ihr euch gegenseitig liebt und die göttliche Liebe in Wahrheit habt! Denn
durch die Liebe [zu Gott] und die Liebe zueinander verdient die Seele das
göttliche Gut als Erbe. Und ich hinterlasse kein anderes Testament, außer dass
ich euch die Liebe zueinander anempfehle, und ich hinterlasse euch mein ganzes
Erbe, die Lebensform Christi nämlich, Armut, Leiden und Verachtung.
Je mehr du betest, desto mehr wirst du erleuchtet werden; je mehr du erleuchtet
wirst, desto gründlicher und klarer wirst du das höchste Gut erkennen, das in
höchstem Maße gute Sein; je gründlicher und klarer du ihn erkennen wirst, desto
mehr wirst du ihn lieben; je mehr du ihn lieben wirst, desto mehr wird er dich
erfreuen; und je mehr er dich erfreuen wird, desto besser wirst du ihn erfassen
und in der Lage sein, ihn zu verstehen. Danach wirst du zur Fülle des Lichts
gelangen, weil du verstehen wirst, dass du ihn nicht erfassen kannst.
Ich, der Bruder Schreiber, erfragte von ihr, wie der Leib Christi gleichzeitig
auf jedem Altar gegenwärtig sein könne. Und sie teilte mir mit, dass sie
darüber eine Antwort erhalten habe und dass ihr von Gott so gesagt worden sei: Dies
geschieht durch die göttliche Macht. Diese Macht vermag in diesem Erdenleben
nicht verstanden zu werden, von ihr kündet die Schrift. Jene welche sie lesen,
erlangen wenig Einsicht. Jene hingegen, welche die gleiche Gesinnung haben wie
ich, begreifen mehr. Aber weder die einen noch die anderen erfassen dies in
diesem Leben. Die Zeit jedoch wird kommen, da ihr verstehen werdet.
Urteilt über niemanden, selbst dann nicht, wenn ihr einen Menschen tödlich
sündigen sähet. Ich sage nicht, die Sünde solle euch nicht missfallen und ihr
also die Sünde nicht verabscheuen sollt. Aber ich sage, ihr sollt über die
Sünder nicht urteilen, denn ihr kennt die Gerichtsentscheide Gottes nicht. Denn
viele scheinen in den Augen der Menschen gerettet, die in den Augen Gottes
verdammt sind, und viele scheinen in den Augen der Menschen verdammt, die in
den Augen Gottes gerettet sind.
Quellen: Angela von Foligno: Das Memorial und die letzten Worte, hrsg. und übersetzt von Louise Gnädinger. St. Ottilien 2012, S. 112, 224, 222
Ansprache von Papst Benedikt XVI. bei der Generalaudienz am 13. Oktober 2010
zusammengestellt von Abt em. Dr. Emmeram Kränkl OSB,
Benediktinerabtei Schäftlarn,
für die Katholische
SonntagsZeitung
Papst
Johannes Paul II. bei Angela von Foligno
Stadlers
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Quellen:
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• Charlotte Bretscher-Gisinger, Thomas Meier (Hg.): Lexikon des Mittelalters. CD-ROM-Ausgabe. J.B. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2000
• Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz. In: Friedrich-Wilhelm Bautz (Hg.): Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon, Bd. I, Hamm 1990
• Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, begr. von Michael Buchberger. Hrsg. von
Walter Kasper, 3., völlig neu bearb. Aufl., Bd. 1. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau
1993
korrekt zitieren: Joachim Schäfer: Artikel Angela von Foligno, aus dem Ökumenischen Heiligenlexikon - https://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienA/Angela_von_Foligno.html, abgerufen am 4. 1. 2025
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet das Ökumenische
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SOURCE : https://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienA/Angela_von_Foligno.html
DIRECTORIO FRANCISCANO
SANTORAL FRANCISCANO 4 de
enero
Beata Ángela de Foligno
(1249-1309)
por Isaac Vázquez, o.f.m.
