Angèle de Foligno

1248-1309 13th century Feast day: January 4

Dispossession become encounter: as everything is taken away, discovering God present in all things.

Who was Angèle de Foligno?

A wife and mother of the merchant class of Foligno, in Umbria, converted around forty after a life she judged worldly; she lost her mother, her husband and her sons one after another. As a Franciscan tertiary she dictated to her confessor, Brother Arnaldo, the account of her inner road (the Memoriale) so daring that she was called the teacher of theologians. Canonized in 2013.

In their own words

But it is full of God, it is full of God, this universe.

The Book of Visions and Instructions (Memoriale), ch. XXII

Prayer is the force that draws God, and the sanctuary where he is found.

The Book of Visions and Instructions, ch. LXII

To know oneself, to know God: there lies the perfection of man.

The Book of Visions and Instructions, ch. LVII

Oh, I love you, I love you more than any other person in this valley.

Words heard on the road to Assisi, The Book of Visions and Instructions, ch. XX