[Rank]
St. Angela Merici, Virgin;;Duplex;;3;;vide C6b

[Oratio]
O God, Whose will it hath been to use blessed Angela as a means whereby to make a new fellowship of virgins to grow and flourish in Thy Church, grant unto us, at her prayers, so angelically to live, that we may freely lay aside all earthly things, and worthily enter upon the enjoyment of those things which are eternal.
$Per Dominum

[Lectio4]
Angela Merici was born of godly parents at Decenzano on the western shore of the Lake of Garda, in the diocese of Verona and territory of Venice, (on the 21st day of March, about the year of grace 1474.) From her earliest years she carefully guarded the lily of her virginity, with the intention of keeping it for ever unbroken. She had no taste for women's finery, and purposely marred the exceeding comeliness of her body and her sightly hair, as seeking to appear beautiful only in the eyes of Him Who is the Lover of souls. At ten years of age she lost both her father and mother, and thereafter, being fain to take upon her a life of greater hardness, she essayed to retire into a desert place apart, but this her uncle forbade her to do, and she learnt how to practice at home what she was not allowed to attempt in the wilderness. She often used hair-cloth and scourging never ate flesh-meat, except when she was sick drank wine only on the Feast-days of Christmas and Easter; and many a day took nothing at all. She was instant in prayer. What little sleep she took, she took lying on the ground. The devil strove to beguile her, appearing under the form of an angel of light, but she quickly detected him and put him to flight. At length she added to the glory of virginity that poverty which is commended in the Gospel she gave up all that she had, and adopted the dress and rule of the Third Order of St Francis.

[Lectio5]
She left undone no service of kindness which she was able to do to her neighbors. If there remained anything over of the food which was given in alms to herself, she gave that to the poor. She cheerfully waited upon the sick. She journeyed about, with a great reputation for holiness, comforting the afflicted, asking forgiveness for the guilty, reconciling the angry, and recalling the wicked from evil. Her only hunger was for the bread of Angels, and she took the Same right often, and then arose in her vehemence of love bearing her towards God, which oftentimes made her beside herself. She made a pilgrimage, with intense feeling, to the Holy Places in Palestine, during which journey she lost her sight at Canea in Crete on her way out, and recovered it at the same place on her way home. In this journey also, God saved her from being made prisoner by the unbelievers and from shipwreck. She went to Rome, (in 1525,) at once to pray at the immovable Rock of the Church, and to gain the abundant pardons of the Jubilee. Pope Clement VII conversed with her, was edified by her holiness, and highly commended her neither would he let her leave Rome, until he knew that God was calling her elsewhere.

[Lectio6]
She went back to Brescia, and there hired an house near the Church of St. Afra, in which house, in obedience to a vision and command from heaven, she founded a new Order of religious women, constituted under certain rules and holy regulations of life. This Order she put under the name and patronage of St Ursula, the fearless leader of maidens. When Angela was near to death, she foretold that this Order will never cease. She was well-nigh three score and ten years of age, and full of good works, when, in the (night between the) 27th (and the 28th days) of January, in the year 1540, she winged her flight heavenward. Her dead body lay unburied thirty days, supple and life-like. It was laid at last in the Church of St. Afra, where sleep so many more of God's holy children. Diverse miracles forthwith began to be worked at her grave. The fame of these being noised about, she began to be commonly called Blessed, and that not only at Brescia and Decenzano and pictures of her were put over Altars. Not many years afterward, holy Charles Borromeo said openly at Brescia, that she was one whose name the Apostolic See might well enroll among those of holy virgins. The reverence which had of a long time been shown to her memory was approved by the local Ordinaries, confirmed by diverse Papal Indults, and solemnly ratified and established by decree of Pope Clement XIII. As she continued famous for new and proved miracles, Pope Pius VII, at the solemn canonization held in the Vatican Basilica, upon the 24th day of May, in the year 1807, added her name to the list of holy maids.

[Lectio94]
Angela Merici was born of devout parents and from her earliest years gave evidence of great virtue, frequently using sackcloth and scourges, and praying unceasingly. She renounced her inheritance and embraced the rule of the Third Order of St. Francis. Uniting evangelical poverty with the glory of virginity, she withheld no service of kindness to her neighbour. She was frequently refreshed by the Holy Eucharist, and was carried up to God with such force of love as often to be rapt out of her senses. At Brescia, she founded a new society of Virgins, under a fixed discipline and a rule of life conducive to holiness, which she put under the patronage and name of St. Ursula. At last, when she was almost seventy years old, she went to heaven, in the year of the Lord 1540, on January 27th. Pope Clement XIII by a solemn decree ratified and confirmed the veneration which had already been offered her for a long time; and Pope Pius VII enrolled her in the list of holy Virgins.
&teDeum