Life & Times
When Angela Merici was born in 1474, northern Italy was in a state of political, social, religious and moral upheaval. Frequent wars, plagues, moral laxity and ecclesiastical corruption produced a climate ripe for massive change. No one would have guessed that this farmer’s daughter would play a key role in the reforms to come. Little is known of Anqela’s childhood in Desenzano. Italy. She grew up in a household of modest means and strong faith. As a young child, having heard her father read the lives of Saints and holy Virgins, she herself was drawn to a contemplative way of life.
Her home was soon disrupted by the premature deaths of her parents and sister, and Angela went to live with her uncle in Salo. The pivotal event of her spiritual life occurred sometime in her adolescence. One day during the harvest, Angela and her companions were out in the fields. At mealtime, Angela withdrew from her companions and went off alone to pray. In ecstasy, she experienced a vision of a staircase extending from heaven to earth. Angels and virgins were advancing on the staircase, two-by-two, singing a beautiful song which Angela would still remember years later. One of the virgins, her deceased sister, told Angela that God wished her to found a company of consecrated virgins. This vision would not be fulfilled for over forty years.
At some point, Angela joined the Third Order of St. Francis. She wore the habit of the Tertiaries throughout her life and from the Friars Minor received her spiritual formation. In 1516, her Franciscan superiors asked her to go to Brescia to help a fellow tertiary in need. For the remainder of her life she lived in Brescia, assisting others by her prayers and by her works of charity. Shortly after 1530, Angela began gathering together young women seeking to live the life of consecrated virginity in a new way: they lived with their families, wore no distinctive habit nor took any public vows. , it is clear from Angela’s Rule that they were to be ”true and chaste brides of the Son of God.” Living an exemplary Christian life, the virgins were to witness and minister in their homes and communities, not behind cloister walls.
Angela saw in her Company a, “deliberate return to the ideal of virginity in the Early Church” (Ledochowska, 1:169). She, therefore, placed it under the patronage of St. Ursula, Virgin-Martyr of the early Church, and a popular saint of the Middle Ages. On Nov. 25, 1535, twenty-eight women met in the oratory of Elizabeth Prato’s home: “They assisted at Mass together, then, in turn, each signed her name in the Book of the Company, a commitment which was equivalent to a solemn promise of fidelity; with the minimum of ceremonial the first Ursulines gave themselves to God . . . (Ibid., 1:106). The Company grew rapidly; at Angela’s death in 1540, there were 150 members. From Brescia, it spread quickly throughout Italy, to France and Germany, and around the world.
Karen Klaffenbach, OSU [Paola]
ONLINE RESOURCES
Brinovec, Mary Ellen, Noel Marra, Joan Petersen, OSU [Cleveland]. Angela, A Steadfast Presence. 2007. 51pp. (includes chronology & glossary of names)
Burns, Camilla, SNDdN, The Wise Woman of Brescia, keynote address, Owensboro Convocation 1995.
Curtis, Carol, OSU [Louisville]. “The Eyes of the Soul: Pilgrimage of Discernment in St Angela Merici.” 2025.
Hanratty, Barry. “St Angela Merici.” Garabandal Journal, May-June 2017, pp 13-17.
Kelly, M. St. Dominic, OSU. Angela and the Ursulines. Roman Union Province of Ireland & Wales [Resources]
Mahoney, Irene, OSU. St Angela Foundress of the Ursulines and Portraits of Angela [historical narrative]. 1985.
Mazzonis, Querciolo. “Angela Merici” and “Ursulines” , entries, Oxford Bibliographies [online].
Stone, M Ignatius, OSU. Angela’s Alphabet.
Angela Merici: A Great Saint and a Great Citizen of Desenzano.City of Desenzano del Garda, website post by “Lady in Blue,” English version. 2003. Italian.
Critical Studies
Mariani, Luciana, OSU, Elisa Tarolli, and Marie Seynaeve, OSU. Angela Merici : Contribution Towards a Biography. Milano: Ancora, 1989. Internet Archive edition.
