A Novena to Saint Rita of Cascia
Advocate of the impossible
Saint of the Impossible
The Novena Prayer
O holy patroness of those in need, Saint Rita, whose pleadings before thy divine Lord are almost irresistible, who for thy lavishness in granting favors hast been called the advocate of the hopeless and even of the impossible, Saint Rita, so humble, so pure, so mortified, so patient, and of such compassionate love for thy crucified Jesus that thou couldst obtain from him whatsoever thou dost ask, on account of which all have recourse to thee, expecting, if not always relief, at least comfort; be propitious to our petition, showing thy power with God on behalf of thy suppliant, for the greater glory of God, for the spreading of thine own devotion, and for the consolation of those who trust in thee.
Rita of Cascia shares her patronage of impossible and desperate cases with Jude, though for a different reason: his came from an accident of his name, while hers grew out of a life in which a marriage she did not want, a widowhood she did not choose, and a religious vocation twice refused her left almost no ordinary path open.
What She Wanted and Did Not Get
The Novena Prayer
O holy patroness of those in need, Saint Rita, whose pleadings before thy divine Lord are almost irresistible, who for thy lavishness in granting favors hast been called the advocate of the hopeless and even of the impossible, Saint Rita, so humble, so pure, so mortified, so patient, and of such compassionate love for thy crucified Jesus that thou couldst obtain from him whatsoever thou dost ask, on account of which all have recourse to thee, expecting, if not always relief, at least comfort; be propitious to our petition, showing thy power with God on behalf of thy suppliant, for the greater glory of God, for the spreading of thine own devotion, and for the consolation of those who trust in thee.
Rita was married at about twelve to a man of the district known locally for violence, a marriage arranged by her parents rather than chosen by her.
The Long Years
The Novena Prayer
O holy patroness of those in need, Saint Rita, whose pleadings before thy divine Lord are almost irresistible, who for thy lavishness in granting favors hast been called the advocate of the hopeless and even of the impossible, Saint Rita, so humble, so pure, so mortified, so patient, and of such compassionate love for thy crucified Jesus that thou couldst obtain from him whatsoever thou dost ask, on account of which all have recourse to thee, expecting, if not always relief, at least comfort; be propitious to our petition, showing thy power with God on behalf of thy suppliant, for the greater glory of God, for the spreading of thine own devotion, and for the consolation of those who trust in thee.
Rita's marriage lasted approximately eighteen years, a period the older devotional accounts have used to recommend endurance to women in violent marriages, a use of her story later Church writers have explicitly disavowed.
The Feud
The Novena Prayer
O holy patroness of those in need, Saint Rita, whose pleadings before thy divine Lord are almost irresistible, who for thy lavishness in granting favors hast been called the advocate of the hopeless and even of the impossible, Saint Rita, so humble, so pure, so mortified, so patient, and of such compassionate love for thy crucified Jesus that thou couldst obtain from him whatsoever thou dost ask, on account of which all have recourse to thee, expecting, if not always relief, at least comfort; be propitious to our petition, showing thy power with God on behalf of thy suppliant, for the greater glory of God, for the spreading of thine own devotion, and for the consolation of those who trust in thee.
Rita's husband was murdered in the vendetta politics of fourteenth-century Umbria, a system in which a killing created a debt that fell by custom to the sons of the dead man to collect.
She Prayed That They Would Die
The Novena Prayer
O holy patroness of those in need, Saint Rita, whose pleadings before thy divine Lord are almost irresistible, who for thy lavishness in granting favors hast been called the advocate of the hopeless and even of the impossible, Saint Rita, so humble, so pure, so mortified, so patient, and of such compassionate love for thy crucified Jesus that thou couldst obtain from him whatsoever thou dost ask, on account of which all have recourse to thee, expecting, if not always relief, at least comfort; be propitious to our petition, showing thy power with God on behalf of thy suppliant, for the greater glory of God, for the spreading of thine own devotion, and for the consolation of those who trust in thee.
The tradition holds that Rita prayed her two sons would die rather than commit the revenge killing expected of them, and that both died of illness within the year, before carrying it out.
The Door That Would Not Open
The Novena Prayer
O holy patroness of those in need, Saint Rita, whose pleadings before thy divine Lord are almost irresistible, who for thy lavishness in granting favors hast been called the advocate of the hopeless and even of the impossible, Saint Rita, so humble, so pure, so mortified, so patient, and of such compassionate love for thy crucified Jesus that thou couldst obtain from him whatsoever thou dost ask, on account of which all have recourse to thee, expecting, if not always relief, at least comfort; be propitious to our petition, showing thy power with God on behalf of thy suppliant, for the greater glory of God, for the spreading of thine own devotion, and for the consolation of those who trust in thee.
Widowed and childless, Rita sought admission to the Augustinian convent at Cascia and was refused three times, in part because of the community's wish to avoid association with the feud connected to her family.
Reconciling the Families
The Novena Prayer
O holy patroness of those in need, Saint Rita, whose pleadings before thy divine Lord are almost irresistible, who for thy lavishness in granting favors hast been called the advocate of the hopeless and even of the impossible, Saint Rita, so humble, so pure, so mortified, so patient, and of such compassionate love for thy crucified Jesus that thou couldst obtain from him whatsoever thou dost ask, on account of which all have recourse to thee, expecting, if not always relief, at least comfort; be propitious to our petition, showing thy power with God on behalf of thy suppliant, for the greater glory of God, for the spreading of thine own devotion, and for the consolation of those who trust in thee.
Rita is credited with personally negotiating peace between her husband's family and his killers, after which the objection to her admission was withdrawn and she entered the convent at Cascia.
The Thorn
The Novena Prayer
O holy patroness of those in need, Saint Rita, whose pleadings before thy divine Lord are almost irresistible, who for thy lavishness in granting favors hast been called the advocate of the hopeless and even of the impossible, Saint Rita, so humble, so pure, so mortified, so patient, and of such compassionate love for thy crucified Jesus that thou couldst obtain from him whatsoever thou dost ask, on account of which all have recourse to thee, expecting, if not always relief, at least comfort; be propitious to our petition, showing thy power with God on behalf of thy suppliant, for the greater glory of God, for the spreading of thine own devotion, and for the consolation of those who trust in thee.
Rita is said to have received a wound on her forehead in 1442, before a crucifix, that did not heal for the remaining fifteen years of her life and was reported to have an unpleasant odor, leading the community to keep her apart from the others.
The Roses
The Novena Prayer
O holy patroness of those in need, Saint Rita, whose pleadings before thy divine Lord are almost irresistible, who for thy lavishness in granting favors hast been called the advocate of the hopeless and even of the impossible, Saint Rita, so humble, so pure, so mortified, so patient, and of such compassionate love for thy crucified Jesus that thou couldst obtain from him whatsoever thou dost ask, on account of which all have recourse to thee, expecting, if not always relief, at least comfort; be propitious to our petition, showing thy power with God on behalf of thy suppliant, for the greater glory of God, for the spreading of thine own devotion, and for the consolation of those who trust in thee.
Rita died at Cascia in 1457; the tradition that she asked for and received a rose from her family garden in the middle of winter is the origin of the custom of blessing roses at her shrine each 22 May.
The prayer above is a traditional novena prayer to Saint Rita, of unknown authorship and long in circulation, given here as it is commonly printed. Rita of Cascia, c. 1381–1457, Augustinian of Cascia in Umbria. What follows each day is a fact from her documented life, one per day. See also St. Jude, the other patron of desperate cases.
