St Angela Merici c1474-1540
Sitting by Lake Garda one weekend in May I drank in
the beauty of the scene, the silence of the surrounding mountains, the depths
of the waters. At the same time I heard the chatter of families enjoying a day
out and the bustle of the street market behind me. Yes, this was Desenzano.
Here, up the narrow, very steep Via Castello at No.96, facing the castle,
Angela Merici was born about 1474.
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| St Angela Merici |
Today, as patron of the city, her statue,
depicting her as a pilgrim, dominates the main square. All day people come and
go past this striding, yet silent figure; some pause to look up, to chat, to
rest at the feet of the “madre”- as she came to be known. It is significant
that this statue is in a public square and not in a church. For Angela lived
her life among people; they sought her advice concerning all areas of life, as
well as her comfort and her spiritual guidance.
Angela learnt her wisdom from the sorrows and joys of
life taken to God in prayer. Her attraction to Jesus was fostered by the lives
of the saints read to her and her siblings by her father, John, when they moved
out of town to a farm at Grezze. Sorrow came with the death of a much loved
sister and of both her parents. This meant moving to live with a maternal uncle
at Salo, further up the lake. There, however, her yearning for God was
nourished by the Franciscans; she joined their Third Order.
But God, himself, also intervened directly. When
Angela returned to live at Grezze she had a spiritual experience known as “the
Vision of Brudazzo”. In it Angela saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven on
which women and angels ascended and descended. From the seed planted in this
vision, the Company of St Ursula was
ultimately born in Brescia in 1535. Angela moved to this city in 1516 to
comfort Caterina Patengola on the loss of her husband and two sons. Those were
turbulent times of war and disease!
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| Foundation of the Company (Anon) |
One contemporary need that moved Angela’s heart was
the position of women: they lacked the freedom to determine their own lives.
The men of a family would decide for them: a husband or a monastery! Angela
daringly went against this social norm; she was one who was not afraid to stand
against the tide. She offered women a “third alternative”: a consecrated life
lived in the world. Today this model is known as a Secular Institute; in
Angela’s day it was unheard of!
One of my favourite spots in Brescia is a small room
attached to a church, known in Angela’s day St Afra. It is now called the
Sanctuary of St Angela, as it contains her incorrupt body in a glass coffin.
Here she composed the Rule for the virgins of Company of St Ursula - another
first: a rule composed by a woman for women! She also dictated here two other
documents for the guidance of the women who would be responsible for the
members of the Company. It is good to ponder in this spot, where she also died,
her words of wisdom on how to safeguard the treasure of a life consecrated to
Jesus whom she calls her “Lover” and ours.
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| Sr Maureen praying in Angela's room, Brescia |
Praying in the church below in front of the mortal remains of this little, frail, Italian lady I cannot but marvel at the contrast between what I see and the fruitfulness of Angela’s “YES” to God. Her charism has touched and continues to touch the lives of countless generations of Ursulines and those with whom they share the “madre’s” wisdom and compassion.
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| Angela's tomb, Brescia |
