Saint Rita of Cascia

Rita’s real name was Margherita Lotti; she was born in Roccaporena in 1381 and died in Cascia on May 22, 1457. She is one of the best-loved saints in Italy, and also one of those about whom the historical record says the least. The sources close to the events are few: the inscription and the pictures painted on the coffin she was laid in, from 1457; the Codex miraculorum, the list of miracles that notaries recorded at the request of the town of Cascia, with a short biography written by the notary Domenico Angeli, from the same year; a six-panel canvas from around 1480. The first complete life comes only in 1610, written by the Augustinian Agostino Cavallucci from the oral tradition of the monastery and the town: all later biographies come from there. What that tradition tells is the story of an ordinary woman. Married young to a violent man, who changed over time and was later murdered. Two sons, who died as well. The revenge that, by custom, fell to those sons, and that she asked God to prevent. Then the Augustinian monastery of Cascia, which turned her away three times — she was a widow, and widows weren’t admitted — and finally took her in. Her last years in bed, with a wound on her forehead that would not heal. She is the patron saint of impossible causes, and that’s why she is prayed to by everyone who no longer knows whom to ask. On May 22, in Cascia and everywhere else, roses are blessed. If your name is Rita, today is your name day.