Fr John Flader: on the saint of impossible causes

Q: My aunty, who is of Italian background, has always had a great devotion to St Rita and I would be very interested to know something about this saint. I really don’t know anything at all about her.

A: St Rita was born at Rocca Porrena near Cascia in Umbria, Italy in 1381. Her parents, Antonio and Amata, looked upon her as a gift from God since they were advancing in years.
Although her great desire was to become a nun, in obedience to her parents she agreed to be married at the age of 12 to Paolo Mancini, a minor official in the town. Soon after, twin sons were born. Paolo was often caught up in the rivalry between two political factions in the town, and this probably accounts for the stress and ill temper he often brought home.
For 18 years Rita patiently bore Paolo’s temper and was an exemplary wife and mother.
One day on his way home from work, Paolo was murdered. Rita tried in vain to dissuade her teenage sons from attempting to take revenge, following the tradition of the vendetta. She prayed insistently and, within the year, both sons died from natural causes, reconciled with God.
To fulfill her wish to become a nun, Rita then asked to join the Augustinian convent at Cascia. But she was refused, since some of the Religious were of the faction considered responsible for her husband’s death, and they did not want to risk straining the harmony of the convent. After repeated and ardent requests accompanied by much prayer, and having done much to heal the division in the town, she was finally admitted at the age of 36.
As a Religious, St Rita’s great desire was to be united with the redemptive sufferings of Christ, and she was known for her demanding penances.
When she was about 60, one day as she prayed before a Crucifix a wound appeared on her forehead like that of a thorn piercing Christ’s forehead. For the next 15 years she was to bear the pain of that wound with great love and patience, never complaining even though the pain was intense.
During the last four years of her life, after experiencing a vision of Our Lord and the indescribable  joy of heaven, she was confined to bed and ate so little that she practically existed on the Eucharist alone.
St Rita is often depicted holding roses, or roses and figs, and there is an interesting story behind it.
One day in the month of January when St Rita was very ill, a cousin of hers went to the convent to visit her. St Rita asked her to go to the garden she had once owned in Rocca Porrena but had since sold, and to bring back a rose. When her cousin objected that in the middle of winter there could not possibly be any roses, St Rita answered that nothing was impossible for God.
Her cousin went to the garden and on a leafless rose bush she found a beautiful red rose in full bloom. St Rita received the rose with great joy and kissed it reverently, seeing in it her beloved Jesus crowned with thorns.
A short time later, in the same month, St Rita asked her cousin to go to the garden again and this time bring back two figs. When she arrived there she found two luscious ripe figs on a frozen tree, which she took back to St Rita. Needless to say, they amazed and delighted all the nuns in the convent.
St Rita saw these miracles as a sign that Our Lord was coming to call her soon, as indeed he did. As she breathed her last, her final words to the Sisters around her were, “Remain in the holy love of Jesus. Remain in obedience to the holy Roman Church. Remain in peace and fraternal charity.”
St Rita of Cascia died on 22 May 1457. Her body has remained incorrupt and is venerated in the shrine at Cascia. Her feast is celebrated on 22 May as an optional memorial. St Rita was canonised on 24 May 1900 and is often regarded, like St Jude, as the “saint of the impossible”.
Got a question for Fr Flader? Email him at: director@caec.com.au.