Earlier this week, on Tuesday we commemorated the feast day of St Francis de Sales, who with Sister Jane Frances de Chantal, he helped found the Sisters of the Visitation in 1610. I worked with some Sisters of the Visitation from the country of Chile when I served as a missionary in Ecuador. I have a lot of respect for that congregation and their work. St Angela Merici, the saint we celebrate today, was born in 1474, a century before St Francis de Sales. She was also a very ground breaking and influential figure in the Church in her era, having the distinction of founding the first “secular institute” and the first teaching order of women in the Church. When we see the influence Catholic sisters and consecrated Catholic lay women have had in Catholic schools and in the field of education throughout the centuries, we can better appreciate the contributions of Angela Merici.
Being orphaned as a child, she had a lot of obstacles to overcome in her life. She joined the third order Franciscans as a young woman, but later, at the age of 60, with 12 other women, she founded the Company of St. Ursula, which was named for a patroness of universities in medieval Europe. This Company of St Ursula constituted a new way of life, of single women consecrated to Christ and living in the world rather than as nuns in a convent. These women did not live in community, wore no special clothing, and made no formal vows, so it was quite different from living the life of a nun. Four years after her death in 1540, the rule of life that Angela wrote for this group of women was approved; it prescribed for them the practices of chastity, poverty, and obedience.
We hear about seed scattered on different types of soil in our Gospel today, of how God’s word is received in different ways. We give thanks for those people throughout history such as Angela Merici who have provided fertile soil for God’s word and who are great examples of faith for us.
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