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Document Details : Title: Angela of Foligno Subtitle: The Active Life and the Following of Christ Author(s): PETERSON, Ingrid Journal: Studies in Spirituality Volume: 10 Date: 2000 Pages: 125-142 DOI: 10.2143/SIS.10.0.505264 Abstract : In her memorial Angela of Foligno (1248-1309), Fransiscan tertiary, prescribes a method of holiness for those who wish primarily to follow in the footprints of Christ's public life. WHile prayer was the avenue through which she came to know and experience God, Angela's formula for the spiritual journey is not a way of prayer as much as a way of life in imitation of Jesus. She claims that practicing poverty, enduring suffering and accepting the contempt of others are the virtues she experienced while 'in God', the virtues that Jesus lived and, therefore, chose to embrace. Angela names qualities (nouns) in contrast to Clara of Assisi (1193-1253), who sought to live the gospel messageof Francis as a contemplative and who tought that activity (verbs) in prayer leads to union with God: to gaze, to consider, and to contemplate. Angela's description of following Christ outside the monastic tradition corresponds to the treatment of the contemporary sprititual life given by Parker Palmer in the active life: Wisdom for Work, Caring and Creativity. Both reach for images that touch the life energies of their time to bring wholeness to the active life. |
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