Saint Rita
 Saint
Rita
(1381
–
May
22,
1457),
a
pre-eminent
Augustinian
saint,
was
born
at
Roccaporena
near
Cascia
in
the
Diocese
of
Spoleto,
Italy.
The
name
is
perhaps
a
shortening
of
Margherita,
the
Italian
version
of
the
name
"Margaret".
She
was
wife
to a
rich
man
named
Paulo,
mother
of
twin
boys
named
James
Anthony
and
Paul
Maria,
and
after
the
murder
of
her
husband
and
the
death
her
two
sons,
she
spent
40
years
as a
nun
living
to
the
The
Augustinian
Rule
in
the
monastery
of
Saint
Mary
Magdalen
at
Cascia.
In
the
parish
church
of
Laarne,
near
Ghent,
there
is a
statue
of
Saint
Rita
in
which
several
bees
feature.
This
seems
to
arise
from
the
story
that,
on
the
day
after
her
baptism,
a
swarm
of
white
bees
was
seen
around
the
baby
as
she
was
asleep
in
her
crib.
They
peacefully
went
in
and
out
of
her
mouth,
not
injuring
her
in
any
way.
Her
family
seems
to
have
been
mystified
rather
than
alarmed.
Later,
and
in
retrospect,
the
bees
were
seen
as
representing
her
subsequent
beatification
by
Pope
Urban
VIII.
Rita
was
married
at
age
18
to
Paolo
Mancini.
Her
husband
was
brutal,
dissolute
and
uncontrolled.
She
endured
his
insults,
abuses
and
infidelities
for
eighteen
years,
and
watched
as
her
two
sons
grew
up
to
be
like
their
father.
Her
parents
arranged
her
marriage,
despite
the
fact
that
Rita
repeatedly
begged
them
to
allow
her
to
enter
a
convent.
Rita's
husband
was
a
rich
man
of
quick
temper
who
made
enemies
in
the
region,
and
one
night
he
was
set
upon
and
killed.
Some
accounts
say
he
was
ambushed,
others
that
he
provoked
a
quarrel
and
was
killed.
Rita's
husband
is
said
to
have
repented
to
the
church
and
Rita
toward
the
end
of
his
life,
and
Rita
forgave
him
for
his
transgressions
against
her.
While
Rita
continued
to
care
for
her
sons,
it
became
clear
as
they
grew
up
they
were
intent
upon
exacting
revenge
for
the
death
of
their
father.
Rita
sought
to
persuade
them
otherwise,
telling
them
such
a
killing
would
be
murder.
She
also
prayed
they
would
not
carry
out
their
plans.
James
and
Paul
died
of
natural
causes
within
the
year,
begging
forgiveness
of
their
mother.
With
her
husband
and
sons
gone,
Rita
wanted
to
enter
the
monastery
of
Saint
Mary
Magdalene
at
Cascia
but
was
spurned
for
being
a
widow;
virginity
is a
requirement
for
entry
into
the
convent
and
sisterhood.
She
persisted
several
times,
though,
and
was
finally
given
a
condition
to
enter:
to
reconcile
her
family
with
her
husband's
murderers.
Rita
worked
hard
to
obtain
this
goal,
and
after
both
clans
were
reconciled
when
she
was
36
years
old,
Rita
was
allowed
to
enter
the
monastery.
It
is
also
said
that,
while
the
sisters
slept
and
despite
locked
doors,
Rita
was
miraculously
transported
into
the
convent
by
her
patron
saints
John
the
Baptist,
St.
Augustine,
and
St.
Nicholas
of
Tolentino.
When
she
was
found
in
the
morning
and
the
sisters
learned
how
she
had
gotten
into
the
convent,
the
sisters
could
not
turn
her
away.
While
she
was
there,
it
is
said
that
a
thorn
detached
itself
from
Christ's
crown
of
thorns
and
set
itself
in
her
forehead
-
hence
the
representation
of a
head
wound
in
her
appearance.
Rita
remained
at
the
monastery
until
her
death
in
1457.
The
symbol
most
often
associated
with
Rita
is
the
rose.
One
of
the
stories
surrounding
Rita
and
roses
is
that
Rita
would
regularly
bring
food
to
the
poor,
which
her
husband
prohibited
her
from
doing.
One
day,
her
husband
confronted
her
as
she
was
leaving
to
bring
bread
to
the
poor.
The
bread
was
concealed
in
Rita's
robes;
when
she
uncovered
the
bread
as
her
husband
demanded,
the
bread
became
roses
and
Rita
was
spared
her
husband's
wrath.
This
story
is
also
associated
with
St.
Elisabeth
of
Hungary.
At
the
end
of
her
life,
when
Rita
was
bedridden
in
the
convent,
a
friend
from
her
home
town
visited
her.
The
friend
asked
if
there
was
anything
Rita
wanted
from
her
old
home.
Rita
replied
that
she
would
like
a
rose
from
the
garden.
It
was
January,
and
although
the
friend
did
not
expect
to
find
anything
in
the
garden,
she
went
to
the
house
and
found
one
rose
blooming.
She
brought
the
rose
back
to
Rita
at
the
convent.
The
rose
is
thought
to
represent
God's
love
for
Rita
and
Rita's
ability
to
intercede
on
behalf
of
lost
causes
or
impossible
cases.
Rita
is
often
depicted
holding
roses
or
with
roses
nearby.
On
her
feast
day,
churches
and
shrines
of
St.
Rita
provide
roses
to
the
congregation
that
are
blessed
by
priests
during
mass.
She
was
beatified
by
Urban
VIII
in
1627,
to
whose
private
secretary
Fausto
Cardinal
Poli,
born
less
than
ten
miles
from
her
birthplace,
much
of
the
impetus
behind
her
cult
is
due;
she
was
canonized
on
May
24,
1900
by
Pope
Leo
XIII.
Her
feast
day
is
May
22. | 
