Angela in the Word: the Writings & Scripture

Posted by On October 01, 2026 0 Comment

Calligraphy: Brown County Ursulines

The Feast of St Jerome includes an antiphon familiar to Ursulines: Those who are learned will be as radiant as the sky in all its beauty; those who instruct the many unto justice will shine like the stars for all eternity. [Daniel 12:3]  Almost fifty years ago, Jean Marie Stross, OSU, compiled a modestly mimeographed reflection booklet, profoundly titled: The Word in Angela – Angela in the Word. Exploring biblical resonances within the Writings helps to unearth their deeper meaning. The following collection of studies on “Angela and Scripture” offers a renewed opportunity to sit together with her in communion with the Word. Out of the Ursuline storehouse we have gathered studies both old and new. For leisurely reflection, several charts include scripture texts from the articles; biblical indexes highlight the spectrum of references noted by the authors and allow further engagement with the texts.

Tracing Scripture in the Writings is a kind of “reverse engineering” which brings us to “Angela in the Word.” She repeatedly points us to scripture where Truth speaks. The commentaries of M. Ignatius Stone, OSU [Commentary on the Writings of St Angela Merici], and Mary-Cabrini Durkin, CSU [Angela Merici’s Journey of the Heart: The Rule, The Way and Leadership from the Heart: Guidance from Angela Merici (Counsels & Testament)], allow Scripture itself to offer an exegesis of the Writings, as demonstrated in the scriptural indexes to their works.

The earliest witnesses affirm Angela’s assiduous reading of scripture and her gifted, intuitive understanding of its meaning. The Writings themselves give evidence of her apt use of it to “teach, reprove and train in right living” (2 Timothy 3:16). Marie Seynaeve, OSU, and M. Ignatius Stone both note her natural rhetorical skill in grounding precepts of the Rule with examples from Gospel. For the Matrons, Angela “diplomatically” cities the leniency of the Divine Exemplar as a preface to her staccato directives to “lead with love… not imperiously… and above all not to want to get things done by force…”!  Angela gracefully wields the two-edged sword of the Word of God as lightly as a fencing foil – Touché!

Besides the biblical imagery, allusions, paraphrases and citations in the Writings, it is important not to overlook the daily immersion in divine revelation Angela presupposes for her daughters in the Rule: the Ten Commandments (8:7), the seven penitential psalms and the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary (5:9), as well as the Our Father and Hail Mary (5:12-14). Angela’s own exposure to the Bible began at an early age, perhaps first hearing the stories of Judith and Tobit in the Golden Legend as her father read to the family.

The thirty-four Latin quotations and phrases in the Writings suggest surprisingly diverse provenance. Before the Sixto-Clementine standardized Vulgate of 1592, the Gutenberg Bible (1455) represented a mainstream Vulgate text, although the Brescian Latin Bible printed in 1496 reflects some older variants. The 1471 Italian translation by the Venetian Camaldolese monk Nicolò Malermi reveals a regional Latin and Tuscan manuscript tradition. Patristic commentaries, such as the De Poenitentiae of St Ambrose of Milan which Angela quotes (Rule, 7:2), maintained the Vetus Itala Latin even in print editions of the 15th century. Angela’s tertiary formation by the Friars Minor is evidenced in a number of Latin quotations found in the Early Rule and 2nd Letter to the Faithful of St Francis of Assisi, including the distinctive “major fiat sicut minor” (Counsels,1:9), while the single verse, illumina oculos meos, (Psalm 12(13):3; Counsels, 7:29) occurs in St Francis’ Office of the Passion.

Scripture itself sketches Angela for us: Freely I learned about Wisdom, ungrudgingly I share, her riches I do not hide away, for she is an unfailing treasure for humanity – Those who find her gain friendship with God – commended by the gifts that come from instruction… [Wisdom 7:13-14]. The verse fittingly expresses the generous sharing of those whose contributions are here offered, as well. Probing the scriptures which Angela brings to her Writings brings us, in turn, to her own encounter with Truth. Gabriele Cozzano insists that it was out of this encounter, of Jesus Christ crying out within her heart, that the Company of St Ursula was born. Discovering Angela in the Word we come, like women to the well, to draw from the deep springs of her charism.  Madre, where do you stay? – Come and see. 

Let us come, then, as disciples – each one, one by one, gathering all together at the feet of Jesus Christ.

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ARTICLES & CONFERENCES   [N.B. – some articles & charts use Turlino chapter numbering]

WRITINGS & SCRIPTURE TEXTUAL PARALLELS [Texts provided]

SCRIPTURAL REFERENCE INDEXES & CHARTS

  • Mary-Cabrini Durkin, CSU. Durkin Scripture Index. Angela Merici’s Journey of the Heart: The Rule, The Way, 2005; Leadership from Heart: Guidance from Angela Merici, 2019.
  • Marie Seynaeve, OSU. Seynaeve-Rio Scripture Chart. Reading the Writings of Angela in the Light of Scripture. [based on the research of Marie-Bénédicte Rio], 2007.
  • M. Ignatius Stone, OSU. Stone – Scripture Index. Commentary on the Writings of St Angela Merici: Rule, Counsels, Legacies. Roman Union, 1996.
  • Jean Marie Stross, OSU. Stross Scripture Index. The Word in Angela – Angela in the Word. 1977.
  • Jean Anne Zappa, OSU. Writings & Paul Index. …Paul’s writings, spirituality and theology as reflected in the Writings and spirituality of St. Angela Merici [St Meinrad, 2015].
  • Ursuline Institute – 1977, Mary McCormick, OSU, McCormick Scripture Charts.
  • Ursuline Institute – 1981 – scanned original Writings & Scripture handout.
  • Merician Bible Texts – ordered both by Writings and in biblical order [AMOR].
  • Merician Scripture Charts – includes 34 direct references with Latin & Franciscan sources.

Single-Page Scripture & Writings Resource Link

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