[4] Mother Angelica was born Rita Antoinette Rizzo on April 20, 1923, in Canton, Ohio,[5] a small town with a large immigrant population known for its steel production.

[6] The area's Italian immigrants faced issues with social mobility, confined by levels of illiteracy and financial tributes demanded by the Black Hand, a criminal organization with Sicilian roots.

[11] John, unable to make a living, rented a roach-infested house for his family, leading Mae to scold him and stay with her parents for the night, which became a regular pattern.

[16] Between 1933 and 1937, following disagreements with her brothers, Mae moved with Rita to a series of run-down one-bedroom apartments, where the front end was used for business, and the back was reserved for sleeping.

"[21] Rizzo attended St Anthony's School,[22] but disliked the nuns there, whom she recalled as being "the meanest people on earth" and treating her with harsh discipline due to her parents' divorce.

[30] The stomach disorder got worse and Rita's grandparents got her seen by their physician, Dr James Pagano, expected complications who treated her for possible ulcers or gallbladder problems.

[28] Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Rita got a job in the advertising department of Tomkins Roller Bearing Company, a major producer of gun barrels, in early 1942.

"[17] Wise instructed Rizzo to pray a novena (a nine-day course of prayers) and made the girl promise that she would spread devotion to the saint if she was cured.

[38] Monsignor Habig then suggested she visit Saint Paul's Shrine of Perpetual Adoration, a facility operated by an order of cloistered contemplative Franciscan nuns, located in Cleveland, Ohio.

[44] In 1953, Sister Angelica had an accident with an industrial floor-scrubbing machine that knocked her over and injured her spine, causing her ongoing pain and would later require her to wear leg braces for much of her life.

This was the year that the Supreme Court banned segregation in public schools and Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. made headlines by organising protests throughout the South.

[54] Bishop Emmet Walsh of Youngstown delayed the foundation as he felt the departure of six nuns required by Canon Law could not be sustained by the community in Canton.

[55] While at Sancta Clara, Angelica was inspired to create a religious community which would appeal to African Americans in the southern states and began to seek support.

[44] With a number of other Poor Clare nuns she worked to raise the necessary funds, partially from a small business venture making and selling fishing lures.

Bishop Joseph Vath noticed her talent for communicating with the lay public and encouraged her to continue; she began taping a radio show for broadcast on Sunday mornings and published her first book in 1972.

[67] Cardinal Silvio Oddi, head of the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy rescued the situation; he visited Mother Angelica and secured exemptions under Church law which enabled to leave the monastery on business.

[68] EWTN became a voice for American conservatism and traditionalist Catholicism, with its position on religious and social issues often mirroring that of Pope John Paul II.

[69] Mother Angelica’s emphasis on tradition led to feuds with some members of the Church hierarchy, the most famous being over a pastoral letter by Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles concerning teachings about the Eucharist and the liturgy.

[citation needed] Since the first establishment of her monastery in 1962, the priest celebrating the conventual Mass had always faced the enclosed nuns, with his back to the rest of the congregation, a stance called ad orientem.

[80] Following the Second Vatican Council, most priests began facing the congregation (versus populum), but ad orientem remained favoured in conciliar documents, and this was followed by the monastery.

[103] In July 2008, Sister Grace Marie, a former Anglican convert, and four other nuns started a new foundation with Mother Angelica’s blessing in San Antonio, Texas.

[104] Mother Angelica remained abbess during this time, but her incapacity left the effective exercise of leadership to the elected vicar, Sister Catherine.

Sister Catherine began spreading the “Divine Will” devotion rooted in the writings of alleged Italian mystic, Luisa Piccarreta,[106] which some older nuns disapproved of.

[108] On October 4, 2009, Mother Angelica and Deacon Bill Steltemeier, then-chairman of EWTN's board of governors, received the Papal Medal (Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice) from Pope Benedict XVI for their distinguished service to the Catholic Church.

The nuns say she does sleep a lot.”[47][111] The use of a feeding tube was in accord with the wishes she made before her stroke in 2001 – a reporter recalled her saying: “We don't understand the awesomeness of living even one more day...

Please continue to keep her in your prayers; each day is a gift!”[112] Mother Angelica remained alive at the monastery until her death on March 27, 2016, Easter Sunday, at the age of 92, from complications due to the stroke she had 14 years prior.

She died shortly before 5:00 p.m.[46] Sean O. Sheridan, the former president of the Franciscan University of Steubenville where Mother Angelica received an honorary doctorate of sacred theology, described her as “a true media giant.

[72][115] Mark Evans of Deadline wrote, “Though her stances were decidedly old-school – she was critical of religious and political progressives – her lectures were lightened with an often self-deprecating humor.

She famously said the nuns she remembered from her youth were ‘the meanest people on God's earth.’”[72] On March 30, 2016, Easter Wednesday, at Pope Francis’ general audience in Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City, an employee of EWTN held up a portrait of Mother Angelica.

The Supreme Pontiff responded to the display by saying "She’s in Heaven.” In a ceremony on March 29, 2016, Mother Angelica's body was brought to Our Lady of the Angels Monastery for private visitation by Poor Clare nuns.