A crowd began to form early in the day Friday, ahead of the burial Mass for Mother Angelica at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

On a grey, peaceful day that provided a backdrop apt for the occasion, an estimated 2,000 visitors gathered Friday outside the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament to pay their parting respects to its famous founder.

Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation, born Rita Antoinette Rizzo in Canton, Ohio in 1923, was laid to rest Friday afternoon at the shrine she built in Hanceville. Thousands of well-wishers congregated on the plaza just outside the sanctuary to watch a live broadcast of her burial Mass, which took place before an indoor audience of invited guests and VIPs.

The lengthy burial service drew devout Catholics from all over the United States, as well as from overseas. They spanned ethnicities, demographics and walks of life. 

Old, young, alone or in large groups, visitors arrived early at Our Lady of Angels Monastery, and they stayed late. The entire day belonged to Mother Angelica, and most of her admirers took their time with the event, honoring her in a manner both leisurely and reverential. 

The mild weather matched the subdued demeanor of the diverse crowd. The setting for the ceremony invited a certain freedom of movement among the guests, many of whom left their seats to change their vantage, to walk the back of the plaza with their children, or to take pictures with their cell phones — all while the burial Mass unfolded.

Through it all, the tone was one of peaceful respect and quiet jubilation.

“She is a saint. She will be a saint. There is a lot of joy at this time,” explained Flavia Krause, who traveled with her family from New Jersey. “What we all have lost, God has taken back unto Himself. She [Mother Angelica] taught miracles, and this is a place where miracles manifest.”

Aside from founding a television brand that grew into the world’s largest religious broadcasting network, what was Mother Angelica’s appeal? What did she do that resonated so deeply with so many people?

“She was personal, and she was very personable,” said Mattie Arceneaux, a Texan who came to identify with Mother Angelica after discovering the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) in 2010. 

“When she spoke, she was reaching out to you individually. She spoke to people directly, and her fame within Catholicism never came across as manufactured or like [that of] a celebrity. She was genuine. She was conservative, and she had a way of explaining the teachings of the church in plain language that could just reach out and grab you. She really endeared the conservative tradition within the Catholic Church to me personally.”

Following the burial Mass, Mother Angelica’s body was interred within the shrine, ushering in a new, reflective phase of adoration for her legacy. Our Lady of Angels hosted its first public visitation of Mother Angelica’s tomb hours after Friday’s ceremony. Visitation at her tomb will become a regular accommodation for guests who tour the shrine in the future.

Mother Angelica died March 27 — Easter Sunday — at the age of 92. She became a nun in 1944 at the age of 21; a year later, she changed her name to Mary Angelica and became vested in the Order of Poor Clares, a contemplative order established by St. Francis.

She founded Our Lady of Angels Monastery in Irondale in 1962, and launched EWTN from that location in the early 1980s. The monastery relocated to Hanceville after work on the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament finished in 1999.