The Amazing Life of Rita Rizzo

by Barbara A. Gaskell

In 1981, Mother Angelica, a cloistered Franciscan nun, launched what became the largest religious media network in the world; Eternal Word Television Network. She began the network with $200 in a monastery garage in Birmingham, Alabama. EWTN now reaches 264 million homes in 145 countries and over 700 million homes with AM, FM, shortwave radio and internet.

It all began in 1923 in a small home in the southeast end of Canton, Ohio. Born Rita A. Rizzo, the future Mother Angelica, grew up in a working class neighborhood during the Roaring Twenties a block away from her parish church.

Young Rita had a difficult childhood. Her father, John abandoned the family before Rita was five years old. Divorce soon followed. Life was a struggle for Rita and her mother. Rita's years of trial were compounded by a debilitating stomach ailment until she was healed by Jesus through a woman named Rhoda Wise. That healing set her life on a course that would ultimately change the world........ Here is her story.

Discussion Questions included.

112 pages, Paperback

Published August 15, 2019

About the author

Barbara Gaskell is the foundress and director of the Mother Angelica Tour in Canton, Ohio. In 1989 she began St. Raphael Bookstore in a 300 square foot office. Today St. Raphael Center is a 7500 square foot facility that houses a gift shop, chapel, studio for the Living Bread Radio Network, outdoor rosary garden and Lourdes grotto. Barbara’s life is dedicated to spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ.