The nuns of the Augustinian Monastery of Saint Mary Magdelene turned her away from entering the convent partly because she was a widow, but mostly because of her family’s association in the feuds. But the road to this calling was again not easy for Saint Rita. This time, she sought to fulfill her desire of becoming a religious sister. Once more, she heard the familiar call to another vocation. As it happened as an answered prayer, God took the lives of the twin boys as they died of natural cause from dysentery, in state of grace, removing them from physical danger and spiritual death in Hell.Īfter the passing of her husband and sons, Saint Rita was all alone in the world. Unable to dissuade them from taking revenge, Saint Rita’s only hope was her earnest prayer to God to protect her children by any means possible before they could commit a mortal sin. She knew that such evil intention would only lead to death and eternal loss of their souls. Her focus now turned to her two beloved sons who talked about avenging their father’s death. He was murdered, which Saint Rita mourned by praying deeply for his soul. They lived at a time in Italy when wars between families were viciously rampant, to which her husband was not spared. Some accounts say that her husband’s conversion occurred close to his death after eighteen years of marriage while some say it happened long before and their married life together saw some peaceful years. There are differing stories regarding this. Eventually, Saint Rita, not giving up on her Catholic virtues, was able to win him over and convert him to a better person. But Saint Rita endured the cruelty of her husband and met it with kindness, patience, and intense prayer to God for his conversion. It was a truly difficult marriage that’s almost impossible to bear. They had two children, twin boys named Giangiacomo Antonio, and Paulo Maria. Her husband, Paolo Mancini, a rich town official, was known as a cruel, harsh, quick-tempered and physically abusive man. In obedience to her parents, Saint Rita entered the married life at the age of twelve, and so began a very painful time in her life as well. They insisted and arranged for her to marry a man, a common practice at the time. Even as a child, Saint Rita had always wanted to join a convent and become a nun but her parents opposed to it. ![]() All her struggles, almost impossible ones, she resolved with much love in her heart, a deep sense of faith in God, prayer and penance.īorn as Margherita in the city of Roccaporena, Cascia, Italy in 1381, she was the only child of an aging couple, Antonio and Amata Lotti. This is because of the many pains, trials and sufferings she had endured and overcome throughout her lifetime as a wife, mother, widow and nun. ![]() Aside from being the patron saint of seemingly hopeless and desperate circumstances, she also came to be known as the Patroness of loneliness, difficult marriages and parenthood, the widows, the abused, and the sick, especially those with bodily ills and wounds. Such title was bestowed on her during the ceremony of her canonization in 1900. From an Italian widow to later becoming an Augustinian nun, Saint Rita of Cascia is widely known among Catholic faithfuls as the Patroness of Impossible Causes.
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