Saturday, June 19, 2010

Blessed Angela of Foligno (1248 to Jan. 4, 1309)


I've seen it happen too many times. Marriages and relationships breaking up because someone had an affair. And, in most cases, the person who strayed was smitten by someone who ended up being a jerk.
So, before you admire someone else's wife because every time you run into her, she's so charming and funny, wake up! As they say, "All the world's a stage."
I knew a married man who had a beautiful wife and two children. He was having an affair with a married woman. They met on a business trip, and continued to see each other through work, because their jobs required travel. Whenever they were together it was party time. No spouses. No children. And, most of the business trips were in vacation spots like Aruba, Key West, or the South Pacific.
The cheaters ended up marrying each another. But, since they were no longer sneaking off to exotic locales, and were, instead, living together, the honeymoon was over in less than a year. They've since divorced.
Blessed Angela of Foligno, a mystic, was born near Assisi, Italy in 1248. And just like people today, she married young and lived a wild, scandalous, and adulterous life.
Her wake-up call came after everyone in her family died. Blessed Angela of Foligno prayed to St. Francis of Assisi, who appeared to her in a dream and offered guidance.
With the help of Arnoldo, a Franciscan friar, she got her act together. Her conversion is told in "The Book of Visions and Instructions." Blessed Angela of Foligno joined the Third Order of St. Francis to which she established a community of sisters who added to the Rule of the Order.
She died on Jan. 4, 1309 and is buried at St. Francis Church in Foligno. Many miracles took place in Blessed Angela of Foligno's name and she was beatified in 1693. She is the patron saint of those afflicted with sexual temptation.

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