UPDATE: FRIDAY, JANUARY 11, 2002, 3:00PM CENTRAL STANDARD TIME

DOCTORS PLEASED WITH MOTHER ANGELICA'S IMPROVEMENT

Irondale, AL (EWTN) - Doctors at the Birmingham, Alabama hospital where Mother Angelica has been a patient since suffering a stroke on Christmas Eve say they are pleased with how the Foundress of EWTN is responding to treatment. Mother Angelica underwent a two-hour operation soon after the stroke to remove a blood clot from her brain. The Mother Vicar of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery, Sister Mary Catherine, said doctors told her Friday that Mother is doing very well. 

"Her doctor's are pleased with Mother's improvement," she said. "Although they have not moved Mother from Intensive Care to a private room, we expect that to happen soon."
Earlier in the week, doctors had upgraded the 78-year-old nun's condition from Serious to Fair.

EWTN also announced that it has initiated a "Spiritual Bouquet" for Mother Angelica on its web site www.ewtn.com where visitors may indicate their offering of prayer for Mother's full recovery. This may include Rosaries, Novenas, Masses, Holy Communions, Holy Hours and individual prayers. A similar Spiritual Bouquet for Mother Angelica was offered on EWTN's web site last year to celebrate her 77th birthday. 

Sister Mary Catherine said the nuns at Our Lady of the Angels Monastery are requesting that prayers for Mother's "Spiritual Bouquet" be directed particularly through the intercession of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, a 19th century Redemptorist priest who worked in the U.S. and through whose intersession many miraculous cures have been obtained.