Mother Angelica
The Reverend Mother Mary Angelica | |
---|---|
Born | Rita Antoinette Rizzo April 20, 1923 |
Died | March 27, 2016 Hanceville, Alabama, U.S. | (aged 92)
Other names | Mary Angelica of the Annunciation |
Occupation | Religious sister |
Known for | Founding EWTN |
Notable credit | Mother Angelica Live (1983–2001)[1][2] |
Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation
In 1981, Angelica started broadcasting religious programs from a converted garage in
Early life
Mother Angelica was born Rita Antoinette Rizzo on April 20, 1923, in
Looking back at her childhood, Angelica described herself and her mother as being "like a pair of refugees":[8] "We were poor, hungry, and barely surviving on odd jobs until Mother joined the dry cleaning business as an apprentice to a Jewish tailor in our area. Even then, we pinched pennies just to keep food on the table."[12] The pair lived with her maternal grandparents, moving out for a time between 1933 and 1937, but were forced to return because of financial pressures.[13] Matters were complicated when her grandfather, Anthony Gianfrancesco, suffered a stroke in their absence, which paralyzed him on one side and required him to use a cane.[14]
Education
Rizzo attended a parochial school, but disliked the nuns there, whom she recalled as being "the meanest people on earth" and treating her with harsh discipline due to her parents' divorce.
In 1939, Rizzo, feeling overwhelmed by crowd noise and school chatter, began to leave McKinley High in the afternoons.[15] She was given calcium and nerve medication to treat what was deemed a nervous condition.[15] When her mother's mental condition seemed to worsen, she made arrangements with her grandparents to have her sent to Philadelphia to be with a relative.[16] Rizzo graduated from McKinley High School in 1941.[17]
Adulthood
A stomach ailment that Rizzo had from 1939 continued to cause severe abdominal pain, despite the extensive medical treatment she received. Her mother took her to Rhoda Wise who was hailed as a mystic and stigmatic and "who claimed to receive visions of St Thérèse of Lisieux."[9] Wise instructed Rizzo to pray a novena (a nine-day course of prayers) and made the girl promise that she would spread devotion to the saint if she was cured.
On January 17, 1943, following the novena's final day, Rizzo declared that she woke up with little pain and the abdominal lump causing it had vanished.[18] This experience profoundly touched her; she believed that God had performed a miracle and she traced her lifelong commitment to God to this event.[12][19][page needed][20] She later told an interviewer "[at that point] I knew that God knew me and loved me and was interested in me. All I wanted to do after my healing was give myself to Jesus."[9]
One evening in 1944, Rizzo stopped at a church to pray and felt that God was calling her to be a
On November 8, 1945, Rizzo was vested as a
In 1946, as a young nun, Angelica had an accident with an industrial
After nearly three years in the monastery, Angelica made her first profession of vows on January 2, 1947.[25] In 1953, she made her solemn profession of vows at Sancta Clara Monastery in Ohio.[26]
Our Lady of the Angels
While at Sancta Clara, Angelica was inspired to create a religious community which would appeal to African Americans in the southern states and began to seek support.[26] In 1957, Archbishop Thomas Toolen suggested that she open this community in Birmingham.[26] With a number of other Poor Clare nuns she worked to raise the necessary funds, partially from a small business venture making and selling fishing lures.[26] In 1961, the nuns bought a building and land, and in 1962, the community was officially established. It was named Our Lady of the Angels Monastery and located in Irondale, Alabama.[21] Later it was relocated to the grounds of the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament.[27] The subject experienced the Baptism of the Holy Spirit which a Birmingham priest associated with the charismatic movement had told her about, which resulted in a new understanding of the Holy Spirit.[28]
Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament
In 1995, Angelica visited Colombia, where she had a vision that told her to build a temple in honor of the Child Jesus. Private donors contributed $48.6 million and she opened the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville in 1999.[26]
EWTN
In 1962, Angelica began a series of community meetings on matters relevant to Catholicism and also began recording her talks for sale. Bishop Joseph Vath noticed her talent for communicating with the lay public and encouraged her to continue; she began taping a radio show for broadcast on Sunday mornings and published her first book in 1972. In the late 1970s she began videotaping her talks for television, which were broadcast on the satellite Christian Broadcasting Network.[20] In 1981, after visiting a Chicago television studio and being impressed by its capability, she formed the non-profit EWTN corporation.[26][failed verification] Initially, she recorded her shows in a converted garage on the monastery's property.[27]
EWTN became a voice for American conservatism and traditional Catholics, with its position on religious and social issues often mirroring that of
The largest Roman Catholic television network in the world,[31] EWTN estimates the network's channels reach 264 million households globally.[32]
WEWN
On December 28, 1992, Angelica launched a radio network, WEWN,[33] which is carried by 215 stations, as well as on shortwave.[34]
Later years
On November 12, 1997, Angelica, on her Mother Angelica Live show, called on the faithful under Cardinal Roger Mahony to disobey the cardinal's Guide for Sunday Mass, saying "I'm afraid my obedience in that diocese would be absolutely zero, and I hope everybody else's in that diocese is zero."[35] On November 18, Angelica apologized.[35]
