Prayer to St. Rita of Cascia
St. Rita is the saint people turn to when there seems to be no way out. She knew hard things herself: a violent husband, the loss of her sons, and years of illness.
Prayer to St. Rita
Glorious St Rita, thou who didst miraculously share in the sorrowful Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, obtain for me that I may bear with resignation the suffering of this life, and protect me in all my necessities.
Source: The Raccolta (London, 1910), no. 392; indulgenced by Pius X in 1906
Who was St. Rita?
Rita was born around 1381 near Cascia, in Umbria, Italy. Married young to a violent man, she prayed for him until he changed; he was later murdered, and she forgave his killers. After her two sons died, she entered the Augustinian convent of Cascia, where for fifteen years she bore on her forehead a wound like a thorn from Christ’s crown. She died on May 22, 1457.
Pope Urban VIII beatified her in 1627 and Pope Leo XIII canonized her in 1900. Her feast is May 22, and she is invoked as the patron of impossible causes.
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For your children
Catholic Saints for Boys: 25 true saint stories in full color, from Saint Joseph to Saint Carlo Acutis, for children 6 to 12. From the makers of Little Prayer Stories.