**Saint Rita of Cascia** (1381–1457), born Margherita Lotti in Roccaporena near Cascia in Umbria, Italy, is one of the most beloved saints of the Catholic Church, venerated worldwide as the **Patroness of Impossible Causes**. Her life encompassed every state—daughter, wife, mother, widow, and religious—making her a universal model of patient endurance and unwavering faith. ## Life Born to elderly parents who had long prayed for a child, Rita showed signs of holiness from infancy. According to tradition, the day after her baptism, white bees swarmed around her cradle, flying in and out of her mouth without harming her—a portent of the sweetness of grace that would mark her life. Though Rita desired from childhood to consecrate herself to God as a religious, her parents arranged her marriage at age twelve to Paolo Mancini, a man of violent temper involved in local blood feuds. For eighteen years, Rita bore her difficult marriage with extraordinary patience, eventually winning her husband's conversion through her gentle perseverance. They had twin sons together. Tragedy struck when Paolo was murdered by enemies, and Rita's sons, influenced by their uncle, vowed to avenge their father. Rather than see them commit mortal sin, Rita prayed that God would take them before they could carry out their plan. Both sons died of illness within the year. Now alone, Rita sought admission to the Augustinian monastery of Saint Mary Magdalene in Cascia, but was repeatedly refused due to her husband's association with the feuds. Invoking the intercession of Saint John the Baptist, Saint Augustine, and Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, she persisted in her efforts while working to reconcile the warring families. Legend holds that once peace was established, her three patron saints transported her miraculously into the convent by night. For forty years, Sister Rita lived a hidden life of prayer, penance, and charity. In 1442, while meditating on Christ's Passion before a crucifix, she begged to share in His sufferings. A thorn from His crown pierced her forehead, leaving a wound that never healed—a partial stigmata she bore until death. In the final winter of her life, Rita asked a visiting cousin to bring her a rose and two figs from her childhood garden—impossible in January's frost. Yet her cousin found one perfect rose blooming and two ripe figs, signs that Rita's Beloved was calling her home. She died on May 22, 1457, surrounded by the fragrance of roses. ## Veneration Her body remains incorrupt in the Basilica of Santa Rita da Cascia. She was beatified by Pope Urban VIII in 1626 and canonized by Pope Leo XIII on May 24, 1900. At her canonization, she was formally given the title "Patroness of Impossible Causes." The devotion to Saint Rita spread remarkably through France, particularly to Vendeville near Lille, where a statue arrived in 1928 and a relic from Cascia in 1930. The sanctuary there now welcomes 120,000 pilgrims annually who seek her intercession for desperate situations. ## Feast Day **May 22** ## Patronage Impossible causes, desperate situations, abuse victims, difficult marriages, widows, sterility, sick people ## Symbols Rose, thorn, crucifix, bees, forehead wound