Rio, Marie-Bénédicte, OSU. Angela Merici: The scribe and the witnesses [Three Writings of Gabriel Cozzano, Angela’s secretary and Chancellor of the Company (1540-1546)] Testimonies of the Life of the Reverend Mother Sister Angela Franciscan Tertiary or Processo Nazari (1568). Rome. 2001.
Seynaeve, Marie, OSU [RU]. Research on Saint Angela, 9pp.
_________. New Light Research [1982], 7pp.
_________. First Biographers Research, [1984] 14pp.
_________. The Life & Message of Angela Merici, 14pp.
_________. Angela Explains Scripture. 2pp.
Stone, M Ignatius, OSU. Recent Research. 1991 Inter-Ursuline Gathering, Rome.
Chronology – Angela’s Life & Times
Map – Angela’s Homeland
Children’s Book [illustrated]
Moran, M Yvonne, OSU. Angela, God’s Magnet. [line art]. 1986.
Music
Denise Pyles, Angela’s Story, 1989. 2022 Recordings and music scores available.
Videos
German Ursulines (English narration). Angela Merici – Stages of her Life.
Youngstown Ursulines. Introduction to Saint Angela.
Mount St Joseph Ursulines. Angela’s Story. narrative. 15m.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY [Print]
Critical Studies
Ledóchowska, Teresa, OSU. Angela Merici and the Company of St. Ursula : According to the Historical Documents. v.1. Rome: Ancora, 1967.
Mariani, Luciana, OSU, Elisa Tarolli, and Marie Seynaeve, OSU. Angela Merici : Contribution Towards a Biography. Milano: Ancora, 1989. Internet Archive edition.
Rio, Marie-Bénédicte, OSU. Angela Merici: The scribe and the witnesses [Three Writings of Gabriel Cozzano, Angela’s secretary and Chancellor of the Company (1540-1546)] Testimonies of the Life of the Reverend Mother Sister Angela Franciscan Tertiary or Processo Nazari (1568). Rome. 2001.
Biographical Books
Mariani, Luciana, OSU, and Marie-Benedicte Rio, OSU [tr. Armida Veglio, OSU]. Against the Tide: Angela Merici. Rome. 2004.
Stone, M Ignatius, OSU. Angela’s Alphabet.
Booklets
Brinovec, Mary Ellen, OSU, Noel, Joan Petersen, OSU. Angela: A Steadfast Presence. Pepper Pike, OH: Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland, 2007.
Durkin, Mary-Cabrini. Angela’s Story. Strasbourg: Editions Signe. 2006.
Mahoney, Irene, OSU. Saint Angela Foundress of the Ursulines and Portraits of Angela. 1985.
Children’s Books [illustrated]
Keefe, Maryellen, OSU. Saint Angela Merici: Leading People to God Along the Paths to the Gospel. Daughters of Saint Paul (Ed. Signe). 2000. [illustrated children’s book].
Moran, M Yvonne, OSU. Angela, God’s Magnet. [line art]. 1986.
*Writings Prior to mid-20th century [N.B.: latter 20th century critical studies have updated our knowledge of St Angela and the Primitive Company]
Caraman, Philip. Saint Angela: The Life of Angela Merici, Foundress of the Ursulines (1474-1540). London: Longmans, Green & Co. 1963.
Francis d’Assisi, OSU (New Rochelle). Sant’ Angela of the Ursulines. Bruce Publishing Co. 1934. downloadable Open Library digital edition.
Johnston, Sue M. Cameo of Angela. Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press. 1958. Internet Archive edition.
O’Reilly, Bernard. Saint Angela Merici and the Ursulines. London: Burns & Oates.1880. Internet Archive edition.
Parenty, Abbé. Life of Saint Angela of Brescia. Philadelphia: Peter Cunningham. 1857. Internet Archive edition.
Reidy, Mary. The First Ursuline: The Story of Saint Angela Merici. Westminster: Newman Press. 1961. Internet Archive edition.
Salvatori, Filippo Maria, SJ, Angela. 1807 [trans. de Mercurio, Marie, OSU, St Martin, OH: The Ursulines of Brown County. 1970. Internet Archive edition.
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