St. Rita of CasciaSt. Rita of Cascia, Saint of the Impossible, led a life of many trials. Yet, during that life she also achieved many significant triumphs. She is also known as the ‘Peacemaker of Jesus’ for her many good deeds. She was the only child born to Antonio and Amata Lotti in a tiny hamlet near Cascia, Italy. St. Rita Miracles began the day she was baptized when bees swarmed around her cradle. They peacefully flew in and out of her mouth and all around her without harming her or anyone in her family.

By the age of twelve she wished to enter a convent but her parents felt she would be better protected if she married. They arranged a marriage for her to Paelo Mancini, a town watchman. The marriage was blessed with twin sons. Unfortunately, Paelo was an immoral, quick tempered man and Rita suffered his abuse for eighteen years before he was ambushed and stabbed to death. Their teenage sons wished to seek revenge against their father’s death. Through her prayers and interventions her sons did not act upon their revenge. Both sons died of illness within a year.

Left alone, St. Rita de Cascia sought the religious life but the Augustinian nuns in the monastery of Saint Mary Magadalen refused to let her enter the convent. Because some of their members belonged to the rival family responsible for Paelo’s murder, they feared for the peace of the convent.

Most stories of St. Rita agree she was transported to the convent by night through the intervention of her patron saints, St. John the Baptist, St. Augustine of Hippo and St Nicholas of Tolentino. When the nuns found her inside the convent walls the next morning they accepted her.

Another story of Saint Rita is that she confronted those responsible for her husband’s death and implored them to turn to lives of peace. It is said, in the end, the two rivaling families even signed a document declaring their war against each other was over.

Rita of Cascia the widowed mother who suffered great physical abuse at the hands of her husband and mental anguish at the revengeful seekings of her sons, became Sister Rita at the age of thirty-six.

St. Rita lived forty years as a practicing nun of poverty and doing works of mercy, charity and peace. When she entered the convent she was given one habit. She wore that habit one habit the remainder of her life and was buried in it.

One day, as Saint Rita was kneeling in prayer before a replica of the Crucified Christ. She implored, “Oh my Jesus, let me share in Thy suffering at least by one of Thy thorns.” A single thorn from the crown surrounding Jesus’ head speared directly into Sister Rita’s forehead. This wound bled until the end of her life.

The final four years of her life Saint Rita de Cascia was confined to bed as an invalid totally dependant upon the charity of her sisters. She ate little more than the Eucharist and she taught the younger sisters. In her final days, she had one request, that a cousin would bring to her a single rose from her family’s estate. It was the middle of January and the cousin thought this to be impossible. But when the cousin went to Rita’s former home she found a single rose in blossom on an otherwise bare bush in the family garden.

Saint Rita met her Divine Savior on May 22, 1457. She was Beatified by Pope Urban VIII in 1627 and Canonized by Pope Leo IV on May 22, 1900.

Because of her many trials and sacrifices throughout her life Rita the Saint is known as Rita Patron Saint of Impossible Causes and desperate situations. She’s often entreated by those suffering the afflictions of abuse, sickness, desperate causes, difficult marriages, widows and wounded people, also those suffering from sterility and infertility.

There are many stories about her acts of charity and obedience. One Saint Rita Story is that the Convent Mother, wishing to test the obedience of Rita, instructed her to water a dead and withered plant from the convent garden every day for a year. Sister Rita obediently did as she was instructed, every day. At the end of a year, to the great astonishment of her superiors, that dead plant brought forth leaves and flowers and became the most beautiful of all the grape vines in the garden. Today, 500 hundred years later, that same vine remains bountiful and beautiful. Its leaves are dried and powdered and sent all over the world to people who are suffering. Many cures have been reported by the grape leaves. Its fruit is sent to the Pope and to other Dignitaries.

The year 1450 was declared a jubilee year by Pope Nicholas V. When St. Rita asked to accompany the other nuns to Rome so she might gain the indulgences of the jubilee, her superiors told her they would permit her to go when the wound on her head healed. It is said, Saint Rita asked Jesus to heal the wound on her head so she might go to Rome with her sisters. God heard her prayer. Her forehead was healed and she was granted permission to accompany her sisters to Rome. When she returned, the moment she set foot in the chapel at Cascia the wound reappeared and remained until her death.

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31 COMMENTS

  1. Please pray for my husband that he may be able to keep his job and that they find it in their hearts to let him stay there. Amen

  2. St. Rita please help me find a job that’s right for me and pray for our family in this difficult time. Thank you. Amen.

