St Rita de Cascia Italy Mystical Roses
Novena
St Rita de Cascia Italy
St Rita of Cascia ... (22 May)
Rita, an only child, was born about 1350 at Cascia (Italy). At an early age, she felt the call to religious life but, at the age of 14, her parents insisted that she marry a young man of restless spirit. She lived patiently with him for about eighteen years until he was murdered. Rita forgave the killers and prayed that God would take her two sons rather than avenge their father's death. It happened that both died shortly afterward.
A widow now, she made many attempts to be accepted into the religious community. Finally , after having overcome innumerable obstacles, she entered the Augustinian Convent in Cascia where she remained as a cloistered nun for 40 years.
After twenty-five years of religious
life, Rita was given what she considered a most treasured and singular gift from
God. Always devoted to Jesus 
crucified,
her desire constantly grew to share in his great act of love for her and for all
humanity by helping to carry his cross. One day as she knelt in prayer, her
forehead was pierced by a violent wound, a thorn from the crown that covered Jesus'
own head. She bore this wound for fifteen years until the day of her
death. This was a wound called the Stigmata
She had a very deep devotion to the Lord's Passion and bore the mark of a thorn on her forehead. She died in 1456 and her body is preserved in the convent chapel at Cascia, Italy.
She was a courageous woman of great faith, - wife, mother, widow, bereaved of her children, nun, peacemaker .
A saint for our times, a perennial example of the validity of Christian faith, hope and love.
Many invoke you for help, full of confidence in your intercession. Deign to come now to our aid for the relief and cure of {name of sufferer}. To God, all things are possible; may this healing give glory to the Lord. Amen.
Prayer II Novena
Be kind to me for the greater glory of God, and I shall honour you and sing your praises forever. Glorious Saint Rita, you miraculously participated in the sorrowful passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Obtain for me now the grace to suffer with resignation the troubles of this life, and protect me in all my needs. Amen.
