St Rita of Cascia – 22 May
By Catherine Sheehan
Just like our new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, St Rita of Cascia (1381-1457), known as the “saint of the impossible”, was an Augustinian. Interestingly, she was also canonised by his namesake, Pope Leo XIII, on 24 May 1900.
Born Margherita Lotti in 1381 in the Italian town of Roccaporena, Perugia, she was affectionately nicknamed Rita by family and friends. Just days after her birth Rita was surrounded by a swarm of bees. Some of the bees flew in and out of her mouth without harming her.
This led her family to believe that Rita was particularly blessed and protected by God.
As a child Rita desired to become a nun, however her parents had other plans for her.
According to the custom of her time, Rita’s parents arranged for her to be married when she was only 12 years of age. She was married to a nobleman, Paolo di Ferdinando di Mancino, who was violent and abusive. Rita endured his abuse and infidelities for 18 years and bore him two sons, Giovanni and Paulo.
It is said that throughout their marriage Rita continued to live as a devout and loving Christian which had a positive influence on her husband. However, Paolo, who was embroiled in arguments with a feuding family, was stabbed to death during a brawl.
Rita publicly forgave her husband’s killers and tried to protect her sons from the on-going feud. When her sons decided to seek revenge for their father’s murder, Rita prayed to God that He would prevent them committing mortal sin. Soon after, both young men died suddenly of natural causes.
Rita never lost her desire to enter religious life, and finding herself a widow and her children gone, she sought to enter a religious community. In this endeavour she prayed to her three patron saints – St Augustine of Hippo, St John the Baptist, and St Nicholas of Tolentino.
She was eventually accepted into the Augustinian convent of St Mary Magdalene at Cascia at the age of 36. According to pious legend, she was transported by her three patron saints into the convent garden at nighttime.
In 1442 during Holy Week Rita received the stigmata – the physical wounds of Christ’s crucifixion in her own body – while she prayed before an image of Christ. One of these wounds was caused by a thorn from Christ’s crown of thorns penetrating into her forehead. This wound remained visible until her death.
Rita died of tuberculosis on 22 May 1457. She is patron saint of impossible causes, difficult marriages, parents, fertility, abuse victims, and widows.
On the centenary of her canonisation, Pope St John Paul II said, “The saint of Cascia belongs to the great host of Christian women who have had a significant impact on the life of the Church as well as of society.”
He added, “Rita well interpreted the ‘feminine genius’ by living it intensely in both physical and spiritual motherhood.”