Ángela vino al mundo a
mediados del siglo XIII, probablemente hacia el año 1249. La posteridad quiso
inmortalizar con su nombre el de la bella ciudad que la vio nacer y que sesenta
años después, en 1309, había de ser también el lugar de su sepultura. Si bien
es cierto que los santos, ya en vida, son más moradores del cielo que de la
tierra, no pueden, sin embargo, al igual que todos los mortales, sacudir del
todo el lastre que los hace hijos de su tiempo y de su ambiente. La época en
que vivió la beata Ángela presenta rasgos singulares, ricos en contrastes, como
acontece siempre en toda época de transición.
Las grandes ideas
características de la Edad Media brillan ya en la mitad del siglo XIII con
luces de atardecer. Todos los sucesos de la sociedad de entonces nos hacen
pensar en el ocaso, diríamos con Huizinga, en el otoño del medievo. La unidad
de la «respublica christiana», que naciera del consorcio del sacerdocio y del
imperio, quedaba gravemente lesionada, y prácticamente destruida, con Federico
II, en lucha constante con el papado. Al lado del imperio pululaban en Alemania
las ciudades libres, y en Italia los comunes, que luchaban unas veces contra la
Iglesia en favor del emperador, y otras contra éste aliados con la Iglesia,
según fuera su distintivo de gibelinos o güelfos. La fe operante y entusiasta
que tantos cruzados empujara hacia el Oriente, languidecía con el postrer
suspiro de san Luis; mientras las grandes síntesis escolásticas, expresión a la
vez de la unidad y universalidad medievales, estaban perdiendo a sus geniales
forjadores Alejandro de Halés, santo Tomás y san Buenaventura. En 1308, un año
antes que la beata Ángela, muere Juan Duns Escoto. último gran escolástico.
Pero entre las sombras crepusculares del medievo, se dibujan ya las luces del
Renacimiento, con distintos cánones y nuevas ideas, que el Dante presiente y
saluda en su Vita nuova. El geocentrismo, antropocentrismo e
individualismo de la nueva era que nace, suplantan al teocentrismo y
universalismo de la Edad Media que fenece. El pujante nacionalismo deshace en
jirones la vieja túnica del Imperio. El Petrarca, tenido por muchos como el
primer hombre moderno, canta las bellezas de su patria italiana y se
inspira en la naturaleza y en el paisaje.
Ángela tuvo que vivir,
pues, en una época fronteriza. Y en el drama de su vida, pecadora en un
principio, santa después, no es difícil descubrir las huellas del ambiente en
que se movió. De elevada posición, poseía riquezas, castillos, joyas y fincas.
Se casó en temprana edad, y tuvo varios hijos. Tanto en sus años juveniles,
como después en su estado de esposa y de madre, apuró pródiga la copa de los
placeres que el mundo le brindaba. Ella misma confesará más tarde una y muchas
veces sus graves desvaríos. Sin que nos veamos precisados a creer al pie de la
letra la exactitud de estas confesiones, fruto más del arrepentimiento que de
la verdad objetiva, no se pueden descartar tampoco los hechos que, por otra
parte, están en conformidad con las circunstancias históricas que los rodean.
En efecto, la cuna de Ángela fue mecida por aires nada saturados de
clericalismo. Foligno, ciudad obstinadamente ligada al emperador, estaba
siempre dispuesta a ponerse en pie de guerra contra cualquier pretensión del
Papa. Pero la suerte de las armas muchas veces le era adversa, y uno de
aquellos años sufrió una aplastante e ignominiosa derrota por parte de las
fuerzas pontificias de Asís y de Perusa. ¿Quién duda de que entre la
distinguida estirpe de Ángela no se encontrarían entonces rabiosos gibelinos,
para quienes los nombres de curas, papas y frailes venían resultando sinónimos
de declarados enemigos políticos? Nos dirá Ángela más tarde que en su madre
encontraba gran obstáculo para la conversión.
