One of the legends pictures Ursula as the daughter of a king of Britain. The king desired for a son, God gave him instead a baby-girl, but with the heart of a man. The child was called Ursula, because one day she would strangle the devil, as David had done once with the bear. In Latin ’Ursus’ means bear. Raised according to her state, yet detached from the riches of the world, Ursula longed for spiritual things and meditated day and night on the law of God.

Angela was born around the year 1474, at Desenzano of Garda (Brescia), a prosperous fish-port and a rich grain-market. Her father, John Merici, was an agriculturist. Her mother, Catherine hailed from Salo. The family atmosphere was healthy and honest, Christian, uncontaminated by corruption and the worldly spirit of the times. Angela spent her childhood at Grezze in a farm-house a few kilometers away from the city if Desezano.

At the end of the 11th Century one might have asked whether any good could come out of Assisi torn as it was by factions within and rivalry without, especially against near by Perugia. But at the end of the 13th Century people of many nations could but wonder at the change God had worked not only in that town but throughout Europe through St Francis and his followers.