Saint Rita of Cascia

Rita Lotti was born in 1381 in Roccaporena, a small village near Cascia, Italy. From childhood she wished to consecrate herself to God, but her parents married her to Paolo Mancini, with whom she had two sons.

Marriage brought hardship: Paolo was temperamental and caught in local feuds. Rita endured with patience, prayed for his conversion, and reconciled him with enemies before his violent death.

Both sons also died prematurely. Rita, now a widow, asked three times to enter the Augustinian convent of Santa Maria Maddalena. Refused for lack of education, she was finally accepted after wonders tradition attributes to her perseverance.

In the convent she lived forty years of prayer, penance, and charity. According to tradition, while meditating on Christ's Passion she received on her forehead a stigma from a thorn, a sign of union with the Lord's redemptive suffering.

She died on May 22, 1457. Her incorrupt body is venerated at the shrine in Cascia, a destination for pilgrims worldwide who seek her intercession in desperate causes.

She was beatified in 1627 and canonized in 1900. She is patroness of impossible causes, widows, mothers, and family peace. Her liturgical feast is May 22.