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In 1981, the year
after Ted Turner founded CNN, a simple nun using her
entrepreneurial instincts and $200 for seed money, launched what
would become the world's largest religious media empire in the
garage of a Birmingham, Alabama monastery. Today, EWTN offers
twenty-four hours of English and Spanish television programming
reaching 105 million viewers around the globe. How did a single
nun achieve so much and reach so many?
Born Rita
Antoinette Rizzo in Canton, Ohio, on April 20, 1923, Mother
Angelica's parents divorced when she was six years old. Her
mother was left alone to raise her and try to make ends meet.
Due to their difficult circumstances, Mother Angelica struggled
with schoolwork through her elementary and high school years.
In 1941 she
experienced a miraculous recovery from a persistent stomach
ailment after praying a novena to St. Therese. She says it awakened
her to the power of prayer,
"I fell in love with God and really began to thirst
after Him. My life was changed from that point
on." On
August 15, 1944, at age 21 she vowed to dedicate
her life to God and become a cloistered nun. She joined the
Franciscan Nuns of the Most Blessed Sacrament (Adoration
Monastery of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration) at Saint
Paul's Shrine in Cleveland, Ohio and became Sister Rita. On
November 8, 1945, Rita was invested as a Poor Clare Nun of
Perpetual Adoration. Her new name: Sister Mary Angelica of
the Annunciation. On January 2, 1947 Sister Mary
Angelica made her first holy profession of vows and on January
2, 1953, she made her solemn profession of vows. She expected to
spend her life hidden from the world. But Rita's faith compelled
her to unlikely endeavors, accomplishing what the highest
echelon of the Catholic Church could not.
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"Make
sure you present the real me. There is nothing worse
than a book that sugarcoats the truth and ducks the
humanity of the person."
-
Mother Angelica |
In
1953, Sister Angelica was cleaning the floor with an electric
scrubbing machine when she lost her balance, fell and was flung
against a wall. She suffered a serious spine injury that
required surgery. Before she went into surgery, Sister Angelica
asked the Lord to heal her and in return she promised "I
will build a monastery for Your glory. And I will build it
in the South!" Although
she was in the hospital four months, the surgery was a
success! On May 20, 1962 Mother Angelica became the
foundress and Abbess of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery. The very
first postulant at the new Monastery was Mother Angelica's
own mother!
Mother
Angelica began writing and recording short segments about faith
topics. These proved to be so popular that she converted a garage
behind the monastery into a television studio, and on August
15, 1981 aired the first program for Eternal Word Television
Network (EWTN). The radio station WEWN followed in 1992 and then
EWTN Online Services in 1996.
EWTN is now the largest religious media network in the
world. It transmits programming 24 hours a day to more than 105
million homes in 110 countries and 16 territories.
This
engrossing biography traces Mother Angelica's tortured rise to
success and exposes for the first time the fierce opposition she
faced, inside and outside of her church. It is an inspiring story
of survival and proof that one woman's faith can move more than
mountains. Only weeks after completing the final interview for
this biography, Mother Angelica suffered a stroke that stole her
speech. Within are her reflections, her powerful life lessons and
thoughts on her remarkable life.
Order
Now
About
the Author
 You
may be familiar with Raymond Arroyo through his expert commentary
during the Solemn
Funeral Mass for His Holiness John Paul II or The
Solemn Inaugural Mass of Pope Benedict XVI. You have
probably seen him on EWTN with his weekly show The World
Over or during his exclusive The
Ratzinger Interview. While researching this book, Raymond
Arroyo was given unprecedented access to Mother Angelica's
letters, diaries, medical records, family, friends and foes, as
well as one-on-one interviews over a three-year period.
Mr. Arroyo's
experience includes work with the Associated Press, as a
political columnist, and as a Capitol Hill Correspondent. He
is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts
and has performed and directed in both New York and
London. He was granted the first, exclusive, interview with
Mel Gibson on the set of “The Passion of the Christ” and more
recently was granted an interview with Pope Benedict XVI. He is
currently working on a mystery series and an original
musical. Mr. Arroyo is a native of New Orleans. He, his wife
Rebecca, their two sons and newborn daughter lost their home
during Hurricane Katrina. They are temporarily living in a
guesthouse near Mother Angelica's Monastery in Hanceville,
Alabama.
Order
Now
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Order
Now
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EWTN Chaplet of Divine
Mercy
Millions of Catholics now recite the Divine
Mercy Chaplet, which Jesus taught to St. Faustina. Jesus said, "Even
the most hardened sinner, if he recites this Chaplet even once, will
receive grace from my Infinite Mercy." Filmed at the National Shrine
of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, MA, this recording features a man and
his daughters chanting this beautiful chaplet in a traditional style. This
show currently airs on EWTN.
Available as 1 video, CD, or
Audiotape. 15 min.
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