Denver, Colo., Apr 19, 2013 / 14:57 pm
To honor the 90th birthday of Mother Angelica, founder of Eternal Word Television Network, renowned Catholic author Alice von Hildebrand has written an account of the nun's refusal "to be defeated."
"She was born defeated," von Hildebrand begins, explaining how Mother Angelica, born Ritta Rizzo, was the fruit of an "unhappy marriage," which resulted in her father abandoning her and her mother.
"How devastating for an alert little girl to realize at an early age, that she was the fruit of a marriage that should not have taken place," von Hildebrand wrote.
Although she and her mother lived in "utter poverty," Rizzo was able to attend Catholic school, but "was not given the loving attention she needed" as many of the nuns "did not understand the plight of a child of divorcees."