Today January 27

Today is the feast of St. Angela Merici (1474 - 1540). She is regarded as the foundress of the Ursuline nuns, and so she is, but as far as her own vision goes, she was a failure. She didn't want the Ursulines to be "enclosed" and under solemn vows at all; she wished for them to be sisters only, unprofessed, living in the world, wearing secular dress, but dedicated to all spiritual and corporal works of mercy. It was her firm opinion that if you teach the girls of a society, you teach the world, sort of like "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world." Her favorite saying was: "Disorder in society is the result of disorder in the family."

She was in her vision frustrated by two saints, no less. St. Charles Borromeo at Milan and (later) St. Pius V in Rome succeeded in forcing the Ursulines to become like any other order. But she is somewhat vindicated now, as the Ursulines more and more are moving out into the world and doing more parish visitation and social work and adopting more secular dress. They are still involved in education. Dear St. Angela, pray for us.