Anglo-Latin poetry 41Angela of Foligno, Blessed (ca. 1248–1309)Francis-
can mystic
There is little sure information on Angela’s life; she was
probably born in Foligno about 1248 and died on January
4, 1309. According to our only source, a spiritual biogra-
phy written by her confessor Arnaldo da Foligno, she was
married and had children. She underwent a conversion to
a life of chastity and penitence in about 1285. After the
“providential” death of all her family, she was free to dedi-
cate herself entirely to GOD. She had a profound and
oppressive sense of sin and a strong feeling of an incapac-
ity to make complete restitution for her sins. According to
her biography SAINTFRANCISwent to her aid and attained
for her the gift of a general confession. She was then able
to reform her life. In 1291 she made a pilgrimage to ASSISI
and joined the FRANCISCANThird Order. Angela’s spiritual
activities show various influences as well as a distinct orig-
inality. As well as the Memorial, Thirty-Six Instructionsare
attributed to her. She was spiritually influenced by many,
including the Franciscan UBERTINOda Casale. Her writings
and the texts concerning her, suspicious to her contempo-
raries, were submitted to the approval of Cardinal Gia-
como Colonna in 1309, about the time of her death.
See alsoSPIRITUALFRANCISCANS.
Further reading: Angela of Foligno, Angela of
Foligno: Complete Works, trans. Paul Lachance (New
York: Paulist Press, 1993); Paul Lachance, The Spiritual
Journey of the Blessed Angela of Foligno According to the
Memorial of Frater A. (Rome: Pontificium Athenaeum
Antonianum, 1984).
Angelico, Fra (Guido di Pietro, Giovanni da Fiesole)
(ca. 1385–1455)Dominican friar, painter
Guido di Pietro was born about 1385. Almost no knowl-
edge of his youth remains, except that he was a painter
before he entered the DOMINICAN ORDER. On October 31,
1417, he joined a GUILDof painters, the Company of Saint
Nicholas at FLORENCE. Between 1420 and 1422 Guido,
taking the religious name Fra Giovanni, assumed the habit
with the Observant friars of Fiesole. There he became
acquainted with Antonino Pierozzi, the future Saint
ANTONINUS, and was influenced by Giovanni Dominici
(1357–1419), founder and first prior of the convent, and
promoter of renewal within the Dominican order.
ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENTThe new Fra Giovanni immediately put his art at the ser-
vice of his fellow Dominicans. Between 1428 and 1435,
the date of the solemn consecration of the church at the
convent of Fiesole, he painted five ALTARPIECES. His most
famous works are the FRESCOESof Saint Mark’s convent in
Florence, painted between 1438 and 1445. They unite
GOTHICtraditions with those of the RENAISSANCE. Painted
in various cells in the convent, they were invitations to
meditation.
In 1445, Pope EUGENIUSIV called Giovanni to ROME
to decorate the now vanished chapel of the Holy Sacra-
ment in the Vatican Palace. The painter then moved into
the Dominican convent of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, the
headquarters of the order. There he lived as a “modest,
pious” friar who refused to accept appointment as the
archbishop of Florence. He had a close link with the
humanist Pope Nicholas V (r. 1447–55) and decorated
his private chapel between 1447 and 1450. There he tried
to reconcile humanist and theological ideas.
He returned to TUSCANYin 1450, continued to paint,
and served as prior of the convent of San Domenico at
Fiesole until 1452. Called while still alive “one of the
most famous painters in Italy,” he returned to Rome to
paint in the convent of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. He
died in that convent on February 18, 1455. Decades later
he was given the nickname “Angelico.” After a much-
interrupted process and without a cult or miracle, he was
finally beatified in 1984.
Further reading: Georges Didi-Huberman, Fra
Angelico: Dissemblance and Figuration,trans. Jane Marie
Todd (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995);
William Hood, Fra Angelico at San Marco(New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1993); John Pope-Hennessy, Fra
Angelico,2d ed. (London: Phaidon Press, 1974); John T.
Spike, Fra Angelico(New York: Abbeville Press, 1996).angels and angelology The term angelmeans a “mes-
senger,” sent by God on a mission. Angels appear in the
QURANwhen the Angel Gabriel gives MUHAMMADhis rev-
elation. The Scriptures provided a primary and rich basis
for the medieval treatment of angels by both Christians
and JEWS, especially from the ninth to 12th centuries.
AUGUSTINEin several works provided a more strictly doc-
trinal description in his ideas about creation, asserting a
division of angels as either good or fallen from grace.
DIONYSUS THEAREOPAGITEdivided angels into hierarchies
that receive aspects and particular gifts of purification,
illumination, and even perfection from God and then
transmit them in an orderly way to the hierarchy of the
church. Pope GREGORYthe Great started the tradition that
angels, by the plan of God, can through prayer be at the
service of human beings and intercede with God.
Further reading:Stephen Bemrose, Dante’s Angelic
Intelligences: Their Importance in the Cosmos and in Pre-
Christian Religion(Roma: Edizioni di storia e letteratura,
1983); Steven Chase, Angelic Wisdom: The Cherubim and
the Grace of Contemplation in Richard of St. Victor(Notre
Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1995); David
Keck, Angels and Angelology in the Middle Ages(Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1998).Anglo-Latin poetry The English or ANGLO-SAXONS
composed verses in LATINas soon as they learned to write
in the seventh century and continued to write so