Chapter 6 Marian Devotion in Saint Angela of (1248–1309), Tertiary and Franciscan Mystic

Marzia Ceschia

The only primary source available for reconstructing the life and spirituality of (1248–1309) is the so-called Liber Lelle, the name by which the text is frequently mentioned.1 The work is of great interest because of its first-hand knowledge of Angela’s religious experience, even as it is the founda- tion for the narrative of the significance of her life that led her contemporaries to confer upon her the title of ‘teacher of theology’ (magistra theologorum), despite the fact that she was illiterate.2 The Liber consists of two sections, of which the more important is doubt- lessly the first part, the Memoriale, a transcription by Friar A. (frater scrip- tor A.) who was her Franciscan spiritual director. Tradition identifies him as Friar Arnaldo, a relative of Angela. We have no further information on him,

1 The manuscript tradition regarding this material is rather complex. An overview is offered by Massimo Vedova in Esperienza e dottrina. Il Memoriale di Angela da Foligno (, 2009), 39–73. For the quotes from the Liber, this article relies on the the work of Fortunato Frezza: Liber Lelle. Il Libro di Angela da Foligno nel testo del codice di con versione italiana, note critiche and apparato biblico tratto dal codice di Bagnoregio (, 2012). The first critical edition of the Liber was edited by Ludger Thier and Abele Calufetti and published in 1985 (Grottaferrata). Recently, Enrico Menestò published a critical edition of the Memoriale: An- gela da Foligno, Memoriale (, 2013). 2 In recent years the bibliographical material on the subject has greatly increased due to the heightened interest in this sainted Franciscan tertiary. We mention only a few of the many recent works, choosing from among those published from the year 2000 and later: P. An- zulewicz, ‘L’esperienza di Dio «umanato» pienezza dell’uomo alla luce del Liber della Beata Angela da Foligno,’ in Miscellanea Francescana 105 (2005) 3/4, 446–479; V. Battaglia, ‘Riflessi di mistica nuziale nell’esperienza spirituale della beata Angela da Foligno,’ in Ricerche Teo- logiche 17 (2006) 2, 277–312; G. Benedetti, La teologia spirituale di Angela da Foligno (Florence, 2009); Il Liber di Angela da Foligno e la mistica dei secoli xiii–xiv in rapporto alle nuove cul- ture. Atti del xlv Convegno storico internazionale (, 12–15 October 2008) (Spoleto, 2009); R. Fusco, Amore e compassione. L’esperienza di Angela da Foligno (Rome, 2001); C. Leonardi, Il Libro di Angela da Foligno: l’amore, la tenebra, l’abisso di Dio, in Agiografie Medievali, eds. A. Degl’Innocenti, F. Santi (Florence, 2011), 99–115; R. Vanelli Coralli, La retorica dei sensi spiri- tuali in Angela da Foligno (Bologna, 2010). The original Italian article was translated into Eng- lish by Nancy Celaschi, osf, with the assistance of Steven J. McMichael.

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Marian Devotion in Saint Angela of Foligno (1248–1309) 151

­however, so his identity nonetheless remains anonymous. This scribe relates Angela’s personal account of her experience without failing to frequently point out the inadequacy of his words to describe what she experienced and un- derstood. The second part of the Liber, the Instructiones, gathers together the magistra’s instructions to her disciples in the form of admonitions that were presumably edited by several individuals. This part of the Liber is particularly interesting because it attests to the existence of Angela’s spiritual ‘circle,’ who served as guardians of her experience (experientia) and followers of her teach- ing (doctrina).3 Angela was born in Foligno into a well-off family. In a rather short period of time she lost her mother, her husband, and her children. Thus free of ev- ery bond and all external restraints, she radically transformed her life. She de- scribed this life as one marked by a movement from comfort and vanity to a poor existence, inspired by passionate yearning and marked by an extraordi- nary and total experience of God perceived as the ‘All Good’ (Omne Bonum). Her conversion was brought about by a lacerating inner conflict: Sorrow for sin and a fear of hell precipitated her ‘into an interior crisis that led to her religious conversio, to a change in her thinking and lifestyle.’4 A critical step in her journey took place in 1285, when she was approximate- ly thirty-seven years old. Going to confession in the Cathedral of San Feliciano in Foligno, she came into contact with the aforementioned Friar A., who at the time was the Bishop’s chaplain. At this point in time, she made a resolution to commit herself to a chaste and penitential life, which led her to the decision to rid herself of all her worldly goods. Perhaps in her deliberations about this decision, Angela was inspired by the example of one of her contemporaries, a nobleman from Foligno named Pietro Crisci, who is probably the Petrucius mentioned in the Liber.5

3 The two terms recur significantly together in the prologus of the Memoriale (hereafter re- ferred to as Mm): ‘Quam experientiam et ipsius experientie doctrinam ipse Deus suos fideles facit probare plenissime. Et hic etiam nuper per aliquam suorum fidelium ad devotionem suorum fecit aliqualiter indicare predictam scilicet experientiam et doctrinam’ (Mm 1.3-4, 2). 4 U. Köpf, ‘Angela da Foligno. Un contributo al movimento femminile francescano del 1300,’ in Movimento religioso e mistica femminile nel Medioevo, eds. P. Dinzelbacher and D.R. Bauer (Milan, 1993), 261. 5 See A. Calufetti, Angela da Foligno mistica dell’Ognibene (Milan, 1992), 47: ‘At the origin of her changed life it seems we find the example of the Pietro Crisci from Foligno mentioned above. At that time “Petrucius,” as he was called, abandoned his possessions to consecrate himself to an ideal of prayer and evangelical poverty. He dressed in a habit of penance (white sackcloth), but from documents of that time he does not seem to be a Franciscan tertiary, as tradition commonly holds him to be.’ See also the comment of Mario Sensi: ‘The penitent Crisci…was not only a factor, but also an exemplary witness of evangelical poverty which the