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 Saint Rita of Cascia Scott 209-211 (1956) Saint Rita of Cascia was born Margherita Lotti in Roccaporena, a town in the Central Apennines of Italy in 1381. Her parents Antonio and Amata were devout parents and taught her the love God. Growing up St. Rita wanted to enter the local Augustinian convent of Saint Mary Magdelena in Cascia, a nearby town. Her parents disagreed and arranged a marriage with Paolo Mancini. Saint Rita gave birth to two boys. Through the ages there were rumors that Paolo was a brute and that Saint Rita suffered in her marriage. Recent research does not support this legend. Regardless, throughout her marriage Saint Rita remained devoted in her trust in God and prayers for a blessed family life. After 18 years of marriage her husband was killed in a vendetta with another family in the town. Because of their father’s murder the sons wanted to avenge the killing. St. Rita prayed that her sons would never commit the sin of taking another person’s life. She prayed that both sons would be infused by God with the virtue of forgiveness. Subsequently, both sons were stricken with a fatal illness and never committed the sin of murder. During their illness, they acknowledged forgiveness to the family who killed their father. St. Rita always wanted her family to follow God’s will in all circumstances. With Rita being freed of family responsibilities she made repeated attempts to enter the Augustinian convent. The reasons that she was not originally accepted was that she had been married and also that some members of the religious community were related to the family that killed her husband. Eventually, she was accepted. In 1413 she became a religious sister. Her life of obedience and faith followed her in religious life. Throughout her life she was a woman of prayer and devotion. She did special works and offered prayers and actions to the sick and the neglected in the town and the convent community. Shortly, after hearing a sermon on the crown of thorns by St. James Della Marca, in 1442 Saint Rita received a stigmata – a wound in her forehead from the thorn of Christ’s passion. The wound was sickening at sight. She suffered the pain of the wound the rest of her life. At her death bed she asked to be given a rose. Though the time of year was January, there was miraculously found a fully bloomed rose in the garden. She died in 1457 at the age of 76. Saint Rita’s actions were motivated by a fervent love of God. She is celebrated as the “Saint of the Impossible causes and hopeless circumstances”. Saint Rita was canonized in 1900, and her feast day is celebrated on May 22nd. Devotion to Saint Rita grew in America. A National Shrine in devotion to her was built in 1907 in Philadelphia, PA. Devotion to her by the faithful came from her holiness as a wife, mother, widower and religious. She is a Saint who understood the challenges of family life, widowhood, being a religious and suffering both physically and emotional pain in all of her vocations of life. St. Rita’s uncorrupted body is displayed to this date in the Basilica of St. Rita of Cascia in Italy. Technical Details Scott Number Set 209-211 Face Value L.20, L.60, L45 Perforation 14 Year Issued 1956 References: Michael Di Gregorio, OSA, "The Precious Pearl - The Story of Saint Rita of Cascia" Corbin, Lois Lunsford-Women at the Vatican - Vatican Notes - September, 2000 |
