THE APPARITION OF OUR LADY TO ANGELA OF FOLIGNO

Feast Day - January 31

Blessed Angela Foligno was born in 1248 of a prominent family in Foligno, three (3) leagues from Assisi. As a young woman, and also as a wife and mother, she loved only for the World and its vain pleasures. But the grace of God intended to make of her a vessel of election for the comfort and salvation of many. A ray of divine mercy touched her soul and so strongly affected her as to bring about a conversion.

At the command of her confessor, Friar Arnoldo of the Franciscan Order, she committed to writing the manner of her conversion in eighteen spiritual steps.

Enlightened by grace, Blessed Angela of Foligno wrote in this account. "I realised my sinful state; I was seized with a great fear of being damned, and I shed a flood of tears. I went to confession so as to be relieved of my sins, but through shame, I conceived the most grievous ones, but still I went to communion. Now my conscience tortured in day and night. I prayed to Saint Francis for help, and moved by an inner impulse, I went into a church where a Franciscan Priest was preaching"

It is reported that in the year 1285, she had a vision of Our Lady and Saint Francis of Assisi, who called her to do penance.

"I gathered courage to confess all my Sins to him, and I did this immediately after the Sermon. With zeal and perseverance, I performed the penance he imposed, but my heart continued to be full of bitterness and shame. I recognized that the divine mercy had saved me from Hell, so I decided to do rigorous penance; nothing seemed too difficult for me, because I felt I belonged in hell. I called upon the Saints, and especially Our Lady, to intercede with God for me."

"It appeared to me as if they had compassion on me, and I felt the fire of divine love kindled within me, so that I could pray as I never prayed before. I had also received a special grace to contemplate the Cross in which Christ had suffered so much for my Sins. Sorrow, love, and the desire to sacrifice everything for Him filled my Soul."

About this time, God hearkened to the earnest desire of the penitent: her mother died, then her husband, and soon afterwards, all her Children. These tragic events were very painful to her; but she made the sacrifice with resignation to the will of God. Being freed from these ties, she dispossessed herself from all her temporal goods with the consent of her Confessor, so that being poor herself, she might walk in the footsteps of her poor Saviour. It was to her Confessor Friar Arnoldo, that she dictated the account of her conversion, known as the 'Memoriale' or the 'Book of Visions and Instructions.'

She also entered the Third Order of St. Francis, and presently found herself the Superior and guide of others who followed in her path. Many Women joined her, even to the point of taking the three vows. She encouraged them in works of Charity, in nursing the sick, and in going personally from door to door to beg for the needs of the poor.

Meanwhile, Angela became still more immersed in the contemplation of the passion of Christ, and she chose the sorrowful mother and the faithful disciple John as her patrons. The sight of the wounds which her Lord suffered for her Sins urged her to the practice of still greater austerities. Once our Lord showed her that His heart is a safe refuge in all the storms of life. She was soon to be in need of such a refuge. God permitted her to be inflicted with severe temptations. The most horrible and loathsome representation distressed her soul.

The fore of concupiscence rated so furiously that she said: "I would rather have beheld myself surrounded with flames and permitted myself to be continually roasted than to endure such things."

Still, she called out to God, "Glory to Thee, O Lord! Thy Cross is my resting place."

These painful trials lasted over two years; but then the purified and tried Servant of the Lord was filled with great consolation. She obtained a marvellous insight into divine things and was very frequently found I'm ecstasy. For a time, she had the stigmata, and for many years Holy Communion was her only food, until at last, completely purified, she entered into the eternal joy of the supreme God on January 4, 1310.

Pope Innocent XII approved the continual devotion paid to her at her tomb in Foligno, where many miracles were attributed to her. He beatified her in 1693.

Blessed Angela of Foligno said, "To know oneself and to know God, that is the perfection of Man; without this knowledge, visions and the greatest gifts are of no account."