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[1381-1457], widow and Augustinian Nun. She was married to a rude, ill-tempered man who died a violent death. After entering the convent, she became mystic and received a terrible wound in her head that would not heal. She suffered much in life and is patron of impossible or desperate causes, especially marital troubles. The bee is a symbol of her industry; the rose, of her garden, that produced fruit and flower even in the dead of winter. Her feast is May 22.

St. Rita of Cascia

Feast Day: Roman Rite Calendar - 05/22 Patron Of: Infertility, Healing Of Wounds, Loneliness, Tumors, Difficult Marriages, Sick, Sickness, Widows, Desperation, Impossible Situations, Abuse Victims, Sterility, Bodily Ills, Desperate Causes, Forgotten Causes, Lost Causes, Against Loneliness, Parenthood, Victims of physical spouse abuse, Wounds Also known as     Margarita of Cascia; Rita La Abogada de Imposibles Memorial     22 May Profile     Daughter of Antonio and Amata Lotti; known as Peacemakers of Jesus, they had Rita late in life. From her early youth, Rita visited the Augustinian nuns at Cascia, and showed interest in a religious life. However, when she was twelve, her parents betrothed her to Paolo Mancini, an ill-tempered, abusive individual who worked as town watchman, and was dragged into the political disputes of the Guelphs and Ghibellines. Disappointed but obedient, Rita married him when she was 18, and was the mother of twin sons.     She put up with Paolo's abuses for eighteen years before he was ambushed and stabbed to death. Her sons swore vengeance on their father's killers, but through Rita's prayers and interventions, they forgave the offenders.     Upon the deaths of her sons, Rita again felt the call to religious life. However, some of the sisters at the Augustinian monastery were relatives of her husband's assassins, and she was denied entry for fear of causing dissension. Asking for the intervention of Saint John the Baptist, Saint Augustine of Hippo, and Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, she managed to bring the warring factions together, not completely, but sufficiently that there was peace, and she was admitted to the monastery of Saint Mary Magdalen at age 36.     Rita lived 40 years in the convent, spending her time in prayer and charity, and working for peace in the region. She was devoted to the Passion, and in response to a prayer to suffer as Christ, she received a chronic head wound that appeared to have been caused by a crown of thorns, and which bled for 15 years.     Confined to her bed the last four years of her life, eating little more than the Eucharist, teaching and directing the younger sisters. Near the end she had a visitor from her home town who asked if she'd like anything; Rita's only request was a rose from her family's estate. The visitor went to the home, but it being January, knew there was no hope of finding a flower; there, sprouted on an otherwise bare bush, was a single rose blossom.     Among the other areas, Rita is well-known as a patron of desperate, seemingly impossible causes and situations. This is because she has been involved in so many stages of life - wife, mother, widow, and nun, she buried her family, helped bring peace to her city, saw her dreams denied and fulfilled - and never lost her faith in God, or her desire to be with Him. Born     1386 at Roccaparena, Umbria, Italy Died     22 May 1457 at the Augustinian convent at Cascia of tuberculosis Beatified     1 October 1627 by Pope Urban VIII Canonized     24 May 1900 Patronage     abuse victims; against loneliness; against sterility; bodily ills; desperate causes; difficult marriages; forgotten causes; impossible causes; infertility; lost causes; parenthood; sick people; sickness; sterility; victims of physical spouse abuse; widows; wounds All information used with permission of the Patron Saint Index.

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