Pero la gracia de Dios
iba obrando en lo profundo de su alma. Las circunstancias han cambiado con el
tiempo. Es hacia el año 1285. Foligno es ahora una ciudad súbdita del Papa y
protegida por él. Ángela anda en sus treinta y cinco. Sus pecados de la
juventud comienzan a producirle cierto escozor en la conciencia. Le llega
también la prueba. En breve tiempo pierde a su madre, a su marido y a sus
hijos. Huérfana de sus seres queridos, comienza a practicar la religión, pero
en un principio sin apartarse del todo del pecado. Por eso hace comuniones
sacrílegas, por no confesar sinceramente sus pecados. Es la hora de los
confusos sentimientos: la lucha entre el espíritu y el cuerpo. Se halla sin
luz, como Saulo en el camino de Damasco.
Pero allí cerca estaba
Asís. «Oriente diré, que no Asís», cantó el Dante. El ejemplo de Francisco
continuaba fascinando a muchas almas desde hacía casi un siglo. Para Ángela
constituyó también un faro en esta noche oscura del espíritu. Un día en que se
encontraba atormentada por remordimientos de conciencia, pidió a san Francisco
que le sacara de aquellas torturas. Poco después entró en la iglesia de San
Feliciano, donde predicaba a la sazón un religioso franciscano; se sintió tan
conmovida que, al bajar el predicador, se postró ante su confesonario, y, con
grande compunción, hizo confesión general de toda su vida, quedando muy
consolada.
El fraile se llamaba
Arnaldo, cuya vida, al igual que la de nuestra Beata, no ha podido ser hasta
ahora suficientemente estudiada, por falta de datos. Parece ser, sin embargo, que
pertenecía a la comunidad de Asís, y que en la Orden seguía la corriente de los
llamados «Espirituales», grupo que hicieron célebre, entre otros, los nombres
de Pedro Juan Olivi, Ángel Clareno, Hubertino de Casale y el mismo Juan de
Parma, general que fue de toda la Orden. Lo que sí sabemos ciertamente de fray
Arnaldo es que, a partir de la conversión de Ángela, pasó a ser su confesor, su
director y su confidente espiritual. Gracias a sus ruegos y a su pluma de
amanuense, la posteridad puede saborear la Autobiografía de la beata
Ángela, conocida también con el nombre de Memorial de fray Arnaldo,
verdadero tesoro de teología espiritual, donde se encierran las inefables
experiencias místicas de esta alma, desde su conversión, en 1285, hasta el año
1296, en que se consuman sus admirables ascensiones hasta la contemplación del
misterio de la Santísima Trinidad.
Pasman los prodigios que
la divina gracia, en tan breve tiempo, ha obrado en esta alma privilegiada. Su
trato íntimo con la divinidad, sus éxtasis escalofriantes, los secretos
celestiales que en ellos se le confiaban, son más para admirados que para
descritos. L. Leclève no duda en afirmar que Ángela de Foligno, por el crecido
número de sus visiones, solamente admite parangón con Teresa de Avila; y a ambas
llama reinas de la teología mística.
Nuestra pobre fraseología
humana resulta inadecuada para captar los misteriosos coloquios entre Ángela y
la divinidad. La misma Beata sufría y se lamentaba, porque después de escuchar
la lectura de lo que acababa de dictar a fray Arnaldo, le parecía que allí no
se contenían más que blasfemias y burlas. Así son de mezquinos nuestros
conceptos humanos cuando se los quiere hacer pasar por vehículos de realidades
divinas.
Si estas dificultades
encuentran los santos para exteriorizar sus propias experiencias, ¿qué pasará
cuando los hombres se afanan por querer clasificarlas y analizarlas desde
afuera y a distancia? Dejemos a los santos saborear dulcemente las inefables
dulzuras nacidas del contacto íntimo con la divinidad. Las flores de la vida
mística crecen, como las estrellas alpinas, en las cumbres de las altas
montañas, y no a todos es dado llegar a esas alturas para disfrutar de su
aroma. Unos habrán de contentarse con acampar muy cerca de la cima; otros, a la
mitad; algunos, tal vez los más, apenas si habrán caminado unos pasos hacia la
cúspide de la montaña. Pero lo que sí es cierto es que todos deben intentar
subir la cuesta de la montaña espiritual; diríase con otras palabras, todos
están llamados a ejercitarse en la vida ascética, mediante la posesión de las
virtudes cristianas y la práctica de la perfección, rastreando los senderos, a
veces tortuosos y empinados, que conducen a las recónditas alturas de la
mística. En electo, estas dos vías, ascética y mística, no se desenvuelven a
manera de dos paralelas, sino que constituyen, en el pensamiento de la beata
Ángela, las dos mitades, inicial y terminal respectivamente, de una misma vida
espiritual. Así, pues, si no todos los cristianos podrán tocar con sus manos el
término de esa línea ascendente, todos, sin embargo, están obligados a no
desistir de lanzarse a la carrera espiritual. «Y que nadie se excuse –les
advierte la Beata– con que no tiene ni puede hallar la divina gracia, pues
Dios, que es liberalísimo, con mano igualmente pródiga la da a todos cuantos la
buscan y desean».
