During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, only wealthy women and nuns were permitted to be educated. At age ten, orphaned and residing with her uncle, Angela suffered her sisters passing without receiving the sacraments.
After her uncles passing she returned to her hometown, immediately recognizing the lack of education in young women. The revelation of her true calling swelled within her. Pope Clement VII offered her a prestigious position supervising a religious order of nurses, she declined. By then she was 56 years old and determined to pave the way for educating women. She assembled a group of unmarried Franciscan tertiaries and began teaching on the streets and in the homes of poor women. Hence the Ursulines were born. St. Angela was a true radical thinker, reminding us to take action when there is true need. Images often depict her with a book surrounded by women.
