Blessed Angela of Foligno, "Mistress of Theologians"
Angela was born at Foligno, Umbria, Italy in 1248. A wealthy non-Christian, she married young and had several children. She lived a "mortally sinful" life before having a conversion experience around the age of 40. After her mother, her husband and all her children had died, she gave herself up completely to God. Angela has recorded the history of her conversion in her "Book of Visions and Instructions", which contains seventy chapters, and which was dictated to her Franciscan Confessor. This book contains her visions and ecstasies, which reveal that she is a great mystic. Her writings are also found in "The Book of Divine Consolations of the Blessed Angela of Foligno". Some time after her conversion, Angela became a Third Order Fransciscan. She gave away her possessions and started a community of tertiaries devoted to the care of the needy. Angela is noted for her charity, patience, and humility. She is called "the Mistress of Theologians" due ...