Saint Angelina of Serbia

Venerable Mother Angelina, Despotess of Serbia

Fresco in Krušedol depicting Angelina
Saint, Venerable
Born 15th century
Berat (present day Albania)
Died Beginning of the 16th century
Krušedol monastery (present day Serbia)
Venerated in Serbian Orthodox Church
Major shrine Krušedol monastery
Feast July 30 or December 10

Angelina Branković (Serbian Cyrillic: Ангелина Бранковић; Albanian: Angjelina Arianiti ca. 1440–1520), née Arianiti, was the despotess consort of Serbian Despot Stefan Branković (r. 1458—1459), and a daughter of Albanian nobleman Gjergj Arianiti. For her pious life she was proclaimed a saint and venerated as such by the Serbian Orthodox Church as Venerable Mother Angelina (Serbian: Преподобна мати Ангелина[a]).

Life

Early life

Angelina was the sixth daughter of Albanian nobleman Gjergj Arianiti[1] (1383–1462) in a time when most of the people of Albania were Orthodox Christians.[2] Angelina was married to Serbian ruler Stefan Branković (r. 1458—1459), son of the former Serbian Despot Đurađ Branković (r. 1427—1456).[3] Angelina was the sister of Donika, who married Skanderbeg.[4]

Exile

The couple fled to Albania and then to Italy.[4]

In 1485, at the death of her husband, Angelina went to the Kingdom of Hungary, where her son, George, had become a titular despot in exile of the Serbian Despotate. The territory of the Despotate had been under the Ottoman Empire since its collapse in 1459. Later Angelina retired in the Krušedol monastery, in the Fruška Gora mountain of Syrmia, where she died in the beginning of the 16th century.[4]

Sainthood

She is venerated as a saint by the Serbian Orthodox Church as Venerable Mother Angelina and her feast day is July 30, while she is also venerated on December 10, together with her husband, St. Stephen, and her son, St. John.[3][4] She wrote a hagiography known as Hagiography of Mother Angelina (Serbian: Житије мајке Ангелине).

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Annotations

  1. ^ Her name in Serbian was Angelina Branković (Serbian Cyrillic: Ангелина Бранковић), née Arianit Komneni. She is also known as simply Despotess Angelina (Serbian: деспотица Ангелина). The Serbian Orthodox Church and Serbian epic poetry calls her Venerable Mother Angelina (Serbian: Преподобна мати Ангелина), or simply Mother Angelina or Saint Angelina (Serbian Cyrillic: Света Ангелина, Albanian: Shën Angjelina).

References

  1. ↑ Musachi, John (1515). "1515 John Musachi: Brief Chronicle on the Descendants of our Musachi Dynasty". Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  2. ↑ Lives of the Serbian Saints, by Voyeslav Yanich
  3. 1 2 St. Angelina of Serbia
  4. 1 2 3 4 Elsie, Robert (2000). A dictionary of Albanian religion, mythology and folk culture. New York University Press. p. 9. ISBN 0-8147-2214-8.

Further reading

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