Third Order Franciscan
(1881–1922)
Angela Salawa was born to a poor family in Krakow, Poland. At the age of 16, she found work as a maid and lived a carefree and worldly life.
A turning point came as she was dancing during a wedding reception and suddenly perceived that Christ was standing in the room, seeming to hold her in a gaze of loving reproach. Immediately she went to a nearby church, where she prayed for the courage to amend her life. Rather than enter a religious order, she decided to pursue a life of prayer and service in the world. In 1912, she became a Third Order Franciscan.
With the outbreak of World War I, Krakow was evacuated, but Angela chose to remain, nursing soldiers and prisoners of war while offering comfort to all who suffered. In her diary, she wrote to Christ: “I want you to be adored as much as you were destroyed.” Her own health suffered, but no one noticed.
In 1916, she was fired by her employer, who accused her of stealing. Penniless and without other resources, she lived out her last years in a basement room, where she died alone on March 12, 1922, at the age of 40. Despite her obscurity, her reputation for holiness endured beyond her death. She was beatified in 1991 by Pope John Paul II.
Questions for Reflection
- When you’ve faced difficulties in your life, how did your faith sustain you? How did your prayer life keep you afloat?
- Blessed Angela Salawa never lost sight of her ultimate goal: union with the divine. Have you ever strayed from your goals? How did you recenter?
- In what ways can you help those around you who are struggling with poor health, financial setbacks, or other difficulties?
“Lord, I live by your will. I shall die when you desire. Save me because you can.”
Blessed Angela Salawa
2 thoughts on “Seven Followers of St. Francis: Blessed Angela Salawa”
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My grandfather died before I was born in the fifties. He worked in the coal mines in the Pittsburgh area until he had a heart attack when he was in his late fifties. He couldn’t work anymore so he devoted his time and energy helping the priest at the Catholic church every day. Here is the strange part; The priest told my grandfather that he had a cousin in Poland who was a Saint. Her name was Angela Salawa. My mother told me this story long before St Pope John Paul II beatified Angela Salawa in 1991. How could the Priest have known her as a Saint long before she was beatified?