St. Rita devoted her life to caring for and showing concern for the sick who contracted the plague, miraculously never contracting any of those diseases that claimed the lives of so many.
Redaction (05/22/2023 08:02, Gaudium Press): Immediately after her death, St. Rita of Cascia was already venerated as a protector against the plague, likely because she dedicated her life to the care and concern for the sick who contracted the plague, without ever contracting any of the diseases that led so many to death. This was one of the main reasons why she became known as the Saint of Impossible Causes.
Who was St. Rita of Cascia?
St. Rita was born in 1381, near Cassia, in beautiful Umbria, a land of saints such as Benedict, Scholastica, Francis of Assisi, Clare, Angela, Gabriel, and more. Saint Rita belonged to the famous group of women who experienced all states: married, widowed, and religious.
Few saints have enjoyed as much devotion as St. Rita, the advocate of impossible cases, and she is greatly sought after by the needy. Her favorite passion was meditating on the passion of Jesus. She was a precocious girl, inclined to the things of God, who could discern the messages of the Creator in creatures.
An extraordinary model of wife, mother, widow, and nun
Since childhood, she had a strong inclination for religious life. But divine providence ordained that she would pass through all the states, sanctifying them and spreading the light of her example and the aroma of her virtue. She was an extraordinary model of wife, mother, widow, and nun.
Her family wanted her to marry Pablo Fernando from her native village. It was a true martyrdom, for Pablo was capricious and violent. Rita accepted her role: to be silent, to suffer, to pray. Her kindness and patience brought about her husband’s conversion. Two twins were born and filled them with joy. However, tragedy followed peace as her husband was murdered as a consequence of his past life.
In her life, there is a fact that seems incomprehensible from a natural point of view: seeing that she was unable to dissuade her children from seeking revenge, she asked God, with the intention of avoiding further crime, to take them away. And the Lord granted her request: her children died.
Her life has always been difficult, filled with suffering, but trust has always accompanied her.
The difficult years came for her, bringing with them loneliness, tears, and prayers. But there also came the opportunity to fulfill her childhood wish: to become a religious. Three times she tried to enter the Order of the Augustinian Sisters of Cascia, and three times she was rejected.
Finally, a miracle occurred: St. John the Baptist, St. Augustine, and St. Nicholas of Tolentino appeared to her and introduced her to the monastery. She was then admitted, made her profession in 1417, and spent 40 years there, living solely for God.
Rita walked the three paths of the spiritual life: purgative, illuminative, and unitive. On one occasion, her superior ordered her to water a dry branch. Rita rigorously carried out the order for several months, and the vine branch sprouted and still lives today.
From the crucifix, she received the lesson of how to be a saint
Rita, like Francis of Assisi, bore one of the stigmata of the passion: a very painful thorn in her forehead. Rita looked at the crucifix and learned her lesson in that school of suffering. In the convent garden, a rose and two figs bloomed in the middle of winter to satisfy her sickly desires. When she died, the cell lit up, and the bells rang by themselves to glorify her.
Her body is still incorrupt to this day. When Rita died in 1457, the wound on her forehead shone on her face like a star on a rosebush. Pope Leo XIII canonized her in 1900. Saint Rita of impossible causes, intercede for us! Amen.
(Source: Infovaticana / Felipe Aquino – @pfelipeaquino)
Compiled by Carlos Ruiz
