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Mother Angelica

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Mother
Mary Angelica
of the Annunciation
Mother Angelica in 2015
Born
Rita Antoinette Rizzo

April 20, 1923
Canton, Ohio, United States
DiedMarch 27, 2016(2016-03-27) (aged 92)
Hanceville, Alabama, United States
Cause of deathStroke
Other namesSister Angelica
CitizenshipAmerican
OccupationReligious sister
Years active1970–2001
TelevisionEternal Word Television Network
Parent(s)John and Mae Helen Rizzo

Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation, PCPA (born Rita Antoinette Rizzo; April 20, 1923 – March 27, 2016) was an American Franciscan nun best known as a television personality and the founder of both the internationally-broadcast cable television network Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) and the radio network WEWN.[1]

In 1981, Mother Angelica started broadcasting religious programs from a converted garage in Birmingham, Alabama. Over the next twenty years, she developed a media network that included radio, TV, and internet channels as well as printed media.[2]

Mother Angelica hosted shows on EWTN until she had a stroke in 2001. She continued to live in the cloistered monastery in Hanceville until her death at age 92 on March 27, 2016, Easter Sunday.[1]

In 2009, Mother Angelica was a recipient of the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Award granted by Pope Benedict XVI for services to the Catholic Church.[3]

Early life

The future Mother Angelica was born Rita Antoinette Rizzo on April 20, 1923, in Canton, Ohio, in a community of African-American and Italian immigrant mill workers.[2][4][5] Of Italian American background, she was the only child of John and Mae Helen Rizzo (née Gianfrancesco). Her father, a tailor by trade, abandoned the family when Rizzo was very young[6] and her parents divorced in 1929. Her mother maintained full custody of her but struggled with chronic depression and poverty.[5]

Looking back upon this time in her life, Mother Angelica described herself and her mother as being "like a pair of refugees. We were poor, hungry, and barely surviving on odd jobs before Mother learned 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."[7] By the age of 16, Rizzo realized that her mother's dry-cleaning job was a dead end; through Rizzo's efforts, her mother gained a better job that provided some relief from their dire poverty.[7]

Rizzo attended Canton McKinley High School, where she was one of the school's first drum majorettes.[5]

Adulthood

A stomach ailment that Rizzo had from 1939 continued to cause severe abdominal pain, despite extensive medical treatment, until January 18, 1943, when she claimed that she woke up with no pain. This experience profoundly touched her; she believed that God had performed a miracle and she traced her lifelong commitment to God to this event.[7][8][9]

One evening in 1944, Rizzo stopped at a church to pray and felt that God was calling her to be a nun. She sought guidance from a local parish priest who encouraged her to begin visiting convents. Her first visit was to the Sisters of St. Joseph in Buffalo, New York. The active congregation felt, however, that she was better suited to the contemplative life. She also visited Saint Paul's Shrine of Perpetual Adoration, a facility operated by an order of cloistered contemplative nuns, located in Cleveland, Ohio. When visiting this order, she felt as if she were at home. The order accepted her as a postulant, asking her to enter on August 15, 1944. She was 21 years old.[2]

On November 8, 1945, Rizzo was vested as a Poor Clare nun. She received a new name, which her mother had chosen for her,[7] and title, "Sister Mary Angelica of the Annunciation".[10] Soon afterwards, the Cleveland monastery established a new monastery in her home town of Canton and she moved there.[7]

In 1946 as a young nun Sister Angelica had an accident with an industrial waxing machine that knocked her over and injured her spine, causing her ongoing pain and requiring her to wear leg braces for most of her life.[11][12][13]

On January 2, 1953, she made her solemn profession of vows at Sancta Clara Monastery in Ohio.[4]

Our Lady of the Angels

While at Sancta Clara, Sister Angelica was inspired to create a religious community which would appeal to African Americans in the southern states, and began to seek support. In 1957, Archbishop Thomas Toolen suggested that she open a Franciscan order in Birmingham. 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.[4] In 1961 the nuns bought a building and land, and in 1962 the order was officially established. It was named Our Lady of the Angels Monastery and located in Irondale, Alabama,[2] although it was later relocated to the grounds of the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament.[3]

Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament

Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Hanceville
Main article: Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament

In 1999, Mother Angelica visited Colombia where she claimed to have a vision which told her to build a temple in honor of the Child Jesus.[4] Private donors contributed $48.6 million and she opened the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville later the same year.[4]

