Feast of Santa Angela Honors Benevolent Women

It was a small gathering Tuesday night in the River Room at the San Angelo Visitor's Center for the Feast of Santa Angela. This year's guest speakers were Most Rev. Michael D.Pfeifer, O.M.I. and Gus Clemens, local historian.  

Local women Rachel Beaver and Brenda Gunter were recognized for their contributions to  the community. Rachel Beaver is the co-founder of House of Faith, who has been working since 1994 to spread the word of Christ.

"It's been an amazing journey, and I am honored to be recognized as a woman of impact in the community." Beaver said jubilantly.

Many may know Brenda Gunter as the owner of Miss Hattie's restaurant, who has a made a significant revelatory impact on the revitalization of downtown San Angelo.    

The Feast of Santa Angela began in 2006 when Bishop Pfeifer and longtime friend, Ralph Chase invisioned  a way to educate the community and preserve the history of the namesake of San Angelo, Carolina Angela de la Garza DeWItt.   

"We were thinking people need to know how the city developed, and in particular exactly where the name originated from. " Pfeifer explained.  

Carolina Angela de la Garza Dewitt was the wife of San Angelo's city founder Bart J. DeWitt. She was influenced by Angela de Merici who was canonized as a Santa Angela, and is honored by the Catholic church as a saint. Santa Angela was a motivator of education among women in a time when women were not regarded worthy of knowledge. Carolina's admiration of the patron saint is what influenced Mr.DeWitt to name the town "Santa Angela", which was later changed to San Angela, and then in 1883 on the insistence of the Untied States Postal Service changed to San Angelo in order to be grammatically correct in spelling. 

Since Rev. Michael D. Pfeifer, O.M.I. has retired, the reins for next year's event have been passed on to BIshop Michael Sis.  Pfeifer expressed his hopes that the FOSA will expand, create awareness and  active public participation in the preservation of the city's namesake.