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Revision as of 23:37, 1 August 2005 by 63.164.145.85 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Born on April 20, 1923 in Canton, Ohio, Rita Antoinette Rizzo was the only child of John and Mae Rizzo, who divorced in 1929. Her childhood was marred by poverty and unhappiness. Her father abondoned the family when she was very young, and her mother struggled with chronic depression and poverty.
Rita became a nun in the "Poor Clares" in 1944 against her mother's wishes, although, ironically, some years later, (according to the Internet Movie Database), Rita's mother, Mae G. Rizzo, become a nun herself just as Rita became a Mother Superior. So Rita called her biological mother "Sister", and her biological mother called her "Mother".
Mother Angelica created the Eternal Word Television Network (aka EWTN) in 19 and it has become a powerful voice for conservative Catholics, despite its location in the not particularly Catholic state of Alabama in the Bible Belt of the Deep South, though the location probably has a lot to do with evangelization efforts, which redoubled under the last papacy (of Pope John Paul II).
Mother Angelica has reportedly suffered some health setbacks now that she is 82 years old, but she has stabilized according to sources close to her.