22/05/2026
Do you have an impossible situation? Pray to St. Rita of Cascia on her feast day today!
Due to the many extraordinary events of her life St. Rita is one of the patron saints of impossible cases. Even though she had a great desire to join religious life, St. Rita’s parents arranged for her to marry at a young age.
At the time, there was great political unrest in their city of Italy with open conflicts and violence between feuding families. Paolo, her husband, was a victim to one of these conflicts, leaving Rita a widow with two, young sons. While it was the social expectation to avenge his muder, Rita publicly forgave the murderer of her husband, and begged her sons to do the same. Shortly after that, her sons died from illness, leaving Rita both a widow and childless.
Feeling once again called to religious life, Rita tried to enter the Augustine Sisters of St. Mary Magdalene, but was refused entry because her family and relatives had not forgiven the murderer of her husband. Determined to make peace, Rita convinced the families to set aside their hostility. After signing a written agreement to end the violence, Rita was finally accepted into the Augustinian convent.
St. Rita spent the rest of her life in mediation and prayer there. At the age of 60, Rita received a stigmata of a thorn on her forehead while meditating on the image of Christ on the cross. This painful stigmata was like a fresh wound, causing her much pain, that she united to Christ’s pain in the Passion. It remained open until the day of her death.
Many times, St. Rita is depicted holding roses. Towards the end of her life, a relative visited her and asked if there was anything she could do for Rita. At first, Rita declined, but then asked for a rose from the garden of her family home. Even though it was the dead of winter, her relative found a single, fresh rose in her snowy garden and brought it back to her.
St. Rita became a saint in spite of all of violence and problems surrounding her, what are we being called to do to become saints?
