For centuries St. Rita of Cascia has been one of the most popular saints in the Catholic Church. She is known as the "Saint of the Impossible" because of her amazing answers to prayer as well as the remarkable events of her own life.
Here are the classic stories from her life: the bees which attended her birth, her great early desire to be a nun, her disappointment in not being allowed to be one and her marriage to a cruel husband, his conversion and his murder; and how St. Rita prevented her two young sons from taking revenge.
Here also is the story of St. Rita's miraculous entry into the Augustinian Convent, her miraculous thorn wound, her severe penances and her many virtues.
Though little documentation on St. Rita exists, Fr. Sicardo has made her come alive again; his great love and admiration for her shine forth on every page.
Imprimatur: George W. Mundelein, D.D., Archbishop of Chicago
St. Rita of Cascia
Feast Day:
Roman Rite Calendar - 05/22
Patron Of:
Against Loneliness, Parenthood, Victims of physical spouse abuse, Wounds, Abuse Victims, Bodily Ills, Desperate Causes, Desperation, Difficult Marriages, Forgotten Causes, Healing Of Wounds, Impossible Situations, Infertility, Loneliness, Lost Causes, Sick, Sickness, Sterility, Tumors, Widows
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
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