After one more year of the death of Mother Angelica, founder of Ewtn, we remember this wonderful woman and thank God for the great things she has done through her, taking many to Jesus.
Mother Angelica died on March 27, 2016, on Domingo de Resurreción, at 5:00 pm, after 15 years of fighting the consequences of a stroke. I was 92 years old.
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Although it was a public figure, there are details of his life that are not well known. That is why we bring you a list of 10 data that you probably didn’t know about this surprising woman:
1. The name that Mother Angelica received at birth was Rita Antoinette Rizo
He was born on April 20, 1923 in Canton, Ohio, and was an only child.
2. His full name as a religious was María Angélica of the Annunciation
“Mother Angelica” is just a small version.
3. Mother Angélica miraculously healed when he was 20 years old
When he was 16, he began to suffer from terrible stomach pain. Upon reaching 18, the ailment worsened and had to ask for medical help. X -rays showed that it had a problem not only there but also in the intestines. Doctors tried several treatments but nothing could overcome pain.
In January 1943, a novena prayed asking to cease the ailment. On the 17th, when he woke up, the pain had completely disappeared! She considered it a miracle and that deepened her relationship with God.
4. Mother Angelica entered the monastery in secret
His mother was opposed to be religious, but God’s call felt so intensely that despite everything he decided to enter. To avoid his mother’s resistance, one day he left his house in secret and went straight to the monastery leaving only a note to his mother. In one part it said the following:
“When you receive this letter I will be in Cleveland. I have entered the worship monastery. Something happened to me after the cure. I don’t know what it was but I have completely fallen in love with our Lord. Living in the world the last 19 months has been very difficult. I love you very much and I have not forgotten everything you have done for me. Please trust him. I ask you to bless me so that I can reach the heights I yearn. I love you very much”.
5. Mother Angelica was almost paralyzed in an accident when she was more than 30 years old
After making his solemn votes, one day he was cleaning the floor with an electric shown. He slipped on the soapy floor, hit very strong against a wall and the accident seriously affected his back.
In the following months his condition worsened and the pain became unbearable. At some point they had to go and finally the doctors decided to operate it to solve the problem.
The night before surgery, worried about the fact that it could be paralitic or even die, he prayed like this: “God! You haven’t brought me so far to leave me back to life. Lord Jesus, if you allow me to walk again I will build a monastery in your glory. And I will do it in the south!”.
And the surgery worked! Four months later he walked from the hospital.
6. Mother Angelica founded a new monastery in Alabama with money obtained from the sale of handmade hooks
Following his promise, he dedicated himself to establishing what would be the Our Lady of Los Angeles monastery in Irondale, Alabama. He raised the necessary money in a unique way: she and other nuns made and sold hooks to fish.
7. Mother Angelica was 58 years old when she founded Ewtn
He began recording his series about Catholic teaching in the mid -1970s for a station affiliated with CBS, but stopped doing it after the channel broadcast an improper film.
That did not make him leave his television shows: he simply decided to start his own television. For that he turned the monastery garage into a television studio and officially launched Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) as a cable channel on August 15, 1981, only a few months after having turned 58 years.
8. He had mystical visions of the Child Jesus regularly
In 1995, when he made a journey from Misiones to Colombia, he had an encounter with El Niño Jesús. She tells that an image of natural size of the divine child (Child Jesus of Prague) became life, smiled and spoke to her asking her to build a church.
And that did: the sanctuary of the Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama.
Apparently, the Infant Jesus continued to appear regularly, even at the entrance of his monastery.
9. He received the greatest pontifical prize awarded to laity and religious
On October 4, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI conferred the award For the church and Pope. This award began to deliver Pope Leo XIII in 1888 and is the most important that can be given to laity or religious.
10. Until his death he participated in Eucharistic Adoration several hours every day
Regardless of her great worldwide success, Mother Angelica remained committed to her votes as a religious and her faith in Jesus Christ.
He had to stop recording his programs in 2001 at the age of 78 due to some health problems. However, he maintained his spiritual devotions while he could do it, including Eucharistic worship several hours every day in the sanctuary he founded.
Pray for the eternal rest of the holy soul of Mother Angelica!
Translated and adapted by Walter Sánchez Silva. Originally published in ChurchPop
Central writing
The Catholic Agency for Information – ACI PRESS, is part of the news agencies of the ACI group, one of the greatest generators of Catholic news content in five languages and belonging since June 2014 to the family of Ewtn Global Catholic Network, the largest television Catholic chain in the world, founded in 1981 by the Angélica mother in Irondale, Alabama (United States), and that reaches more than 85 million homes in 110 countries and 16 territories.