This “little sheep,” as she called herself, through his devotion and her cross managed to help thousands of miserable people, making herself miserable. He was born in 1846 in an environment of poverty and honesty, he started school, which he soon had to drop out to work in a shoe shop. She was one of the six siblings who managed to survive childhood, of the fourteen that she had in marriage.
Childhood from which comes his life of devotion and religiosity, thanks to the example and teaching of his parents, as they worked for the Trinitarian Fathers of Seville. His father was the cook, while his mother washed, sewed and ironed the clothes of the friars.. She was a great example for her daughter, because despite the few financial resources they had, she always ensured that the poor children of the neighborhood were baptized as soon as possible, even acting as a godmother and she will live long enough to see Angela’s cause. Her father, on the other hand, died when she was still a child.
At the age of 25, he decided to live according to the Gospel. Later, thanks to his prayer, she will promise to follow the Lord in the way that He indicated, assisting the poorest and sickest. Thanks to her vocation, as she tells us, she “was able to discover what humiliation is worth.” But what do you mean “humiliation”? This means, in the Bible, the recognition of one’s smallness before God.
Really, giving her life was a challenge for her because she was quite ill, so at first she had to abandon the postulate. Something especially difficult because her spiritual director, Father Torres, was in Rome doing nothing less than a theological consultant for the First Vatican Council. Fortunately, he returned soon, as the Council had been suspended. Upon returning, he found an Angela who, out of necessity, had returned home. However, neither she nor he gave up and continued to discern what her mission in life should be. Little by little, while he was recovering, he began to see how she, having already tried living in the convent, had to go out into the world to dedicate herself to the poor, to nail herself with Jesus to the Cross.
Ángela dedicated her life to serving those most in need, but not in a distant way, but attending to them personally and identifying their pain with hers. Thus, she wanted to bring them closer to Jesus and the salvation of his souls. Thanks to this, she was able to begin to discern what her future foundation should consist of: the Company of the Cross. At only 29 years old, she carried out her mission and founded the Institute, in which her sisters and she said goodbye to her lives to devote herself completely to caring for those who were most helpless.
“Poor with the poor”
It was founded in Seville, Angela’s hometown, on August 2, 1875 and approved by Saint Pius X in 1904. In the early years, they dedicated themselves above all to caring for patients with diseases as common as tuberculosis, which It affected the poor above all, leaving a trail of orphaned children in its wake, children who were taken in by the sisters until they could fend for themselves. They also had to deal with epidemics such as the smallpox that occurred in 1877.
As time goes by, the Company manages to make new foundations. Inspired above all by the ideas of Saint Francis of Assisi, she will look for women who are encouraged to live the way she was willing, that is, “become poor with the poor”, a persistent idea in Ángela.
Due to her virtues and her humility, she stood out wherever she went, being held in high regard by all. Some texts from her are preserved in which she transmits her spirituality to us. In them she always highlights her humility and her desire for absolute littleness, for detachment from oneself and to devote herself totally to others. She was canonized by Saint John Paul II on May 4, 2003 and today, her figure enjoys many recognitions and small monuments (mainly statues) in her honor.