In the late 1990s, her EWTN show was so popular that she occasionally was the victim of live, call-in pranks by Captain Janks which were aired on The Howard Stern Show. Most of these calls were of a vulgar, sexual nature, but she handled them with her usual stern, but forgiving candor.[citation needed]
Angelica stepped down from control of EWTN in 2000 and handed control to a board of lay people. In 2001 she had one of several strokes.[27]
Illness and death
Angelica returned to taping her show twice a week on September 25, 2001. On Christmas Eve, she suffered another stroke and underwent a thrombectomy to remove a blood clot, a procedure that resulted in improvement of her vision. The stroke caused partial paralysis of the right side of her body and affected her speech. She began speech therapy and stopped hosting television programs.[36] As her health declined, fellow sisters of her order in Hanceville began providing her with constant care.[37]
On October 4, 2009, Angelica and Deacon
In early December 2015, Angelica was placed on a feeding tube. A representative for her order explained, "It's not that she's completely unable to eat. It's assisting her to get the nutrients she needs." He added that she had experienced "some up and downs the last few months. She's a fighter." Although Angelica was confined to her bed, a representative said that she was "able to communicate with a squeeze of a hand, make gestures with her eyes. She acknowledges people when they're there. The nuns say she does sleep a lot."[23][40] The use of a feeding tube was in accord with the wishes she made before her stroke in 2001 – a reporter recalled her saying: "We don't understand the awesomeness of living even one more day... I told my sisters the other day, 'When I get really bad give me all the medicine I can take, all the tubes you can stuff down me. ... I want to live. ... Because I will have suffered one more day for the love of God... I will exercise you in virtue. But most of all I will know God better. You cannot measure the value of one new thought about God in your own life.'"[37]
In early February 2016 Pope Francis, while en route to Cuba, recorded a message for Angelica, saying: "To Mother Angelica with my blessing and I ask you to pray for me; I need it. God bless you Mother Angelica."[23] Near the end of that month, her fellow nuns at Our Lady of Angels Monastery called for prayers on her behalf saying that "Mother's condition remains delicate and she receives devoted care day and night by her sisters and nurses. In God's Providence, she was able to receive the special Jubilee grace of passing through the Holy Door shortly after its opening. Although she is most often sleeping, from time to time Mother will give a radiant smile. ... Please continue to keep her in your prayers; each day is a gift!"[41]
Angelica remained living at the monastery until her death on March 27, 2016 (
Angelica held the Catholic belief in
Wolfe recalled that "Mother began to cry out early in the morning from the pain that she was having. She had a fracture in her bones because of the length of time she had been bedridden. They said you could hear it down the hallways, that she was crying out on Good Friday from what she was going through. These two people [a caregiver and one of the sisters of her order] said to me she has excruciating pain."
Tributes
Sean O. Sheridan, the former president of the
On March 30, 2016, at a general audience in St. Peter's Square, Rome, an employee of EWTN held up a portrait of Angelica and Pope Francis responded to the display by saying "she's in Heaven".
In a ceremony on March 29, 2016, Angelica's body was brought to the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery for private visitation by the Poor Clare nuns. Public visitation occurred at the upper church of the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament on March 30–31. The
Cause for canonization
After Angelica's death in 2016, there were calls from many for her to be canonized. Catholic Church rules dictate that a person's cause for sainthood cannot begin until five years after the person has died.[47] As of September 2022, there has been no announcement from the Diocese of Birmingham whether a petition will be sent to Rome to begin a cause for her canonization.
References
- ^ Arroyo 2005, pp. 315–317; Wallace 2016.
- ^ Garrison, Greg (September 16, 2016). "Irondale Names Road for Mother Angelica". AL.com. Alabama Media Group. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
- ^ Schlumpf, Heidi (July 19, 2019). "How Mother Angelica's 'miracle of God' became a global media empire". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
- ^ Morton, Victor (March 28, 2016). "Mother Angelica Dies on Easter Sunday". The Washington Times. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
- ^ Arroyo 2005, p. 5; Wallace 2019.
- ^ O'Neill 1986, pp. 11–12.
- ^ Arroyo 2005, pp. 6–7; Wallace 2019.
- ^ ProQuest 1776293805. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f "Mother Angelica, Television Nun – Obituary". The Telegraph. London. March 29, 2016. Archived from the original on April 24, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
- ^ a b Arroyo 2005, p. 15.
- ^ a b Goshay, Charita (October 8, 2010). "Canton Events Celebrate Mother Angelica's Life and Ministry". The Repository. Canton, Ohio: Gatehouse Media. Archived from the original on April 9, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
- ^ a b c "Biography". Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration: Our Lady of the Angels Monastery. Archived from the original on April 4, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
- ^ Arroyo 2005, pp. 15, 19.
- ^ a b Arroyo 2005, p. 19.
- ^ a b c Arroyo 2005, p. 20.
