St. Rita of Cascia (1381-1457) is a patron saint of the impossible, difficult, and hopeless causes, distinctly in the realm of marriage, abuse, fertility, parenthood, and disease. Like St. Jude, many turn to St. Rita for her intercession in times of desperation, heartbreak, and disease.
Early life
Many events in her life led St. Rita of Cascia to be called both a saint of the impossible and the “disciple of the Crucified One.”
Born Margherita (Rita) Lotti in Roccaporena, Italy, St. Rita experienced a miracle just a few days after her birth. The day after Rita was baptized, honeybees swarmed her, flying in and out of her mouth without harm. Her family saw this occasion as a sign of blessing and devotion to God.
In her youth, Rita desired to enter the convent, though she was forced into an arranged marriage with a “violent and ill-tempered” man at the age of 12 (Catholic News Agency). Together they had twin sons, and 18 years after they were married, her husband was murdered. Her sons then passed at a young age, and she again desired to enter the Augustinian convent of St. Mary Magdalene in Cascia, Italy. For this reason, she is the patron saint of difficult marriages.
Religious life
Rita eventually entered the Augustinian convent after appealing to St. John the Baptist, St. Augustine of Hippo, and Nicholas of Tolentino. Some legends hold that “she was transported into the monastery of Saint Magdalene through levitation at night by the three patron saints she appealed to” (Catholic.org).
During Holy Week in 1442, St. Rita of Cascia received the stigmata (a bodily wound resembling a wound of Christ).
Rose, canonization, and bees
St. Rita of Cascia was ill for the final four years of her life and died from tuberculosis in 1456. She lived to be 70 years old.
In the last winter of her life, one of Rita’s cousins came to visit her at the convent and inquired if Rita desired anything. Rita asked her cousin to bring back two figs and a rose from her father’s garden despite it being the middle of winter in Italy. Her cousin miraculously found one rose and two figs and returned to the convent. For this reason, St. Rita is often pictured with roses in art and churches around the world.
While her stigmata wound smelled poorly during her life, it smelled sweet and pleasant after her death; this is one of the miracles that led to her beatification in 1626 by Pope Urban VIII. Additionally, a colony of bees appeared in the cell walls monastery where she lived many decades after her death. Some people have reported that the bees exit the walls during Holy Week and return to the monastery on St. Rita’s feast day (May 22) each year.
St. Rita’s body remains incorrupt, venerated at the Basilica of Santa Rita da Cascia in Cascia, Italy. She was canonized in 1900 by Pope Leo XIII.
Centenary – St. Pope John Paul II
On the centenary of her canonization, St. Pope John Paul II called us to consider the message of St. Rita of Cascia: to live humbly and conform our lives to Christ.
“But what is the message that this saint passes on to us? It is a message that flows from her life: humility and obedience were the path that Rita took to be ever more perfectly conformed to the Crucified One. The mark which shines on her forehead is the verification of her Christian maturity. On the Cross with Jesus, she is crowned in a certain way with the love that she knew and heroically expressed within her home and by her participation in the events of her town.”
St. Pope John Paul II
St. Rita Prayer for Impossible Cases
“O Holy Patroness of those in need, St. Rita, whose pleadings before thy Divine Lord are almost irresistible, who for thy lavishness in granting favors hast been called the Advocate of the Hopeless and even of the Impossible; St. Rita, so humble, so pure, so mortified, so patient and of such compassionate love for thy Crucified Jesus that thou couldst obtain from Him whatsoever thou askest, on account of which all confidently have recourse to thee expecting, if not always relief, at least comfort; be propitious to our petition, showing thy power with God on behalf of thy suppliant; be lavish to us, as thou hast been in so many wonderful cases, for the greater glory of God, for the spreading of thine own devotion, and for the consolation of those who trust in thee.
We promise, if our petition is granted, to glorify thee by making known thy favor, to bless and sing thy praises forever. Relying then upon thy merits and power before the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we pray thee grant that [here mention your petition]. Pray for us, O holy St. Rita, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.”