Rhoda Wise
Rhoda Wise (1888 – 7 July 1948) was an alleged U.S. stigmatist from Canton, Ohio (originally the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland and now part of the Diocese of Youngstown). Her biography, Her Name Means Rose, was published by EWTN. Rhoda Wise has been associated with many miraculous healings, including the healing of Mother Angelica.[1] The Roman Catholic Church investigated Wise, but made no official decision concerning her experiences[citation needed].
Although raised a Protestant, Rhoda was received into the Roman Catholic church after one of her stays at a Canton hospital, where a nun told her about the Rosary and Saint Thérèse de Lisieux. Wise allegedly experienced her first apparition of Jesus on 28 May 1939 at her home in Canton, wherein he told her that he would come with Saint Therese on 28 June 1939. Wise was cured of her stomach cancer, which had been considered incurable and so she had been sent home to die[citation needed]. On 15 August 1939, Saint Therese is said to miraculously heal Rhoda of a broken foot[citation needed].
From 1939 to 1948, Wise allegedly experienced annual apparitions of Jesus and Saint Therese. Saint Therese would also visit Wise on 2 January, the saint's birthday, every year. Wise became a stigmatist and would allegedly bleed on the first Friday of every month. In the last apparition, on 28 June 1948, Jesus allegedly asked Wise to say the Rosary daily for the Conversion of Russia[citation needed].
According to Mother Angelica, Wise led a doubting and ailing Rita Rizzo (Mother Angelica's birth name) in a novena to Saint Therese. At the end of the nine days of prayer, Rizzo's painful stomach ailment disappeared and she eventually became a nun under Wise's mentorship.[1]
Rhoda Wise died on 7 July 1948, which was then the Feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius. Over 14,000 people reportedly attended her funeral.[citation needed]