- ^ Arroyo 2005, pp. 20–21.
- ^ O'Neill 1986, p. 31.
- ^ Arroyo 2005, pp. 31–32.
- ^ Arroyo 2005.
- ^ a b Vitello, Paul (March 27, 2016). "Mother Mary Angelica, Who Founded Catholic TV Network, Dies at 92". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 31, 2016. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
- ^ a b "Mother Angelica, Founder of EWTN, Dead at 92". Fox News. March 27, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Garrison, Greg (March 29, 2016). "Mother Angelica's Last Days: Priest Describes Her Suffering, Death on Easter". AL.com. Alabama Media Group. Archived from the original on March 31, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
- ^ a b c Garrison, Greg (February 12, 2016). "Pope Francis to Mother Angelica: 'Pray for Me'". AL.com. Alabama Media Group. Archived from the original on February 14, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
- ^ Drake, Tim (March 29, 2016) [January 14, 2001]. "Mother Angelica: She Left Hell and Took to the Air". National Catholic Register. Archived from the original on April 2, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
- ^ "A Tribute to Mother Angelica". Living Bread Radio Network.
- ^ a b c d e f Wallace 2019.
- ^ a b c d "EWTN Celebrates Mother Angelica's 90th Birthday". Catholic News Agency. EWTN Global Catholic Network. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
- ^ M. Angelica and Raymond Arroyo. (2007). Mother Angelica's little book of life lessons and everyday spirituality. "Introduction" p. xi f. New York, New York: Doubleday. ISBN 9780385519854.
- ^ Reeves, Jay (April 6, 2005). "Catholic View of Pope's Death". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. Archived from the original on November 6, 2012. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
- ^ "Mother Angelica on Mahony". Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission. January 1998. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
- ^ Hudnut-Beumler 2018, p. 184.
- ^ a b c Evans, Greg (March 29, 2016). "Mother Mary Angelica Dies; Religious Network Star & Founder Was 92". Deadline. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
- ^ Arroyo 2005, p. 232.
- ^ Drake, Tim (December 28, 2012). "A Signal for the New Evangelization". National Catholic Register. Archived from the original on March 27, 2017. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
- ^ a b Dart, John (December 6, 1997). "Nun Apologizes for TV Criticism of Mahony". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
- ^ "Doctors Say Mother Angelica Shows Remarkable Improvement and Will Be Moved out of Intensive Care Tomorrow" (Press release). Irondale, Alabama: EWTN Global Catholic Network. January 15, 2002. Archived from the original on September 8, 2004. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
- ^ a b Hrynkiw, Ivana (March 27, 2016). "Mother Angelica, Founder of EWTN, Dies on Easter Sunday". AL.com. Alabama Media Group. Archived from the original on March 29, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
- ^ "Papal award validates mission of EWTN, says CEO". Catholic News Agency.
- ^ a b "Mother Angelica, Founder of EWTN, Dies After Long Illness". The Michigan Catholic. Detroit, Michigan: Archdiocese of Detroit. Catholic News Service. March 28, 2016. Archived from the original on March 28, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
- ^ "Mother Angelica Remains on Feeding Tube, Confined to Bed at Monastery". National Catholic Reporter. Kansas City, Missouri. Catholic News Service. December 1, 2015. Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
- ^ Garrison, Greg (February 23, 2016). "EWTN Founder Mother Angelica Remains in 'Delicate' Condition". AL.com. Alabama Media Group. Archived from the original on February 25, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
- ^ "Mother Angelica Dies on Easter Sunday at 92". ChurchPOP. March 28, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
- ^ M. Angelica (1999). "Excerpts from 'Healing Power of Suffering'". Irondale, Alabama: EWTN Global Catholic Network. Archived from the original on July 6, 2019. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
- ^ Sheridan, Sean O. (March 28, 2016). "Statement from Father Sean O. Sheridan, TOR, President of Franciscan University of Steubenville, on the Death of EWTN Foundress Mother Angelica". Steubenville, Ohio: Franciscan University of Steubenville. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
- ^ Garrison, Greg (March 30, 2016). "Mother Angelica Will Be Buried Friday at Her Alabama Monastery". AL.com. Alabama Media Group. Archived from the original on March 31, 2016. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
- ^ Mathis, Joel (March 30, 2016). "Chaput to Officiate at Mother Angelica Funeral". Philadelphia. Archived from the original on February 26, 2021. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
- ^ "An Indelible Mark". MFVA - Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word. March 26, 2021. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-0-385-51092-9. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
- Hudnut-Beumler, James (2018). Strangers and Friends at the Welcome Table: Contemporary Christianities in the American South. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. .
- O'Neill, Dan (1986). Mother Angelica: Her Life Story. New York: Crossroad Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-8245-0742-8. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
- Wallace, W. Jason (2016). "Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN)". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Birmingham, Alabama: Alabama Humanities Alliance. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
- ——— (2019). "Mother Angelica". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Birmingham, Alabama: Alabama Humanities Alliance. Retrieved July 8, 2021.