Angela Merici was born on March 21, 1474. Out of love for Jesus, she consecrated
herself to him before she was ten years old and persuaded her sister to do the
same—promising never to get married and to live a life of prayer and
service. Around the age of 10 her
parents and sister died suddenly, and so she moved to a nearby town to live
with her uncle.
One day, during harvest-time, Angela was out in the field,
alone, when she had a vision of heaven.
She saw angels and young women coming toward her singing and surrounded
by light. One of the young girls was
Angela’s sister who had died, and she told Angela that God wanted her to
establish a company of consecrated women.
With her great love of the Lord, she was saddened by the
ignorance of the children in her native Italy, especially their lack of
religious training. She took it upon
herself to give regular instruction to the young neighborhood girls. She was joined by women with similar ideals.
It wasn’t until the age of 61 that she, and 28 young women
formed the Order of Ursulines, the first teaching order of religious sisters in
the history of the Church. St. Angela and the Ursulines were dedicated to
re-christianizing family life through solid Christian education, especially for
young girls who were the future Christian wives and mothers. The Company of St. Ursula spread throughout
Italy and France and eventually through all of Europe. They were the very first Catholic nuns to
land in the new world.
Before Cleveland was even a diocese, Father Amadeus Rappe,
who would become the first bishop of Cleveland was chaplain to the Ursulines in
the town of Boulogne-sur-Mer in France.
In 1847, when he became the first Bishop of Cleveland, it was among his
top priorities to establish schools.
He invited the Ursulines from Boulogne-sur-Mer to begin a
foundation in Cleveland and to start the Catholic school system in north
eastern Ohio.
The Order of Consecrated Religious Sisters founded by St.
Angela Merici, run Ursuline College over in Pepper Pike, less than 3 miles from
here. The Ursuline Sisters were the
first teachers at our Parish school here at St. Clare Parish. Their convent was where the parish office is
now. There is a stained glass window of
St. Angela by the eastern entrance to the church. I think your families would be very impressed
if you brought them over to the window of St. Angela, when you come to Church
this weekend. Tell them who she was at
what she did. Tell them about the vision
she had and how she consecrated herself to God, how she dedicated her life to
teaching, and how the parishioners of St. Clare parish benefit from her hard
work and dedication to God.
St. Angela knew the importance of passing on the faith,
taking serious efforts in the lives of children to instill in them faith in
Jesus Christ. She was a woman of action
whose efforts changed Church history, When she saw the ignorance of the
children in her neighborhood, she didn’t just wring her hands or complain, she
went out and taught them.
She is a wonderful saint to celebrate and to ask for her
prayers during this Catholic Schools Week.
And she prays for all school children from her place near God in heaven,
that we may be faithful to all that we learn about Jesus, and like her, to
spread that faith to others, for the glory of god and salvation of souls.
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