A whole bunch of Roman Catholics, and a significant number of Protestants know that face. That is the face of Mother Angelica, the founder of EWTN, Eternal Word Television Network. How many know the story?
From the EWTN website; "When Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) was launched on August 15, 1981, many felt there would be little demand for a Catholic network. Now, in its 28th year, EWTN has become the largest religious media network in the world, transmitting programming 24 hours a day to more than 148 million homes in 144 countries and territories on more than 4,800 cable systems, wireless cable, Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS), low power TV and individual satellite users.
In the early 1960s, Mother M. Angelica, a Poor Clare nun, cloistered and dedicated to the perpetual Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament, fulfilling a promise made to our Lord, founded Our Lady of Angels Monastery in Irondale, Alabama, in the Deep South. In one of her early evangelizing efforts Mother Angelica began writing "mini-books", short teachings on a variety of religious themes. As the popularity of these "mini-books" grew, her nuns obtained a printing press and started duplicating and distributing them worldwide.
Soon, Mother began receiving requests for speaking engagements, evolving into a video series of her talks taped at a local Birmingham television station. The Poor Clare nun, who knew little of the world of technology and communication, then built her own TV studio on monastery property in Irondale, which today is home to Eternal Word Television Network. What began 24 years ago as a garage-turned-TV-studio is now a state of the art audiovisual complex funded totally by gifts from individuals and groups and visited annually by thousands of pilgrims."
Mother Angelica has been sick recently and prayers from around the world have been offered for her. A new autobiography is out and can be reviewed at this site. What a miracle that a "lowly" Roman Catholic nun could do so much for the spread of the Gospel.
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