St. Rita had a desire to become a nun at an early age, but in obedience to her parents, she accepted an arranged marriage at the age of 12.
Her husband did not share her same zealous faith in God and was in many ways the exact opposite. He was cruel and ill-tempered, not making the marriage easy for St. Rita.
Despite the difficult situation, St. Rita remained married to her husband for 18 years, until he was murdered. She begged her sons not to take revenge and prayed to God to intervene. They were providentially reconciled to God before they also died at a young age.
All of this set the stage for St. Rita to finally realize her desire to enter a convent.
Augustinian nun
She initially asked for entrance at the Augustinian convent of St. Mary Magdalen in Cascia. She was denied entrance, due to her being a widow, but also because of she was the widow of a murdered man of a feuding family.
According to the VaticanNews biography of her life, "Rita’s prayers and the intercessions of her patron saints instead lead to the peace between the families involved in the killing of Paolo di Mancino, and after so many obstacles, she was allowed to enter the monastery."
She entered at the age of 36 and "distinguished herself as a humble, zealous religious woman in prayer and in all tasks with which she was entrusted, and as one capable of frequent fasting and penance. Her virtues were also known outside the monastery walls, owing particularly to the charitable works to which Rita was devoted with her sisters."
St. Rita spent the rest of her life in the convent, dying at the age of 76.
St. John Paul II highlighted her Augustinian spirituality in an address to pilgrims celebrating 100 years since her canonization in the year 2000:
Following the spirituality of St. Augustine, she became a disciple of the Crucified One and an "expert in suffering"; she learned to understand the sorrows of the human heart. Rita thus became the advocate of the poor and the despairing, obtaining countless graces of consolation and comfort for those who called upon her in the most varied situations.
Pope Leo XIII, who was closely connected with the Augustinians, canonized St. Rita on May 24, 1900.
St. Rita was part of the same religious family as Pope Leo XIV, who is also an Augustinian.
