Don't miss: St. Rita, the Movie, on EWTN Sat5/22 & Sun5/23 @10pm(EST)
I absolutely LOVE Saint Rita!(The movie is FANTASTIC!!) She is certainly a miracle-worker in Heaven! She is VERY attentive to those who seek her assistance and intercession. Because of the miracles she has performed in my life, I have vowed to make her known. Have a Blessed Day! ~Georgia
Saint Rita [1381-1457] has been one of the most popular Saints in the Church for centuries. She is known as the "Saint of the Impossible" because of her amazing answers to prayers, as well as the remarkable events of her own life.
Saint Rita wanted to become a nun, but in obedience to her elderly parents, she married. Her husband was the source of much suffering as he was cruel to her, but she repaid his perfidy with prayer and kind attention to him: he was converted in time, becoming most considerate of others and God-fearing. Alas, he was murdered.
Rita discovered that her two sons were thinking of avenging their father's murder and she feared that they would actually undertake such an action. With heroic love for their souls, she begged God to take them rather an permit them to commit this mortal sin. Not long afterward, they both died, after preparing themselves to face God.
Left alone without her family, St. Rita devoted herself to prayer, penance, and works of charity. After a time she applied for admittance to the Augustinian Convent in Cascia. She was refused, but after praying to her three special patron Saints-----St. John the Baptist, St. Augustine, and St. Nicholas of Tolentino-----she miraculously entered the convent and was allowed to remain, about the year 1411.
In the convent, Sr. Rita's life was marked by great charity and severe penances. Her prayers for others obtained remarkable cures, deliverance from the devil and other special favors from God. So that she might share in the pain of His Crown of Thorns, Our Lord gave her a thorn wound in her forehead. It was exceedingly painful and emitted a disagreeable odor, yet she considered it a very great grace. She prayed: "O loving Jesus, increase my patience according as my sufferings increase." The wound lasted the rest of her life."
She died on May 22 [Her Feast Day], 1457 at the age of 76. People flocked to the convent to pay their respects. Innumerable miracles took place through her intercession and devotion spread far and wide. Her body was preserved incorrupt for several centuries, at times giving off a sweet fragrance. Much of her body is still incorrupt, including her forehead where one can see the wound. Today it is in a sealed glass coffin in a church of St. Augustine in Cascia, Italy, where pilgrims come to pray and ask for a miracle.
INCORRUPTIBLE
Immediately after death her body is said to have performed miracles and had signs of Incorruptibility. After centuries of veneration of her Incorrupt body and numerous documented miracles, Rita of Cascia was canonized in 1900. The Saint’s body is still partially incorrupt and housed in the Basilica of Saint Rita in the Umbrian town of Cascia.
Saint Rita's Shrine in Italy
National Shrine of Saint Rita of Cascia, Philadelphia, PA
Click HERE to order Fr. Sicardo's book from TAN books for $7.00
Prayers to St. Rita
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