BY Ian Dunn | March 28 | 
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EWTN founder Mother Angelica died on Easter Sunday
Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation, the founder of the Eternal Word Television Network, the world’s largest religious media network, has died at the age of 92.
The Franciscan nun died on Easter Sunday at Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Alabama, in the US, the monastery she had helped to found over 50 years ago. She had been in poor health for some time, and had been placed on a feeding tube.
Mother Angelica (above) founded Eternal Word Television Network in 1980, using a converted garage at the monastery and $200. It steadily grew, not least thanks to her own appearances on the talk show Mother Angelica Live. EWTN expanded to include a radio station and the National Catholic Register newspaper. In 2015 its programming reached 250 million homes in over 100 countries.
Mother Angelica was known for her straight-talking, feisty manner and her profound trust in God. She once said: ‘I’m not afraid to fail, but I am scared to death of dying and having the Lord say to me: ‘Angelica, this is what you might have done had you trusted me more.’”
She was born Rita Antoinette Rizzo in 1920, to Italian-American parents. After joining the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration, she began making TV programmes in the mid-1970s; later, she bough satellite space to launch EWTN.
In 2001 she suffered a stroke and afterwards spoke with more difficulty. Her health had slowly declined since, though until recently she continued to make appearances on EWTN.
Her funeral will be celebrated on Friday at 11am local time at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville.
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