EWTN

Main article: Eternal Word Television Network

In 1962, Mother Angelica began a series of community discussion 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.[4] In the late 1970s she began video-taping her talks for television, which were broadcast on the satellite Christian Broadcasting Network.[9] In 1981, after visiting a Chicago television studio and being impressed by its capability, she formed the non-profit EWTN corporation.[4][9] Initially, she recorded her shows in a converted garage at the monastery's property.[3]

EWTN became a voice for American conservative and traditional Catholics, with its position on religious and social issues often mirroring that of Pope John Paul II.[14] With the emphasis on tradition, Angelica had feuds with some members of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Most famous is the feud over a pastoral letter written by Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles over teachings surrounding the Eucharist and the liturgy.[15] After this dispute, EWTN added a theology department with priests, theologians, deacons, and lay people to make sure EWTN was in line with the teachings of the magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church.[citation needed]

According to EWTN, the network's channels currently reach 264 million households globally.[16]

WEWN

Main article: WEWN

On December 28, 1992, Mother Angelica launched a short wave radio channel, WEWN, which is broadcast by 215 stations.[17]

Later years and declining health

Mother Angelica stepped down from control of EWTN in 2000 and handed control to a board of lay people. In 2001, just after the September 11 terrorist attacks, she had one or several strokes.[18] She was left with "slightly slurred speech, some unresponsive facial muscles and the need to wear an eye patch over one eye because she was unable to close the eyelid."[19]

In response to the terrorist attacks, Mother Angelica made a statement expressing empathy for the victims, praising President Bush's speech to the U.S. Congress and calling for justice on the conspirators. She went on identifying "pornography, abortion, child prostitution, the spread of drugs, the destruction of youth by an immoral media and the suppression of religious expression in public places as 'other' terrorism that must be addressed."[19] She condemned abortion saying it had "deprived the nation of millions of people who would otherwise be there to defend the nation."[19]

On September 25, 2001, Mother Angelica returned to taping her show twice a week. On Christmas Eve, she suffered another stroke and underwent a thrombectomy to remove a blood clot; this resulted in improvement of her visual impairment which had required the use of an eye patch. The stroke caused partial paralysis of the right side of her body and affected her speech. She began speech therapy but stopped hosting television programs.[20] As her health declined her fellow nuns in Hanceville began providing Mother Angelica with constant care.[21]

On October 4, 2009, Mother Angelica and Deacon Bill Steltemeier, then chairman of EWTN's board of governors, received the papal medal Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice ("For the Church and the Pontiff") from Pope Benedict XVI for distinguished service to the Catholic Church.[18] Due to her ill health Mother Angelica received the award in her room.[22] Bishop Robert J. Baker of the Diocese of Birmingham conferred the papal awards saying at a public ceremony that "Mother Angelica’s effort has been at the vanguard of the new evangelization and has had a great impact on our world."[22]

In early December 2015 Mother 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 "some up and downs the last few months. She's a fighter." While she remained confined to bed, "She's 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."[12][23] The use of a feeding tube was in accord with her wishes since before the stroke of 2001 (which left her mostly unable to speak) she had left instructions for how she should be cared for with her fellow nuns; 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.'"[21]

In early February 2016, Pope Francis, while en route to Cuba for a historic meeting with Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church, recorded a message to be delivered to Mother Angelica which said "To Mother Angelica with my blessing and I ask you to pray for me; I need it. God bless you Mother Angelica."[12] 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 it's opening. Although she is most often sleeping, from time to time Mother will give a radiant smile. ...Mother herself is regularly fortified by the sacraments. Please continue to keep her in your prayers; each day is a gift!"[24]

Death

Mother Angelica remained living at the monastery until her death on March 27, 2016 (Easter Sunday), at the age of 92 from complications of the stroke she had had 14 years prior.[25] At the time she "also suffered from Bell's palsy, heart disease and asthma."[11]

Mother Angelica held the Catholic belief that human suffering can become meritorious if offered to Jesus and mystically united with his suffering. Due to this belief, in her period of declining health Mother Angelica "instructed her nuns to do everything to keep her alive, no matter how much she suffered, because every day she suffered, she suffered for God." She wanted every day to be "one more act of suffering to God."[11] EWTN chaplain, Father Joseph Wolfe, told reporters that Mother Angelica's desire to unite with Jesus in suffering was fulfilled when she "went into her death throes on Good Friday".[11]

