Saint of the Day: St. Rosalia

Hermit (d. 1166)

Her life

+ Rosalia is said to have been born to a noble family near Palermo, Sicily. 

+ At an early age she left home to live as a hermit in a cave at San Stefano Quisquina, near Bivona. An inscription is the cave is traditionally thought to have been written by her own hand: “I, Rosalia, daughter of Sinibaldus, Lord of Quisquina and Rosae, have decided to live in this cave for the love of my Lord Jesus Christ.”

+ At some point, she returned to Palermo and lived in a grotto near Monte Pellegrino. 

+ Following her death in 1166, she was hailed as a saint and devotion to her spread throughout Sicily and southern Italy. 

+ Her name was added to the Roman Martyrology by Pope Urban VIII. 

For prayer and reflection

“My faith is firmly established, for I have built my life on Christ.”—from the Liturgy of the Hours, Common of Virgins

Spiritual bonus

On September 4 we also remember Saint Nicolò Rusca. A priest of the diocese of Como, Itlay, he worked to help implement the decrees of the Council of Trent in a region where Protestant reforms and ideas were taking hold. Falsely accused of being involved in violent acts against Protestant ministers, he was arrested in July 1618 and died from abuse and torture in prison in Thusis, Switzerland, on September 4. He was beatified in 2013. 

Prayer

O God, who declare that you abide in hearts that are pure, grant that through the intercession of the Virgin blessed Rosalia we may be so fashioned by your grace, that we become a dwelling pleasing to you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal: Common of Virgins)
Saint profiles prepared by Fr. Silas Henderson, S.D.S.