According to some reports, Angelina belonged to the Chernoevich family – she was the daughter of Andrei, nicknamed Arvanit the Brave, and the niece of voivode Ivan Bey, ruler of Montenegro in 1465-1496. When her brother, apparently, was no longer alive, Ivan married her to the Serbian despot Stefan the Blind Brankovich. Like most marriages of ruling persons, this one was probably concluded for political reasons, which makes the sanctity that shone through the whole family even more remarkable.
The life of Serbian despot Stefan Brankovic and his family was full of vicissitudes and troubles. Stefan and Angelina lived in love and harmony and had two sons, George and John, and two daughters, Mara and Milica. The family spent about ten years hiding from the Turkish massacre in the Italian region of Furlania. Here St. Stephen, together with his sister Katarina, bought the castle of Belgrade, where he passed away.
Widowed in 1476, Angelina lived and raised her children in difficult conditions. The Hungarian king Matthew Corvinus allocated them lands in Srem that once belonged to Stefan's grandfather Vuk Brankovich, and in 1486 they settled in the village of Kupinovo, where they transferred the relics of despot Stefan. The Church of St. Luke the Apostle was founded here, where these relics were originally kept, which performed numerous miracles. The ruler of Srem was first Angelina's eldest son George, who descended from the throne in 1497, took vows with the name Maxim and attained sainthood in the rank of a saint (+ 1516), and then her youngest son– Saint despot John (+ 1502).
Saint Angelina took the veil around 1509, or perhaps earlier, upon her arrival in Srem. In 1512-1516, after returning from Wallachia, she founded a convent near the Candlemas Church she had built.
Back in 1509, she sent her confessor Eugene to the Russian Grand Duke Vasily III with a touching request for help: "Our power is now falling, and your power is rising. Take upon yourself our care and care of the holy temples and monasteries that your and my pious ancestors created." In her petition, she spoke about her desire to build a church where she intended to rest the relics of her husband Stephen and son John. The place for the church had already been bought for 100 ducats by that time. The Russian prince responded to her request, in addition to the church, cells for nuns were also built, and the Krushedol monastery appeared, in which St. Angelina became the abbess and where she spent her last days praying over the relics of her husband and sons.
She died in 1520.
The service of St. Angelina speaks of her truly masculine fortitude, boundless mercy, patience and wisdom, marital devotion and maternal sacrifice. For years she had to live in a foreign land, without relatives, she had the difficult fate to survive not only her husband, but also all her children and several times carefully carry their holy remains.
Mother Angelina eventually became one of the most revered Serbian saints. Her relics, along with the remains of her holy family, were buried in the Krushedol monastery and were preserved there until 1716, when the monastery was destroyed by the Turks during the retreat from Varadin. Among the relics that have survived to this day, the hand of Mother Angelina has been preserved. The glory of the Krushedol Monastery is celebrated on the memorial day of the Venerable Mother Angelina.
A particle of her relics was also preserved in the monastery of the village of Hopovo, where after the first half of the XX century the inhabitants of the Russian Lesninsky Holy Mother of God Monastery found shelter. Upon leaving Yugoslavia for France, the nuns took this particle with them.
On the icon of the Rev. Angelina is depicted in a monastic robe, holding a book in one hand and a rosary or a cross in the other. Her face is represented on all the icons of the holy Brankovic family, as well as among the twelve most revered Serbian national saints. He can be seen in the cathedral church of Archangel Michael in Belgrade, in the Peche Patriarchate in Kosovo, in the Serbian monastery of Hilandar on Mount Athos and in other temples.
In Vojvodina, in the village of Kupinovo, next to the church of St. Luke, until 1930 there was a church dedicated to St. Angelina.