Faith is what gets you started. Hope is what keeps you going. Love is what brings you to the end."Mother Angelica
HANCEVILLE – The Catholic Church as well as many others are mourning today the loss of Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation, foundress of the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). Mother Angelica, 92, passed away in Hanceville on Easter Sunday, March 27, after a long struggle with the aftereffects of a stroke.
Since 1999, Mother Angelica resided at the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration (PCPA) Our Lady of the Angels Monastery (OLAM) in Hanceville. The monastery was moved from Irondale, Alabama at that time. “Mother decided to move the community to a more rural place, conducive to the contemplative way of life. The inspiration for the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament adjacent to OLAM, received its beginning from the request of the Divine Child while Mother was traveling in Bogota, Columbia for an EWTN promotion. His promise to ‘help those who help you’ in building a Temple in His honor, has been kept these many years. Dedicated in 1999, the monastery and Shrine (are) a testimony and instrument of God’s Love.” (olamnuns.com)
Her sisters from OLAM released the following statement:
Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation, PCPA passed peacefully from this life at Our Lady of the Angels Monastery on March 27, in this Jubilee Year of Mercy, surrounded by the prayers and love of her spiritual daughters, sons and dear friends. Throughout these past five decades, Mother has counseled and exhorted millions of souls to do what she sought to do so faithfully; live with God in the present moment and to spend herself entirely in His service. Thank you for your prayers for this courageous daughter of the Church and your support of our community. May our beloved Mother Angelica, Abbess Emerita, foundress of EWTN and Our Lady of the Angels Monastery and spouse of Jesus Christ, enter through the Mercy of God into the eternal glory prepared for those who love Him.
In 1981, Mother Angelica launched EWTN, in the garage at the OLAM with only $200. Today, the channel transmits 24-hour-a-day programming to more than 264 million homes in 144 countries. “It was hardly foreseeable that this new missionary endeavor that had begun in the OLAM garage with only $200.00, would become the great media apostolate that it is today. The nuns supported the network from the beginning, taking calls at the telethons, giving tours to visitors, opening mail, printing programs and most of all praying for the work God had surprisingly entrusted to these cloistered nuns!” (olamnuns.com)
EWTN employs about 400 people today and broadcasts radio around the world. The network also publishes the National Catholic Register and Catholic News Agency, among others.
“Mother has always and will always personify EWTN, the network that God asked her to found,” said EWTN Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Warsaw. “Her accomplishments and legacies in evangelization throughout the world are nothing short of miraculous and can only be attributed to divine Providence and her unwavering faithfulness to Our Lord.”
Words of condolence, heartbreak, rejoicing, grief and gratitude have been flooding the internet. One such post, from author Raymond Arroyo, read:
My heart breaks over the passing of EWTN's Foundress and my dear friend, Mother Mary Angelica. It is not lost on me that she was taken home on Easter Sunday. The woman who lived her life in one long Good Friday–riddled by pain and suffering–found God's embrace on the day of resurrection. It is as it should be.
In 2001, after the severe stroke that nearly took her life I asked Mother if she was aware of anything before she fell. She told me: "Yes I was aware, aware—Jesus came and testified to me…that I would suffer much and suffer plenty…. suffer anguish for Jesus' sake."
She did suffer much, hidden from public view. But her mission of prayer continued. It was an honor to know her, to be her biographer, to be her friend. May Mother now rest with the angels and in the perpetual company of the One she served with abandon. There is laughter in heaven this day.
But I miss you Mother. We all do.
Indeed.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11a.m. on Friday, April 1 at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville. Interment will immediately follow in the Shrine’s Crypt Church.
Because of limited seating capacity, admission to the Shrine for the funeral Mass will be by invitation only. The public may participate directly outside, in the Shrine’s piazza. Services will be broadcast by EWTN. Further information is available at www.ewtn.com.
