She passed away four months later, on May 22, 1457.įollowing her death, she was buried at the basilica of Cascia, and was later discovered to be incorrupt. As it was January, her cousin did not expect to find any roses, but there was a single rose in bloom, which was brought back to Rita at the convent. It was then that she asked a cousin who had come to visit for a rose from the garden in her old home. It is said that as she neared the end of her life, Rita was bedridden from tuberculosis. It left a deep wound, which did not heal, and it caused her to suffer until the day she died. Rita had a great devotion to the Passion of Christ, and one day, when she was sixty-year-old, she asked, 'Please let me suffer like you, Divine Saviour.'Īfter her request, a wound appeared on her forehead, as if a thorn from Christ's crown had pierced her. While at the monastery, Rita performed her duties faithfully and received the sacraments frequently. It is said that she was transported into the monastery of Saint Magdalene through levitation at night by the three patron saints she appealed to. Once the conflict was resolved, Rita was allowed to enter the monastery at the age of thirty-six. The bubonic plague had been spreading through Italy at that time, and when Bernardo Mancini became infected, he finally abolished the feud with the Chiqui family. When Rita persisted, the convent told her she could join if she could find a way to mend the wound between the Chiquis and Mancinis.Īfter asking John the Baptist, Augustine of Hippo, and Nicholas of Tolentino to help her in her task, she attempted to end the feud. Though Rita's character and piety were recognized, her husband's association with the family feud was greatly feared. One year later, her prayers were answered when both of her sons fell prey to dysentery and died.įollowing the deaths of her sons, Rita attempted to enter the monastery of Saint Mary Magdalene in Cascia, but she was not allowed to join. Rita prayed to God, asking Him to take her sons before they lost their souls to the mortal sin of murder. Rita attempted to stop them, but both of her sons were determined to revenge their slain father.

Under their uncle's leadership, each boy became more and more like their father had been before Rita married him, and they wanted to avenge their father's murder.

Unfortunately, the feud between the Mancini and Cascia family grew turbulent and one of Paolo's allies betrayed and killed him.įollowing her husband's death, Rita gave his murderers a public pardon, but Paolo's brother, Bernardo, was still angry and encouraged Rita's two sons, Giovanni Antonio and Paulo Maria, to join the feud. He even renounced a family feud between the Mancinis and Chiquis. Paolo had many enemies in Cascia, but Rita's influence over him eventually led him to be a better man. He was also known to pursue other women and he had many enemies. In anger, he often mistreated Rita verbally and physically. Young Rita became a wife and mother at only twelve years of age and her husband was a man of violent temper.

Rather than being alarmed, her family believed she was marked to be virtuous and devoted to God.Īt an early age, she begged her parents to allow her to enter a convent but was instead arranged to be married to a cruel man named Paolo Mancini. The day after her baptism, Rita was surrounded by a swarm of white bees, which went in and out of her infant mouth without hurting her. Saint Rita was born Margherita Lotti in Roccaporena, Italy in 1381.

St rita church