Holy Mass for the Beatification of Sister Angela Of the Cross (5 November 1982)

On Friday, 5 November 1982, the Holy Father celebrated Holy Mass in Seville for the Beatification of Sister Angela of the Cross. In his homily the Pope said that “united with the sacrifice of Christ, Sister Angela and her sisters will be able to bear witness to love for the needy.” Following the example of Christ's poverty, "she put her Institute at the service of the poorest poor, the disinherited, the marginalized.

Mr Cardinal,
brothers in the Episcopate,
dear brothers and sisters.

1. Today I have the joy of finding myself under the Andalusian sky for the first time; this beautiful region, the largest and most populous in Spain, the center of one of the oldest cultures in Europe. Here different civilizations met which gave rise to the peculiar known characteristics of Andalusian man.

You gave the Roman Empire emperors, philosophers and poets; eight centuries of Arab presence have refined your poetic and artistic sensitivity; national unity was forged here; from the coasts close to this "sounding Guadalquivir" began the formidable undertaking of the discovery of the New World and the expedition of Magellan and Elcano to the Philippines.

I know the apostolic origin of the Christianity of Bética, fertilized by your martyrs and supported by your saints: Isidore and Leander, Ferdinand and John of Ribera, John of God and the blessed John the Great, John of Avila and Diego Joseph of Cadiz, Francis Solano, Raffaella Maria, the venerable Michele di Manara and many other illustrious figures.

The affectionate memory of such historical and spiritual richness is my best greeting to your people, to your new Archbishop, to the Pastors present and to all Spaniards, especially those who have come from the Canary Islands; but above all it is a voice given to the one who has given so much to your people: my dearest brother and your beloved Cardinal who accompanies us.

2. In this Sevillian setting, surrounded like your courtyards by the "fragrance" of Andalusia, I meet the people of the Spanish countryside. And I do it by placing before their eyes a humble daughter of the people, so close to this environment due to her origins and her work. Therefore I wanted to leave you a precious gift, glorifying Sister Angela of the Cross here.

We have listened to the words of the prophet Isaiah who invites us to share our bread with the hungry, to host those who are miserable, to clothe those who are naked and not to close our eyes to our brothers (cf. Is 58, 7); because "if you offer bread to the hungry, / if you satisfy the fasting, / then your light will shine in the darkness, / your darkness will be like midday" (cf. Is 58, 10).

The prophet's words seem to refer directly to Sister Angela of the Cross: when she heroically exercises charity with those in need of bread, clothes, love; and when, as happens today, this heroic exercise of charity shines its light on the altars, as an example for all Christians.

I know that the new Blessed is considered a common treasure of all Andalusians, above any social, economic or political division. Her secret, the root from which her exemplary acts of love are born, is expressed in the words of the Gospel which we have just heard: “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” ( Mt 16, 25).

Her name was Angela della Croce. As if she wanted to say that, according to the words of Christ, she took up her cross to follow him (cf. Mt 16, 24). The new Blessed perfectly understood this science of the cross and explained it to her daughters with a plastic expression of great strength. She imagines that on Calvary there exists, next to the Lord nailed to the cross, another cross "at the same height, not to the right or left, but in front and very close". Sister Angela and her sisters want to occupy this empty cross, who wish to "see themselves crucified before the Lord", with "poverty, detachment and holy humility" (Angela of the Cross, Escritos Intimos , Primeros escritos, fol.1, p. 176). United with the sacrifice of Christ, Sister Angela and her sisters will be able to bear witness to love for the needy.

In reality, the renunciation of worldly goods and the detachment from any personal interest placed Sister Angela in that ideal attitude of service, which she expressively defines as "expropriated for the public benefit". In some way she already belongs to others, like Christ our Brother.

The austere, crucified existence of the Sisters of the Cross also arises from their mission to the redemptive mystery of Jesus Christ. They do not pretend to let themselves die needlessly of hunger or cold, they are witnesses of the Lord, who died and rose again for us. Thus the Christian mystery is perfectly fulfilled in Sister Angela of the Cross, who seems "immersed in Easter joy". That joy left as a testament for her daughters and that everyone admires in them. Because penance is exercised as a renunciation of one's own pleasure, to be available for the service of others; this presupposes great faith, to sacrifice oneself smilingly, without claiming rights, taking away importance from one's sacrifice.

3. Sister Angela of the Cross, faithful to Christ's example of poverty, put her Institute at the service of the poorest poor, the disinherited, the marginalized. She wanted the Company of the Cross to find itself "in poverty", not by helping from the outside, but by experiencing the conditions of existence typical of the poor. Sister Angela thinks that she and her daughters belong to the category of workers, the humble, the needy, "they are beggars who receive everything in alms".

The poverty of the Company of the Cross is not purely contemplative, it serves the Sisters as a dynamic platform for welfare work with workers, homeless families, the sick, the poor, orphaned or unschooled girls, illiterate adults. They try to provide each person with what they need: money, house, education, clothes, medicines; and everything, always, offered with love. The means they use are their personal work and the alms they ask from those who can give them.

