Saint of the Day: St. Rita of Cascia

Augustinian Nun (1377-1457)

Her life

+ Rita was born into a peasant family in Roccaporena, Italy. Although she wanted to be a nun, her parents arranged a marriage for her with a man who proved to be violent and adulterous.

+ After 18 years in a miserable marriage, her husband was murdered and her two sons died soon after. Rita was then free to fulfill her dream of a religious vocation and, in 1413, she entered the Augustinian monastery of Santa Maria Maddalena in Cascia.

+ Rita was graced to share in the Passion of Jesus—which was often the theme of her meditation and prayer—when she received a wound in her forehead, which seemed to have been made by a crown of thorns.

+ Within her community, Rita was known for her spirit of obedience and her love of penance, as well as for her care of the sick nuns and the concern she showed for visitors to the monastery.

+ Saint Rita died on May 22, 1457, and was canonized in 1900. Today, Saint Rita is honored as the patron of impossible cases and her incorrupt remains are enshrined in a basilica dedicated in her honor in Cascia.

+ According to ancient tradition, roses are often blessed on the feast of Saint Rita, recalling a legend that she asked for roses and figs as she was dying. Both were found by the nuns even though it was not the right season for either. To learn more about this tradition, click here.

For prayer and reflection

“Saint Rita of Cascia, whose memorial we celebrate today, was a woman, a bride, a mother, a widow and nun of her time. May today’s women, in her example, manifest her same enthusiasm for life and at the same time be capable of the same love that she reserved for everyone unconditionally.”—Pope Francis

Spiritual bonus

On May 22 we also remember Blessed José Quintas Duran. A 24-year-old medical student from Almería, Spain, he was martyred on May 22, 1938, in Turón, Granada, Spain, during the anti-Catholic violence of the Spanish Civil War. His, younger brother, Luis (age 18), was also martyred on August 4. They were beatified with other martyrs from Almería in 2017.

Vocations

The Sisters of St. Rita: www.sistersofstrita.org

The Trappistine Nuns of Santa Rita Abbey (Sonoita, AZ): www.santaritaabbey.org

Prayer

Bestow on us, we pray, O Lord,
the wisdom and strength of the Cross,
with which you were pleased to endow Saint Rita,
so that, suffering in every tribulation with Christ,
we may participate ever more deeply in his Paschal Mystery.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal)

Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.