| Angela of Foligno (Angela da Foligno) |
| 1248-1309 |
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Biography
| Almost nothing is known about the details and external circumstances of
Angela’s life. Except for the date of her death, virtually all the information we have about her must be deduced or inferred from her ‘Libro’. From the scant information about the external context of her life that can be gleaned from this ‘Libro’, we do know that Angela was a married woman, had children, and before her conversion lived a well-to-do and, likely, a conventional life - even if in her eyes a very sinful one. What triggered her mid-life conversion, about 1285, is unknown. Certainly, it was aided by a dream in which St. Francis appeared to her. The Poverello was to become her spiritual guide, appearing to her several times and even, at one point, making the stunning declaration : "You are the only one born of me."
The first part of Angela’s ‘Libro’, the ‘Memorial’, was dictated to a Franciscan friar whom we only know as “Bro. A.”. He was to serve as Angela’s confessor, scribe, as well as protagonist of her communications from God. “Bro. A.” not only translated into Latin what Angela dictated to him in her Umbrian dialect (she was unlettered), but also, and in spite of repeated affirmations to the contrary he, and perhaps other unnamed scribes or subsequent copyists, organized and reworked the text.
The ‘Memorial’ contains the thirty steps which Angela had told “Bro. A.” and her companion (referred to as M.) delineate the itinerary of her love affair with the "suffering God-man” and how she was transformed and led her into the deep abysses of the Trinitarian life. The second part of the ‘Libro’, the ‘Instructions’, some likely redacted by “Bro. A.” but most by anonymous disciples, show us Angela's role as a spiritual mother. It contains her teachings in the form of letters, exhortations, summaries of her spirituality, further visionary accounts, a testament, and an epilogue.
See for current discussions on Angela's life and works http://home.infionline.nte/~ddiss; www.beataangeladafoligno.it, and the sismel website mentioned in the writings section below. |
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Writings
| Il libro della beata Angela da Foligno, ed. Ludger Thier & Abele Calufetti (Grottaferrata, 1985). See also: http://sismel.meri.unifi.it/mistica/ita/TestiStrumenti/fullTextAngela.htm. and Angela da Foligno e il suo culto, I: Documenti a stampa e nel WEB (1497-ca. 2003), ed. Sergio Andreoli, Emiliano Degl’Innocenti, Paul Lachance, Francesco Santi, La Mistica cristiana tra Oriente e Occidente, 6 (Tavvarnuzze-Florence: SISMEL,Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2006). See also the following editions and translations of her work: Le livre de la Bienheureuse Angèle de Foligno, ed. Donceur (Paris, 1926); Lettere ai discepoli, trans. Sergio Andreoli, Studi Francescani 99 (2002), 37-63. Also published as: Beata Angela da Foligno, Lettere ai discepoli, ed. Sergio Andreoli (Foligno: Promo Edit., 2006); Angela of Foligno, Complete Works, trans. Paul Lachance (New York: Paulist Press, 1993); The visions, revelations and teaching of Angela of Foligno, a member of the Third Order of St. Francis, ed. Margaret Gallyon (Portland, Oregon: The Alpha Press, 2000); Angela of Foligno. Passionate Mystic of the Double Abyss, an anthology edited by Paul Lachance (Hyde Park, N.Y.: New City Press, 2006); Angela of Foligno. Memorial. Selections, trans. John Cirignano with an introduction by Cristina Mazzoni (Cambridge. D.S. Brewer,1999). The later contains an interpretive essay by Mazzoni and useful annotated reviews of contemporary essays on Angela; Le livre d’Angèle de Foligno d’après les textes originaux, trans. Jean-François Godet, presentation Thaddée Matura & Paul Lachance (Grenoble: Jerome Millon, 1995); L’expérience de Dieu avec Angèle de Foligno, anthologie, ed. Paul Lachance (Montreal: Fides, 2001); Le livre des visions et instructions de la bienheureuse Angèle de Foligno , trans. Ernest Hello (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1991)= 10th edition. First edition dates from 1868); Le livre de l’expérience des vrais fidèles, trans. M.-J Ferré (Paris: Editions E. Droz, 1927); Thesaurus Angelae de Fulginio , ed. Claire Pluygers and Paul Tombeur, (Turnhout: Brepols, 2003). |
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Vitae
| Acta Sanctorum Jan., I, 186-234. |
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Studies
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| Andreoli, Sergio. 'Angela da Foligno', Consacrazione e Servizio 49 (2000), 62-79. | View |
| Andreoli, Sergio. 'Ángela de Foligno', in: Diccionario de Mística, 144-146. | View |
| Andreoli, Sergio. 'Appunti sull’esperienza e sulla dottrina di Angela da Foligno, penitente francescana', Analecta Tertii Ordinis Regularis 176 (2006), 63-124. | View |
| Andreoli, Sergio. 'Gli esempi della B. Angela nel Memoriale di fr. Arnaldo', L’Italia Francescana 58 (1983), 435-452. | View |
| Andreoli, Sergio. 'La beata Angela da Foligno fa discutere', Analecta Tertii Ordinis Regularis 36 (2005), 283-341. | View |
| Andreoli, Sergio. 'La Beata Angela da Foligno', Vita Minorum 73 (2002), 126ff. | View |
| Andreoli, Sergio. 'La tribolazione secondo Angela da Foligno', Vita Minorum 60 (2000), 207ff. | View |
| Andreoli, Sergio. 'Note su Angela da Foligno', Bollettino Storico della Città di Foligno 23-24 (1999), 317-321. | View |
| Andreoli, Sergio. 'Ricerche su Angela da Foligno', Analecta Tertii Ordinis Regularis 177 (2006), 511-584. | View |
| Andreoli, Sergio. 'Una figura emblematica del Terz'Ordine Francescano', Analecta Tertii Ordinis Regularis 35/173 (2004), 481-501. | View |
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