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Canonization cause for Mother Angelica’s spiritual mentor, Rhoda Wise, reaches next step

July 8, 2026 · 1 min read

The canonization cause for Servant of God Rhoda Wise crossed another hurdle after formal documents that outline her life, heroic virtues, and holiness were submitted to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

Wise — who was born in 1888 in Cadiz, Ohio, and died in 1948 in Canton, Ohio — was a laywoman and a mystic who received visions of Jesus Christ and St. Thérèse of Lisieux. In 1939, she reported a miraculous healing of her stomach cancer and a wound that doctors told her was incurable.

She was raised Protestant but was introduced to Catholicism by religious sisters during her hospital stay, where she developed a strong devotion to the rosary and St. Thérèse.

After news of the miracle spread, hundreds of people visited her home weekly, with whom she would pray. Hundreds of those who visited her home both during and after her lifetime reported miraculous, unexplained healings , including EWTN Founder Mother Angelica, who developed a close friendship with Wise after being healed of a stomach ailment.

Wise also had a visible stigmata — which resembles the wounds Christ had at the Crucifixion — that appeared on her body from noon until 3 p.m. for two and a half…

Source: Catholic News Agency · Read the full story →

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Damien Moreau

It is impressive this story of recovery from his stomach cancer in 1939, even though doctors had declared it incurable. I really liked the detail about the hundreds of people who came to pray at her house every week, it makes me think of our little prayer meetings at the parish. I hope that his file will move forward quickly at the Vatican.

Dušan Obradović

Man, that story about the stigmata appearing on her right from noon to three o'clock really got to me. It was as if she literally participated in every Friday with Christ. And as for those hundreds of people who came to her house every week - it looks to me like what the elders said about some psychic grandmothers in our country after the war, except that this one was a Catholic mystic.

Michel Girard

Yes, this healing in 1939 is really striking, especially since it followed his conversion thanks to the sisters in the hospital. The parallel with our small prayer groups at Saint-Serge also speaks to me, it is often in these simple moments that grace flows. Do you think that its stigma visible in the afternoon must have been difficult to live with on a daily basis?

Hannah King

The part about her stigmata showing up every day right at noon until 3 p.m. really struck me. It’s like she was right there with the Lord on Good Friday in her own kitchen in Canton. Makes me wonder what it was like for those hundreds of people crowding into her house each week just to pray the rosary with her.

Katarina Simić

Yes, that part with the exact time from 12 to 3 p.m. stuck in my head the most - just as if she stood under the cross every Friday. In our country, after the war, those clairvoyant grandmothers were mostly from folk piety, without stigma, so it is interesting how it combined with her clear Catholic devotions. Did you read more about what exactly her friendship with Mike Angelica was like?

Paul Johnson

That timing always gets me too — noon to 3 p.m. every Friday, right in her living room in Canton. I remember reading how Mother Angelica said just being in that house changed her. Did you ever visit the old Wise home when it was still open for pilgrims?

Antoine Girard

Yes, this healing in 1939 after his conversion in the hospital also had an impact on me, especially with his attachment to the rosary and to Saint Thérèse. For the stigma visible from noon to 3 p.m., I told myself that it must have been exhausting, like a cross that one carries without being able to hide it from the neighbors who passed by her house. Have you ever seen cases like this in our prayer groups at Saint-Serge?

James Bennett

Yeah, that noon-to-3 window always stood out to me too — like she was right there with the Crucifixion every Friday in her own living room. Never made it to the house while it was open for pilgrims, but my wife and I drove past it a couple years back when we were in Canton. Did the stigmata start after her cancer healing or before?