Brescia University honored a male and female student with its Spirit of Angela Award on Jan. 28, as part of the annual Convocation and Founder’s Day that commemorates the feast of Ursuline founder Saint Angela Merici.
Students Abigail Riney and Matthew Galloway were awarded the 2014 Spirit of Angela Award, given each year to a female and male student who exemplifies the attributes of Saint Angela Merici. Members of the Brescia family were asked to select students who are people of integrity, deep listeners, gentle friends and creative leaders.
Ursuline Sister Rose Marita O’Bryan, coordinator of Mission Effectiveness for the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph, and Daniel Kuntz, assistant professor of theology at Brescia, presented the awards in Taylor Hall. The Ursuline Sisters began Brescia in 1950, so Founders Day is celebrated the same week as the feast of Saint Angela, who began the Ursuline Sisters in Brescia, Italy, in 1535.
“Abbie Riney is very respectful of others and their gifts,” Sister Rose Marita said. “During her years at Brescia she has sought to make a difference in the lives of others. She affirms, encourages and empowers others to be more than they could have ever dreamed. Like Saint Angela, she is a woman of integrity with an intellectual and spiritual hunger.”
Riney, a senior who is from Owensboro, has served as a tutor and represented the university well as a Moore scholar and a leader in the Alpha Chi honor society, Sister Rose Marita said.
“Abbie has a deep love of God and a hunger to bring God to others each and every day in whatever way she can,” Sister Rose Marita said. “In Abbie, one of the nominators said: ‘I find an example of humility and servant leadership that I feel is the epitome of the Spirit of Saint Angela.’”
Kuntz said from the day Galloway walked through Brescia’s doors, he was known to be a man of quiet humility.
“Conscientious with his work as a business major, this virtue did not change, but the moral and spiritual growth of his character did – and in tremendous ways,” Kuntz said. “It was no surprise to those who knew him best that Matt would never know himself to be without this capacity to grow and to flourish in his academic career here and in his life of faith. A recent interview brought him into a job that is all corporate, but at the same time very much about the person. Indeed, for Matt, business is personal and like a glove, he is fitted for just such a job.”
Galloway, who graduated in December and is also from Owensboro, served as a BU orientation leader and was eager to help freshmen into Brescia’s culture, and recently learned he could help disabled children become capable and excited bicycle riders, Kuntz said.
“Matt is a very valuable contributor to our world in his personal, professional and spiritual life,” Kuntz said.
Here are some pictures from the day:
