St. Christopher Ladies Guild Woman of the Month

St. Angela Merici

In the Parable of the Mustard Seed Jesus teaches us that our seemingly insignificant and humble actions, when combined with faith and love, bring about far-reaching and unimaginable results for the Kingdom of God. He says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”  (Matthew 13:31-32) The life of St. Angela Merici is a powerful example of this truth.

Born in 1474 in Brescia, Italy, Angela was orphaned at age 15. She and her beloved older sister were then sent to live with an uncle. Soon after, her sister suddenly passed away and by age 20 she had lost her uncle too. In her grief Angela joined a group of laypeople who lived the spirituality of St. Francis. During this time she saw a great need for Christian education for girls. Angela had worked very hard to educate herself, but typically, only the wealthy or the religious sisters could secure an education. In medieval Italy women were not permitted to be teachers and unmarried women could not do their own work outside the home. Nuns too lived in cloisters and could not leave the convent. Angela’s response to this need was to turn her house into a school for girls. Other young women soon joined her in her efforts and she formed a community of lay women dedicated to educating poor young women. As her movement grew even the pope heard of Angela’s work and invited her to move to Rome. But Angela decided to stay in Brescia, and in 1534 she established a formal religious community known as the Company of St. Ursula (known now as the Ursulines) These women were to live lives dedicated to service, but were to live in the world, not cloistered. By the time of her death in 1540, Angela’s small and humble decision to educate girls in her home had blossomed into 24 different Ursuline communities throughout Europe.  They were the first religious sisters to land in the New World, arriving in Canada in 1639. They founded and led educational institutions around the world. Cleveland especially bears the imprint of the Ursulines, and if you’ve been touched by Catholic education in Cleveland, you likely have been touched by Angela’s planting of a tiny mustard seed.

Four Ursuline sisters from France arrived in Cleveland in 1850 and proceeded to establish schools that in some fashion enrich the lives of Clevelanders to this day. Most notably, they inaugurated the diocesan school system in 1853 with the founding of St. Patrick School and began Ursuline College in 1871, which was one of Ohio’s first colleges for women. In addition to these two schools, the Ursulines were instrumental in the founding of Villa Angela Academy, Sacred Heart Academy, Beaumont School, and Urban Community School. St. Angela’s mustard seed did indeed grow into a mighty tree with branches giving sustenance and shelter to many. Her words provide inspiration today whenever we might feel that our efforts are too small to bear any meaningful fruit, or that we might not be cut out for the job. “Do something, get moving, be confident, risk new things, stick with it, get on your knees, then be ready for big surprises,” she said. These are powerful words of motivation as we begin a new year. Let us call upon her intercession as we too seek to build up the Kingdom of God in our own small ways, knowing that God’s grace knows no bounds. May we “run and not grow weary.” (Isaiah 40:31) St. Angela, pray for us!

Works Consulted
“History.”ursulinesisters.org
“St. Angela Merici.”faith.nd.edu