  3. St. Rita, please devote your attention to all who are in financial need , work need, in these trying times. Through your divine intervention with Jesus Christ in his name and sacred heart. Pray for us.

  4. DEAR ST. RITA,
    PLEASE BE WITH ME AND MY FAMILY.. I NEED HELP IN MANY WAYS IN MY HOME. SO MANY THINGS ARE GOING CRAZY HERE AND I NEED SOME CALMNESS AND SOME HOPE.. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JUST LISTENING TO ME.. LOVE ALL YOU SAINTS AND GOD ABOVE…. OH AND OF COURSE MOTHER MARY.. LOVE ALWAYS JANE

  5. Please pray for me for protection and able to find a job. Also help me be like you St. Rita of Cascia, to live through the impossible even in tough times. Amen.

  6. St. Rita,

    Please help my daughter who is in a bad relationship. Protect and guard her children. Be with my son as he takes his tests on Tuesday. Heal my husband who has MS.

  7. Pray for the health of my sister, Margaret, and her son, Christopher. He is not yet 2 months old and is below his birthrate. It is very difficult to get him to drink. He has been in and out of the hospital.

  8. Dear St. Rita, please intercede for Akash Shah who is in a serious coma for last one week. May our lords healing touch be upon him & may his wonder be known to all. Thank you Jesus.

  9. St Rita, please intercede and help my sons marriage, which after a very short time, is in serious trouble..
    Thanks so much

    Mary

  10. Dear St. Rita,
    Please help! please pray with me for peace not only in my family, but all over the world. we all need it so bad. peace, health and happiness. people are so involved with materialistic things that forget the important things in life. and maybe if you have a minute u could help me a little, been looking for a job for a while now and i have nothing yet. thank you ,please pray with me for I THANK GOD! FOR MINE AND MY FAMILIES HEALTH!! AND PLEASE GOD BLESS US ALL!! THANK YOU!!!

  11. St Rita, pray for the masses of Nigeria who are afflicted by the impudence of the political rulers. May, through your prayers, God intervene in our situations so that the peoples of Nigeria would not continue to live in penury in a very rich country.

  12. Santa Rita please take in your prairs and in your hart my plees and needs I ask for you favor and help. From June 22 to July 10 my husban will go through a bone marrow transplant, he will be in recuperation for 2 months after that. Please give him and me the mirecal that he is cancer free and perfect health, long life and help us have children, if God permits. Please give us this miricual of life. Amen. Intervene upon God our father and Jesus, Mary our mother, I ask of you please hear my praer. Mrs. Munoz

  13. Oh Mama Rita,
    My special friend,
    I look up to you for help especially in this trying time of mine.
    I intend to further my studies hoping that it will be for my good and especially the greater glory of God.
    I pray through your intercession that I will be granted full funding for my masters for this fall 2011.
    Mama, I don’t know how or when, but I believe that at the appropriate time, like you always have, I will receive this favor I ask.
    Thanks for being my friend.
    Love you always.

  14. Ste Rita, you are always protecting me,praying for me, again I ask for your charity today and for ever.
    Thank you God to give us Ste Rita.

  15. St. Rita,
    I have several special intentions! I pray most of all for conversion of hearts of all my family and friends. Job for Jacob, wisdom, guidance, love of Go I pray most of all that God’s will will be done in our lives, I pray for wisdom, guidance and courage and love. I pray for our country, to love God and respect life!
    In Jesus name I pray!

  16. St. Rita,

    Oh St. Rita hear my plea to intercede for me to our Lord. He have always listened to your prayers, may He also listen to mines if you offer Him my supplications to succor me. I asked that I too with all my sufferings, I may share in the merits of His passion. I pray thee Oh great Saint to ask our dear Lord to grant me patience and endurance to bare my own cross. May my sickness and weakness in body be an offering to Him. I know my sufferings are little to what others endures but I know it is because He permits it for a good cause not only for me but for whatever reasons it may be. I have hopes that with all this, there will be a brighter tomorrow for Jesus is my hope and my only salvation. I ask thee oh great saint to supply what is needed in my prayers so that Jesus will find it acceptable. May I too reap a good reward and my dreams come to reality. Amen.