In this way, Sister Angela established a bond, a bridge between the needy and the powerful, between the poor and the rich. Evidently she cannot resolve political conflicts or economic imbalances. Her task means "emergency charity", above all divisions, bringing help to those who need it. She asks in the name of Christ, and gives in the name of Christ. Hers is that charity reported by the apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians: “Patient, benign. . . she doesn't seek her interest, she doesn't get angry, she doesn't take into account the harm she has received. . . He covers all things, he believes all things, he hopes all things, he endures all things” ( 1 Cor 13, 4.5.7).

4. Sister Angela's testimony and charitable action exerted a beneficial influence much beyond the outskirts of large cities and immediately spread to the rural environment. It could not have happened otherwise, since in the last decades of the 19th century, when Sister Angela founded the Institute, the Andalusian region saw its attempts at industrialization fail and remained subject to purely rural ways of life.

Many men and women from the countryside head to the city in search of a permanent, well-paid job, but without success. Sister Angela herself is the daughter of a father and mother who came to Seville from small towns to settle in the city. Here she worked for a few years in a small shoe factory.

The Company of the Cross is also made up mostly of women from peasant families, in perfect harmony with the simple people of the town, and retains the characteristic features of its origins. Its convents are poor, but very clean; they are furnished with the characteristic furniture of humble peasant homes.

During the life of the Foundress, the Sisters opened nine houses in as many towns in the province of Seville, four in that of Huelva, three in Jaén, two in Malaga and one in Cadiz. Their action on the outskirts of large cities takes place among peasant families, often just arrived from the countryside and settled in miserable homes, without even the necessary means to deal with an illness, the lack or scarcity of food and clothing.

5. Today, Sister Angela's rural world has witnessed the transformation of agrarian societies into industrialized societies, sometimes with impressive success. But this attraction of the industrial horizon has consequently caused a certain contempt for the countryside "to the point of giving farmers the impression of being socially marginalized, and of accelerating in them the phenomenon of mass flight from the countryside towards the city, and unfortunately towards even more dehumanizing living conditions” (John Paul II, Laborem Exercens , 21).

This contempt starts from false assumptions, since many mechanisms of the world economy continue to depend on the agricultural sector, "which offers society the goods necessary for daily sustenance" ( Ibid .).

In this line of defense of the man of the countryside, the contemporary Church announces to the men of today the demands of the doctrine on social justice, both in what refers to the problems of the countryside and in what refers to the work of the land: the message of justice of the Gospel which originates from the prophets of the Old Testament. The prophet Isaiah reminded us a little while ago: if you share your bread with the hungry, “Then your light will rise like the dawn, / . . . Your righteousness will walk before you" ( Is 51, 8). A current call then and today, because justice and love for others are always relevant.

Throughout the 20th century, the countryside, fortunately, changed some conditions that made it inhuman: very low wages, poor houses, lack of schools for children, properties held by a few, extensions exploited little or badly, lack of insurance that offered a minimum level of serenity for the future.

The evolution of society and work has certainly improved this very sad panorama, throughout the world and in Spain. But the countryside continues to be the Cinderella of economic development. This is why public authorities must address the urgent problems of the agricultural sector.

Duly reviewing costs and prices in order to make it profitable; equipping it with subsidiary and processing industries that free it from the painful plague of unemployment and forced emigration that afflicts so many dear children of this and other lands of Spain; rationalizing the marketing of agricultural products, and providing peasant families, especially young people, with living conditions that encourage them to consider themselves worthy workers in the same way as those employed in industry.

We hope that the next stages of your public life will achieve progress in this direction, moving away from easy demagoguery that stuns the people without solving their problems, and calling all men of good will to coordinate efforts in technical and effective programs.

6. To progress on this path, spiritual strength and love for the man who animated Sister Angela of the Cross is necessary; that charity which will never end (cf. 1 Cor 13, 8), can inform the human and religious life of every Christian.

I know that Andalusia nourishes the cultural and religious roots of its people, thanks to a heritage of traditions passed down from father to son. Everyone admires the beautiful expressions of piety created by the Andalusian people to significantly cover their religious feelings. On the other hand, the brotherhoods created over the centuries have had considerable influence in the social body.

This popular religiosity must be respected and cultivated, as a form of Christian agreement with the fundamental demands of the evangelical message; integrating the action of the confraternities into the pastoral care renewed by the Second Vatican Council, purifying them of reservations with respect to the priestly ministry and distancing them from any interested or partisan tension. In this way, this purified religiosity can be a valid path towards the fullness of salvation in Christ, as I said to your Pastors (cf. John Paul II, Allocutio ad quosdam Hispaniae Episcopos occasion oblata ad Limina visitationis coram admissos habita , die 30 ian. 1982 : Teachings of John Paul II , V, 1 [1982] 253 ff).

7. Beloved Andalusians and Spaniards all. The figure of the new Blessed stands before us with all her exemplary nature and her closeness to man, especially to the humble and the man of the rural world. Her example is permanent proof of that charity that has no end (cf. 1 Cor 13, 8).

She continues to be present among her people with the testimony of her love. Of that love which is her treasure in the eternal communion of Saints, which she realizes through love and in love.

The Pope who beatified Sister Angela of the Cross today, confirms in the name of the Church the response of faithful love that she gave to Christ. And at the same time there is an echo of the response that Christ himself gives to the life of his servant: "The Son of man will come in the glory of his Father, with his angels, and will repay everyone according to his deeds" ( Mt 16, 27).

Today we venerate this mystery of the coming of Christ, who rewards Sister Angela "according to her deeds".

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