Lauren Hitron, Louisville Ursuline Associate and director of the Jean Frazier Institute at Sacred Heart Schools, recently was in Italy to study the Renaissance and leadership in Florence with a group from Gonzaga University. She visited several important sites of St. Angela Merici while she was there and reflects on her experience:
I recently had the privilege of taking a personal “mini pilgrimage” to see where St. Angela Merici lived and started the Company of St. Ursula. My journey began on St. Ursula’s Feast Day, where I viewed Carpaccio’s “Dream of St. Ursula” painting at the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice. Throughout Italy, there were many references to St. Ursula. Later, my travels took me to Desenzano, where St. Angela was born and spent her early years. My St. Angela medal hung from the silver necklace around my neck to accompany me on my journey.
One can still feel her presence in Desenzano, especially in a piazza near Lake Garda where a monument to her stands tall. She is looking up to the heavens with her hand on her heart. Before I arrived, I typed out “I am an Ursuline Associate and an educator at an Ursuline school in the United States” into Google Translate so that I could share the purpose of my visit with the native Italian speakers. Finding St. Angela’s childhood home proved to be very challenging, with a few wrong turns and following bad directions, but after a 20-minute hike up a hill, I found Casa di S. Angela Merici. I was overcome with emotion but was comforted by Sr. Patrizia and Sr. Armida, who welcomed me just as I imagine St. Angela would welcome a stranger: with an open heart and open arms. I stood in St. Angela’s bedroom and her family’s kitchen.
In Brescia, I went to St. Angela Merici church where her incorrupt body lies. I lit a candle for all of the Ursuline Sisters and Associates who have passed. There, I met a daughter of St. Angela, who lives with her family just as St. Angela intended when she originally founded the Company.
I was in Italy to study the Renaissance and leadership in Florence with a group from Gonzaga University. We discussed themes of innovation, perspective, sacred hospitality, and human-centered leadership. It was fascinating to learn more about the time and place in which St. Angela lived that may have helped to inspire her to consider a new way of life for women. Standing where St. Angela stood was by far the most emotional part of this 12-day journey for me. I pondered if St. Angela ever imagined the legacy she left and the thousands of people she touched. In both Brescia and Desenzano, I signed the visitors’ book with my favorite St. Angela quote, “Cultivate the vine that is entrusted to you. Thank you, St. Angela.”