12/23/2023 0 Comments Rita of cascia![]() ![]() Rita of Cascia is especially venerated in Spain, and there and elsewhere she has been called “the saint of the impossible.” In all countries persons who have especially heavy burdens to bear have been comforted and helped by meditating on the example of this saint, and praying to her. Rita is sometimes represented in art as holding these emblems. ![]() “Yes,” was the answer “bring me back two figs from the garden.” The friend hastened away to the garden once more and discovered two ripe figs on a leafless fig tree. Picking a rose and taking it back to the convent, she asked Rita if she could get her something else. It was not the season for roses to bloom, but to gratify the whim of a woman who was desperately ill, the friend went there and was amazed to find a rose bush in full bloom. Shortly before her death she asked a friend to bring her a rose from her garden at home. The old tradition that associates roses and figs with Rita has the following origin. Rita is joint patroness of a sodality which exists to venerate the crown of thorns. The first life of this saint was written in 1600. During her later years Rita suffered from a wasting disease, which was the cause of her death, on May 22, 1457. A suppurating wound on her forehead seemed to be connected with her intense response to a sermon on the Crown of Thorns, an emblem which had especial significance for her. The contemplation of Christ’s sufferings would send her into ecstatic transports. Her charity found an outlet in caring tenderly for other nuns in times of illness. In 1413 Rita received the habit of the order. She finally gained admission to the Augustinian convent of Cascia, persuading the prioress to overlook the rule that allowed her to accept only virgins. Left alone, Rita now began to practice unusual austerities. Then they both fell ill, and their mother nursed them and brought them to a more forgiving state before they too died. Rita prayed that they might die rather than commit murder. ![]() Soon after this he was killed in a brawl, and the sons vowed to avenge their father’s death. At last her husband came to a realization of his sinful life, and begged Rita to forgive him for what he had made her suffer. She wept and prayed for them all three without ceasing. With anguish she watched the two sons of this union grow up in the likeness of their father. Rita’s husband was brutal, dissolute, and uncontrolled for eighteen years she bore his insults and infidelities. ![]() Rita submitted sorrowfully, and the marriage proved to be one long torment. When the time came for marriage, her parents forced her to marry an unsuitable person, in spite of her desire to enter a convent. Rita, the child of her parents’ old age, in youth demonstrated a strong religious sense. In 1381 in a humble peasant home at Rocca Porena, central Italy, there was born a little girl who was to attain a reputation for great holiness on account of her mystical transports, her austerities, and her long-suffering patience in meeting affliction. Her holiness was reflected in each phase of her life. Like Elizabeth Ann Seton, Rita of Cascia was a wife, mother, widow, and member of a religious community. Patron Saint of lost or impossible causes, difficult marriages, infertility, and parenthood ![]()
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