Episode 170, The Woman Who Inspired Mother Angelica: Rhoda Wise’s Path to Sainthood

Heather King is an award-winning author, a nationwide speaker, and a leader of writing workshops. She also writes a weekly column on arts and culture for Angelus News, the archdiocesan newspaper of Los Angeles. In this podcast episode, Heather shares a short article she wrote for Magnificat on Servant of God Rhoda Wise. Her website is heather-king.com.

Rhoda Wise holds the title of Servant of God, a designation given to a candidate for sainthood whose cause is under investigation before being declared Venerable. She was born in Cadiz, Ohio, a small town in Harrison County (population ~3,200 as of the 2020 Census), about an hour’s drive from Canton. While she was not raised Catholic due to her family’s unfavorable views of the church, she later converted after experiencing numerous mystical encounters.

At the age of 16, Rhoda suffered a ruptured appendix. While hospitalized, a nun gave her a St. Benedict medal, planting a seed of faith that would later blossom. Decades later, when the future Mother Angelica was a teenager struggling with a severe intestinal condition, she was prayed over by Rhoda Wise, an encounter that left a profound impact.

Rhoda’s life was marked by suffering. She was first married as a young woman, but her husband died soon after their wedding. She later married George Wise, a man who battled severe alcoholism, making for a difficult marriage. In 1932, she underwent surgery to remove a life-threatening 39-pound ovarian cyst. Severe complications followed, including abdominal abscesses, adhesions, and bowel perforation. In 1936, she suffered a serious leg injury after a fall.

While hospitalized at Mercy Hospital in Canton in 1938, another nun introduced her to St. Thérèse of Lisieux and taught her how to pray the Rosary. That same year, Rhoda experienced her first apparition of Jesus Christ, followed a month later by another visitation in which he appeared with St. Thérèse.

From 1942 to 1945, she bore the stigmata, the wounds of Christ, suffering every first Friday from noon to 3 p.m. Just ten days before her death, Jesus appeared to her one final time and revealed his sacred heart. At his request, the home where she lived, prayed, and suffered became a shrine and grotto. On June 28, 1944, He told her, “You want to know about the grotto. It must be built. I tell you again. It will be the beginning of wonderful things that will happen.”

At her passing, about 14,000 people came to pay their respects.

For more information about Rhoda Wise and to visit her house and grotto, visit rhodawise.com.