Catholic World News News Feature

Miracle cure for Mother Angelica? February 02, 1998

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (CWN) -- Mother Angelica, the founder and head of the worldwide EWTN broadcasting empire, has shed her crutches and braces after 40 years, as the result of an apparently miraculous healing.

Mother Angelica, who until last week could walk only with the help of crutches and braces on both of her legs, shed those devices last week after a Wednesday-night prayer session in which she "felt the heat in my ankle" and gradually experienced a restoration of control over her legs. One day later, after another session of prayer, she also discarded a brace which she had worn to support a damaged spine.

The EWTN foundress, who was severely injured in an accident while she was a religious novice, told EWTN viewers that she had been praying the Rosary with a guest-- who she did not identify-- when the guest urged her to try walking without her crutches. Although at first her legs were "all over the place-- like I knew they would be," after a few moments she found that she could support her weight.

With her trademark humor, Mother Angelica said that she had trouble remembering what to do with her arms while she walked, after 40 years of using them to manuever her crutches. But, she said, "I think you're supposed to swing 'em." So she did so. She also showed off her new-found strength by executing a few dance steps for an EWTN television audience.

"I never asked for this healing," Mother Angelica said. "I was convinced that it was an apostolate for me." She recalled that after her injury, when doctors had said she might never walk again, she made a vow that if she was able to walk she would build a monastery in the south-- a vow she fulfilled with the foundation of the monastery that now serves as base for EWTN.

Mother Angelica revealed that in more recent years she had prayed, "If there's another witness... then I am more than willing." She also noted, "I can't say I desired it, and I can't say that I had any faith that it would or would not be."

Once the healing occurred, however, the EWTN foundress had a simple message: "I think we forget that the Rosary is powerful."