Venerable Saint Angelina of Serbia

Angelina Branković (Albanian: Angjelina Arianiti; Serbian Cyrillic: Ангелина Бранковић; Church Slavonic: Ангели́на Бра́нкович; c. 1440–1520), née Arianiti, was an Albanian princess who served as Despotess Consort of Serbia through her marriage to Despot Stefan Branković (r. 1458–1459). She was a daughter of Prince Gjergj Arianiti, an important military leader against Ottoman invasion, and Princess Maria Muzaka, his first wife. 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, romanized: Prepodobna mati Angelina). Angelina, born as a member of the Albanian Arianiti family, was the sixth daughter of Gjergj Arianiti (1383–1462), and Maria Muzaka (1410s–1440s), eldest daughter of Despot Andrea III Muzaka and his wife Anna Zenevisi, Lady of Grabossa. In 1460, she married exiled Serbian ruler Stefan Branković (r. 1458–1459), son of the former Despot Đurađ Branković (r. 1427–1456). They met when Stefan came to Northern Albania, to visit Skanderbeg, who was married to Angelina's elder sister Andronika Arianiti. They lived in Shkodër, at the time under Albania Veneta. In 1461, she gave birth to her eldest son Đorđe (anglicised: George), who was named after Skanderbeg and her father Gjergj Arianiti. Eventually, the couple left Albania for Northern Italy, and acquired castle Belgrado in the region of Friuli. Stefan died in 1476, at family estate in Belgrado. At first, Angelina and their children remained in northern Italy. In 1479, emperor Friedrich III granted them castle Weitensfeld, and Angelina with her children moved to Carinthia. In 1485, their cousin, titular Serbian Despot Vuk Branković died, and Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus invited Angelina's sons to take over their dynastic inheritance. Angelina and her family went to the Kingdom of Hungary, where her elder son, George, became new titular despot of the Serbian Despotate (1486).