St. Rita of Cascia

 (1381-1457) 

Like Elizabeth Ann Seton, Rita of Cascia was a wife, mother, widow and member of a religious community. Her holiness was reflected in each phase of her life.

Born at Roccaporena in central Italy, Rita wanted to become a nun but was pressured at a young age into marrying a harsh and cruel man. During her 18-year marriage, she bore and raised two sons. After her husband was killed in a brawl and her sons had died, Rita tried to join the Augustinian nuns in Cascia. Unsuccessful at first because she was a widow, Rita eventually succeeded.

Over the years, her austerity, prayerfulness and charity became legendary. When she developed wounds on her forehead, people quickly associated them with the wounds from Christ's crown of thorns. She meditated frequently on Christ's passion. She cared for the sick nuns with great love. She also counseled lay people who came to her monastery.

Beatified in 1626, Rita was not canonized until 1900. She has acquired the reputation, together with St. Jude, as a saint of impossible cases. Many people visit her tomb each year.

 Saint of the Day, American Catholic

       Remain in Peace and Charity

St Rita's Roses

One of those who visited her some few months before her death - a relative from her hometown of Roccaporena - was privileged to witness firsthand the extraordinary things wrought by Rita's requests. When asked whether she had any special desires. Rita asked only that a rose from the garden of her parents' home be brought to her. It was a small favor to ask, but quite an impossible one to grant in the month of January! Nevertheless, on returning home the woman discovered, to her amazement, a single brightly-colored blossom on the bush where the nun said it would be. Picking it, she returned immediately to the monastery and presented it to Rita who gave thanks to God for this sign of his love. Thus the saint of the thorn became the saint of the rose, and she whose impossible requests were granted her became the advocate of all whose own requests seem impossible as well. As she breathed her last, Rita's final words to the sisters who gathered around her where, "Remain in obedience to the holy Roman Church. Remain in peace and fraternal charity."

National Shrine of St. Rita of Cascia Newsletter