Mother Angelica

Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation, PCPA (born Rita Antoinette Rizzo; April 20, 1923 – March 27, 2016), usually known as Mother Angelica, 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.

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.

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.

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.