Fr. 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."[11] Wolfe said that "After the 3 o'clock hour arrived on Good Friday she was more calm, she was more peaceful."[11] He also said that by the following day he made a point of putting himself in a position where her open eyes might focus on him and thanked her for the witness of her faith and "teaching us how to love Jesus more".[11] By 5:30 am on Easter Sunday, Wolfe was contacted by Mother Delores who told him that Mother Angelica "was really struggling, she wasn't doing very well."[11] Wolfe went to her bedside to administer the Catholic last rites with the sisters of her order in attendance. The sisters prayed their morning prayers, the Divine Office, around her bed. As it was Easter the prayer was liturgically required to contain Alleluias, which are usually not contained in the office for the dead - a fact that Wolfe felt had significance. Around 10:30 am, Father Paschal offered Mass in her room and she received her last communion (Viaticum). As the priests and nuns continued to pray around her bed into the afternoon shortly before 5:00 pm she took her last breath and died.[11]

Mother Angelica's death was announced by EWTN.[16] In a statement on EWTN's Facebook page, Father Sean O. Sheridan, president of the Franciscan University of Steubenville where Mother Angelica received an honorary doctorate of sacred theology, described her as "a true media giant. She proved that the Church belonged in the popular media alongside the news, sports, and talk shows. Though her stances were decidedly old-school — she was critical of religious and political progressives — her lectures were lightened with an often self-deprecating humor. She famously said the nuns she remembered from her youth were 'the meanest people on God’s earth.'"[16]

In a ceremony on March 29, 2016, Mother Angelica's body was brought to the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament for private visitation by the Poor Clare nuns. Public visitation was set to begin on March 30. The Mass of Christian Burial burial at the shrine's upper church, followed by the Rite of Committal at the shrine's crypt chapel, are scheduled to take place on April 1.[26] All the funeral rites are set to be televised on EWTN.[26]

References

  1. ^ a b "Mother Angelica dies on Easter Sunday". The Washington Times. March 28, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d "Mother Angelica, founder of EWTN, dead at 92 Fox News". Fox News. March 27, 2016. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  3. ^ a b c "EWTN celebrates Mother Angelica's 90th birthday". Catholic News Agency. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Mother Angelica Encyclopedia of Alabama". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  5. ^ a b c Goshay, Charita. "Canton events celebrate Mother Angelica's life and ministry". The Repository. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  6. ^ Arroyo 6–7.
  7. ^ a b c d e User, Super. "Biography". olamnuns.com. Retrieved March 29, 2016. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  8. ^ Raymond Arroyo, Mother Angelica. Image, 2007.
  9. ^ a b c Vitello, Paul (2016-03-27). "Mother Mary Angelica, Who Founded Catholic TV Network, Dies at 92". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  10. ^ Wallace, W. Jason. "Mother Angelica", Encyclopedia of Alabama
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Greg Garrison (March 29, 2016). "Mother Angelica's last days: priest describes her suffering, death on Easter". Alabama Media Group.
  12. ^ a b c Greg Garrison (February 12, 2016). "Pope Francis to Mother Angelica: 'Pray for me'". Alabama Media Group.
  13. ^ Tim Drake (January 14, 2001). "Mother Angelica: She Left Hell and Took to the Air". National Catholic Register.
  14. ^ Reeves, Jay (April 6, 2005). "Catholic view of pope's death". Los Angeles Times. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  15. ^ "Sidebar: Mother Angelica On Mahony". Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission. January 1998.
  16. ^ a b c Evans, Greg. "Mother Mary Angelica Dies; Religious Network Star & Founder Was 92". Deadline. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  17. ^ "A Signal for the New Evangelization". National Catholic Register. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
  18. ^ a b "EWTN celebrates Mother Angelica's 90th birthday", Catholic News Agency, April 19, 2013
  19. ^ a b c Dr. Brian Kopp (October 1, 2001). "Mother Angelica Pleads for Purging of "Other" Terrorism in U.S." LifeSite Daily News.
  20. ^ "Doctors Say Mother Angelica Shows Remarkable Improvement and will be Moved out of Intensive Care Tomorrow". January 15, 2002.
  21. ^ a b Ivana Hrynkiw (March 27, 2016). "Mother Angelica, founder of EWTN, dies on Easter Sunday". Alabama Media Group.
  22. ^ a b "Mother Angelica, founder of EWTN, dies after long illness". Catholic News Service. March 28, 2016.
  23. ^ "Mother Angelica remains on feeding tube, confined to bed at monastery". National Catholic Reporter. December 1, 2015.
  24. ^ Greg Garrison (February 23, 2016). "EWTN founder Mother Angelica remains in 'delicate' condition". Alabama Media Group.
  25. ^ Make holy all the things!. "Mother Angelica Dies on Easter Sunday at 92". ChurchPOP. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  26. ^ a b Greg Garrison. "Mother Angelica will be buried Friday at her Alabama monastery". Alabama Media Group.

Bibliography

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