the kingdom, in order to avoid further complaints. Angelina then went to Assisi, where she stopped to rest and to pray at the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, the cradle of the Franciscan Order. There she experienced a vision, wherein God instructed her to found a cloistered monastery under the Rule of the Third Order of Saint Francis in Foligno. The local bishop approved the plans with little hesitation, as they meant an end to her troublesome active ministry. Foundress Angelina settled in Foligno about 1394. She soon joined the Monastery of St. Anna, a small community of women Franciscan tertiaries, which had been founded in 1388 by the Blessed Paoluccio Trinci, (died 1390) a Franciscan friar who had been related to her sister through marriage. Known as the "Monastery of the Countesses"—due to the social standing of most of its members, he had established it out of his vision of having these noble women of the city serve as an evangelizing force in their society. The women lived ascetic lives in the monastery, and, not being nuns, followed a very informal structure, free to come and go as they wished, that they might be able to serve the poor and sick of the region. Angelina took a leadership role in the small group and began to organize their lives into a more regular form. By 1397 she was considered the leader of the twelve founding members. In 1403 she was able to obtain a papal bull from Pope Boniface IX which formally recognized the status of the house as a monastery. The reputation of the community in Foligno was so successful that quickly communities of Franciscan tertiary women (called bizocche locally) throughout the region sought to affiliate with them. Communities under her authority were soon established in Florence, Spoleto, Assisi, and Viterbo, along with eleven others, before Angelina's death in 1435. The diverse communities were recognized as a congregation by Pope Martin V in 1428. This decree also allowed them to elect a Minister General (a title since reserved for the head of the friars) who would have the right of canonical visitation of the other communities. The congregation held its first general elections in 1430, in which Angela was elected their first Minister General. In this office, she developed the Statutes for the congregation, to be followed by all its houses. This degree of independence was not