Cosas admirables sobre la
perfección ha dejado escritas la beata Ángela. En dieciocho etapas va
describiendo, en el primer capítulo de su autobiografía, el laborioso proceso
de su conversión, desde que comenzó a sentir la gravedad de sus pecados y el
miedo de condenarse hasta el momento en que al oír hablar de Dios se sentía
presa de tal estremecimiento de amor, que aun cuando alguien suspendiera sobre
su cabeza una espada, no podía evitar los movimientos. A la beata Ángela se le
atribuyen, además de la Autobiografía de fray Arnaldo, unas
exhortaciones, algunas epístolas y un testamento espiritual, que han merecido a
su autora ser considerada por algunos nada menos que como magistra
theologorum. Sin ocultar el tono de exageración que el cariño de los discípulos
ha puesto en este elogio hacia la madre espiritual, hay que reconocer que los
opúsculos de la beata Ángela recogen lo mejor que de teología ascética habían
escrito los grandes maestros de la escolástica; y colocada además
providencialmente en los umbrales de una época nueva, logra trasvasar a los
odres del Renacimiento los vinos añejos de la espiritualidad del siglo XIII.
Los aires renacentistas de acercamiento al hombre, a lo individual y concreto,
la mueven a abrazar el pensamiento franciscano que coloca a Cristo, Hombre-
Dios, por centro de toda la vida espiritual, ejemplar de todas las virtudes y
única vía para caminar hacia la perfección. Empapada en el espíritu de san
Francisco, a cuya Tercera Orden de Penitencia se incorporó desde los primeros
días de su conversión, e inspirada en el pensamiento bonaventuriano, la beata
Ángela es la gran mística de la humanidad de Cristo. La imitación de Cristo-
Hombre, mediante el ejercicio de las virtudes, es la meta de la ascética, así
como la unión con Dios, por medio de Cristo, es la consumación y remate de la
mística.
Pero la espiritualidad de
nuestra Beata recibe modalidades nuevas, dentro de lo franciscano; pues
mientras el cristocentrismo de la escuela franciscana, en general, se orienta
hacia la Encarnación, hay que reconocer que para la beata Ángela todo gira en
torno a la cruz. La pasión y muerte de Cristo es la demostración más grande de
amor que el Hijo de Dios ha podido dar a los hombres. Cristo desde la cruz es
el Libro de la Vida, como lo llama ella, en el cual debe leer todo aquel que
quiera encontrar a Dios. Era tal la devoción que sentía hacia la cruz que, si
le cuadraba contemplar una estampa o un cuadro en que se representaba alguna escena
de la pasión, se apoderaba de sus miembros la fiebre y caía enferma. Por eso la
compañera procuraba esconderle las representaciones de la pasión, para que no
las viese. Sus opúsculos fueron editados varias veces, en siglos pasados, con
el título significativo de Theologia Crucis. En la meditación de la pasión
era donde conocía con más viveza la gravedad de sus pecados pasados, y los
lloraba con mayor dolor. Aquí es donde se decide a tomar resoluciones que dan
nuevo rumbo a su vida. «En esta contemplación de la cruz –refiere ella– ardía
en tal fuego de amor y de compasión que, estando junto a la cruz, tomé el
propósito de despojarme de todas las cosas, y me consagré enteramente a
Cristo.» La pobreza, la estricta pobreza de espíritu, era la contraseña que
ella exigía para distinguir los verdaderos discípulos de Cristo. Muchos se
profesan de palabra seguidores de Cristo; pero en realidad y de hecho abominan
de Cristo y de su pobreza. En las páginas de sus opúsculos el amante de la
historia podrá descubrir las inquietudes en torno a la pobreza de Cristo que
convivieron los espirituales franciscanos y nuestra Beata de Foligno.