  17. Dear St. Rita, please pray for my marriage. Especially for the relationship between me and my husband. Help us to reconcile, and to forgive each other. Heal the wounds in our hearts. Bring peace and love between us. I’m so thankful that after my novena prayer, I found this site, so I know about you, dear St. Rita. I believe Mother Mary leads me to you. Thank you so much, St. Rita…

  18. St. Rita, please intercede for my marriage to our Lord our Savior. I am in always desperate need that my husband stops relying on negative support and friends to fill fulfill and happy. Please intercede that he encounters peace and happiness with whom he is and where he is in his life, please protect us from anxiety and that we really find the love that we have for one another.
    Help us dear St. Rita.

    Amen

  19. St Rita the wonder worker, Please intercede for my wife who has been ill for close to a year now that she may recover fully. Intercede also for my mother like you did before, that though she is old, she will be healthy and strong until the Lord calls her.Pray for me and my family to be healthy ,strong and financially capable. Please also intercede for marriages under trials and temptations that the enemy will not overwhelm them. I ask all these in Jesus Name Amen.

  20. Please Mama Rita pray for my local church, who’s growth has been phenomenal both physically and spiritually, that the spirit of unity amongst us will continue to grow, that the plans of the enemy will be thwarted and defeated. The spirit of unity in the church is threatened dangerously, the enemy is not happy about our development, please intercede for us.

  21. Dear St Rita, i did your novena and am still on it please grant my requests in these novena,help my mum who is a widow for years now,heal her of all ailments and grant her hearts desires,help my brother who is going through tough times financially,help us in my family generally liberate us from all difficulties,and pray for my husband to carry out his duties toward his family joyfully without complaining to be responsive to his responssibilties.
    Dear St Rita,please make all the impossible in my life possible,i pray for promotion at work,increase in salary and career development.pray for our children for wisdom and knowlege and to be true children of God,and my friends and relatives,peace in our familes and the world,Amen

  22. please pray for my young sons,my family,i try the best i can as a single mother to do everything for them.their father has come for a visit,and their(my boys) feelings and hearts have been hurt deeply.Brendan(my 7 year old) says his prayers with me every night,our Father and Hail Mary,plus special prayers for those we love. all he asked was for his daddy to come back and be a part of our lives(mind this-which his blessed lil soul does not know….in almost a year of separation his dad has not paid any child support) but i let him come over for a visit,and my dear sons’ hearts have been broken by their dad’s actions.he never physically abused them but this is emotionial abuse,and i hate myself right now for letting their dad come over.thank God their aunt lives next door where she collected them and they are their right now.just myself and my estranged man are here at our home.please pray that the presence of God will overcome this evil,and forgive me for trying to make a go of being a family again. i just thought it was the right thing to do,an answer to Brendan’s prayers

    • i am sorry i didnt get the time to finish,but please keep us in your prayers,not only in this way but just in a small financial way so lil avery(he is autistic and will be 4 on 20 june) can have a very happy blessed birthday,as last year his birthday was on fathers day,afew days before his 3rd birthday(on fathers day last year)….dad went to jail. i have tried and tried to help this man,to keep him away and out of trouble,but my kids come first always before any human being….and i have spent so much time trying to “save” their dads life. i give it to God right now,as i do in every prayer….and this i do know,this too shall pass.thank you for any that have mercy and understanding.blessings of goodness and mercy to all of you!

  23. Nagpapagaling ang Diyos.

    God heals.

    Mayroon akong ganap na tiwala sa kapangyarihan ng pag-ibig ng Diyos.

    I have full confidence in the power of love of God.

    Tiyak na inaalagaan ako ng Diyos.

    I don’t allow my doubts to maintain me from God.

    Ang panggitnang katuwiran ng pananampalataya ay maihayag ang pag-ibig at pakikiramay ng Simbahan at lahat ng pamayanan ni Kristo Hesus para sa kapatawaran ng mga kasalanan at pakikipagkasundo sa Diyos

    The focal point of faith expresses on love and compassion with the Church and the whole community of Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God.

  24. Dear St Rita: I am almost at times at the end of my strength and I could stay on the floor. But I get up and keep going.Life can not continue to hurt so much. Today my uncle passed away and my husband is still going through with drawl from smoking cigerattes. His anger scares me. His eyes scare me..at times. Its like he forgot who I am his wife. I pray for our family to get back on track and turn the corner for a better tommorow.. Cause my heart is broken at this time.. with sorrow. Faith keeps me going. Amen

  25. St. Rita and all who read this, please pray for me to reconcile my relationship with Mr. Thomas C. Please comfort his heart and mind so he can open his heart to me once again.

  26. St Rita pray for my healing, divine protection, divine visitation and divine wealth, Pray for peace and love in my family and our state Benue

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