St. Rita: Patron of the Impossible

This week, the Church celebrates the feast of St. Rita, an Augustinian nun from 14th-century Italy. She is the patroness of impossible causes and hopeless circumstances because her life was filled with many difficulties and great suffering.

Now she assists from heaven those who plead for her intercession for their own seemingly impossible and hopeless circumstances.

From an early age, St. Rita desired to become a nun, but her parents insisted that she marry, which was a very common story among the women of her day. Out of obedience to her parents, St. Rita entered an arranged marriage at the age of twelve. Adding to her disappointment, her husband was cruel and harsh; she spent eighteen years in a very difficult relationship, one in which she met his cruelty with prayer, kindness, and patience… which eventually won her husband over to a more normal marriage relationship.

In the 14th century, Italy was rampant with warring families caught in a vicious circle of assassinations and bloody vendettas (think Romeo and Juliet). St. Rita's family was caught up in this turmoil, and her husband was murdered as a result of the rivalry between two wealthy, aristocratic families.

Rita's two young sons talked of avenging their father's death, but both fell ill and died within a year.

St. Rita was all alone in the world, so she again sought to enter the convent, as had been her desire from childhood. However, she was turned away because of her family's association with the warring factions, as some of the sisters living in the convent were related to the men who were responsible for killing her husband. To maintain peace in the convent, she was denied entry.

St. Rita, again facing disappointment and yet another impossible situation, prayed for the intercession of Jesus. St. Rita's sincerity and spirit of charity and forgiveness prevailed, and she was eventually granted entry into the convent. She became known as a holy and prayerful nun, often meditating on the sufferings of the crucified Christ.

One day, while praying before a crucifix, St. Rita received a visible wound on her forehead. This was a mystical yet visible mark (or stigmata) of Jesus' wound from the crown of thorns, symbolizing St. Rita's unity with Christ in his sufferings. She also enjoyed many mystical experiences with Christ during the forty years she lived in the convent.

St. Rita certainly had a difficult life, yet her heartbreaking circumstances drove her to prayer and helped her to become a holy woman. Now a saint in heaven, she helps those who are in great need, just as she once was in her earthly life.

St. Rita of Cascia is the patron saint of impossible causes, abuse victims, loneliness, marriage difficulties, widows, and the sick. She is also one of the Church's incorruptible saints; her body is venerated at the basilica named for her in Cascia, Italy.

Saint Rita, advocate of the impossible and the hopeless, pray for us.