Junto a la cruz, la beata
Ángela aprendió a ser la gran confidente del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, muchos
siglos antes que santa Margarita María recibiera los divinos mensajes. «Un día
en que yo contemplaba un crucifijo, fui de repente penetrada de un amor tan
ardiente hacia el Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, que lo sentía en todos mis
miembros. Produjo en mí ese sentimiento delicioso el ver que el Salvador
abrazaba mi alma con sus dos brazos desclavados de la cruz. Parecióme también
en la dulzura indecible de aquel abrazo divino que mi alma entraba en el
Corazón de Jesús.» Otras veces se le aparecía el Sagrado Corazón para invitarla
a que acercase los labios a su costado y bebiese de la sangre que de él manaba.
Abrasada en esta hoguera de amor, nada tiene de extraño que se derritiese en
ardientes deseos de padecer martirio por Cristo.
El amor que Cristo nos
demostró en la cruz, se perpetúa a través de los siglos de una manera real en
el sacramento de nuestros altares. La devoción a la Eucaristía, tan
característica de los tiempos modernos, tiene una eminente precursora en la
beata Ángela. Fueron muchas las visiones, con que el Señor la recreó en el
momento de la consagración, o durante la adoración de la sagrada hostia. Siete
consideraciones dedica a la ponderación de los beneficios que en este
sacramento se encierran. El cristiano debe acercarse con frecuencia a este
sacramento, seguro de que, si medita en el grande amor que en él se contiene,
sentirá inmediatamente transformada su alma en ese mismo divino amor. La Beata
exhorta, sin embargo, a cada cristiano a que se haga, a modo de preparación,
las siguientes consideraciones: ¿A quién se acerca? ¿Quién es el que se acerca?
¿En qué condiciones y por qué motivos se acerca?
Abrazada con Cristo en la
Cruz, arrimada a su costado y confortada con el Pan de Vida, la beata Ángela
recibió la visita de la hermana muerte. Eran las últimas horas del día 4 de enero
de 1309 cuando esta privilegiada mujer, rodeada de un gran coro de hijos
espirituales, entregaba plácidamente su alma al Redentor. Su cuerpo fue
sepultado en la iglesia del convento franciscano de Foligno. Sobre su sepulcro
comenzó Dios a obrar en seguida muchos milagros. El papa Clemente XI aprobó el
culto, que se le tributó constante, el día 30 de abril de 1707.
Isaac Vázquez Janeiro,
OFM, Beata Ángela de Foligno, en Año Cristiano, T. I, Madrid, Ed.
Católica (BAC 182), 1959, pp. 27-33.
SOURCE : https://www.franciscanos.org/bac/afoligno.html
LE LIVRE DES VISIONS ET
DES INSTRUCTIONS de la Bienheureuse ANGÈLE de FOLIGNO. Traduit par Ernest
HELLO : http://jesusmarie.free.fr/angele_de_foligno_livre_des_visions_et_instructions.html
La Passion de Jésus selon
Angèle de Foligno : http://www.spiritualite-chretienne.com/passion/Foligno-1.html
Santuario Santa Angela da
Foligno : https://santaangeladafoligno.com/
Jacques Dalarun, « Angèle de Foligno a-t-elle existé ? » Publications de l'École Française de Rome Année 1995 204 pp. 59-97. Fait partie d'un numéro thématique : «Alla Signorina». Mélanges offerts à Noëlle de La Blanchardière : https://www.persee.fr/doc/efr_0223-5099_1995_ant_204_1_5552
Damien Boquet, « Incorporation mystique et subjectivité féminine d’après le Livre d’Angèle de Foligno († 1309) », Clio [En ligne], 26 | 2007, mis en ligne le 23 août 2013, consulté le 04 janvier 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/clio/6553 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/clio.6553
Voir aussi : http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1254
