Saint Rita of Cascia: Saint of the Impossible
BIRTH OF ST. RITA
Rocco Porenna is small village three miles outside of Cascia, situated on a small river, in a valley separated from the adjoining mountains by a cliff, so that the place looks like a perfectly formed pine cone. There is a tradition that at the time of Our Lord's death on the hill of Calvary, an earthquake split the rocks of the mountains near Cascia, and that this particular cliff remained detached from the mountain. on account of its rocky site, Porenna is called Rocco Porenna.
In this village in 1309, there lived a devout couple, Antonio Mancini and Amata Ferri, who were prosperous farmers, although not rich and who gave generously to the poor and lived a humble life all for God. They were, in fact God's very apostles to Rocco Porrena because they taught their neighbors by word and example the only way to save their souls, was by fearing and loving God, as well as by shunning sin and vice. The complete story of the apostolic work of St. Rita's parents is known to God alone. nevertheless, one of its chapters has been handed down by a chronicler of the Augustinian Order:
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St. Rita's parents had a home dedicated to prayer, a sanctuary of holiness with perfect conformity to the commandments of God and the Church. They meditated morning and night on the Passion of Jesus Christ; both had a great devotion to the Virgin Mary as Mary Immaculate.
For miles around they were known for the benevolence to those in need and for their radiant smiles. through their prudent and gentle influence family dissensions were healed and indifferent souls won back to the friendship of God.
They had a zeal for saving souls. Whenever an occasion required it, they would look for a way to approach the sinner without embarrassing of offending him, reproving with kindness, continuing until even the most hardened sinners were moved to repent.
Living amidst this holy peace and happiness, there was one joy lacking, that of a child, although they had prayer fervently, even when they had become advanced in years. God bestowed at last the same Divine favor He gave to Anna and Joachim, a child late in life:
One night, while Amata was praying, an angel appeared to her in a vision, and told her that it was the Will of God that there would be born of her a daughter who would be from her very birth, marked with the seal of sanctity, gifted with every virtue, and that she was to be a helper of the helpless, an advocate of the afflicted, and a guiding star in the firmament of the Church.
The biographers of St. Rita give the day and year of her birth as Saturday, May 22, 1381. Pope Urban VI was the reigning Pontiff.
St. Rita died on a Saturday, May 22, which is a day dedicated to our Blessed Mother, as a number of other saints have died on a Feast of Our Lady or on a Saturday in May, not coincidentally. The village considered the birth a miracle because of Amata's age.
A few days after the birth, the Baptism of their child was in the offing and both parents were deciding on a name. Antonio wanted the name to be Rita because that was the name given in Amata's vision, so she was Baptized on her fourth day in St. Mary's church in Cascia as Rocco Porenna had no Baptismal font. At the time Rita was not a known name for a saint, but since that time the sweet name of Rita has been given to many Catholic baby girls. Some say that Rita is a shot name for Margarita but, the Saint was not Baptized Margarita but Rita, so we know it was not a contraction. Shortly after the Baptism God attested, by a singular prodigy, that her name was not of human invention, but rather of Heavenly origin:
MYSTERIOUS BEES
The day after her Baptism, the fifth after her birth, a swarm of bees, white as the driven snow, was noticed hovering and buzzing around the sweet angelic face of baby Rita, as she lay quietly sleeping in her cradle. The bees alighted on her lips and were seen to enter and issue from her partially opened mouth, without harming her or causing her to awaken. All who witnessed this prodigy recognized that it implied a mystery, although they could not fathom it. In after years Rita herself made known the meaning of the mystery by the singular sweetness and simplicity of her manner and by the eminent sanctity of her life; the bees were also a presage of her Beatification by Pope Urban VIII.
After all these centuries, the swarm of bees still exists in the convent, within a small fissure in a wall midway between St. Rita's cell and the place of her sepulcher. Their color is not white, but that of the common bee, except they have no sting. They live retired during the year, only coming out in the last few days of Holy Week and then returning once again for the Feast of St. Rita. On one occasion, one of the bees was given to Pope Urban VIII but it would not remain and went back to the convent.
EARLY YEARS
Innocence and purity are sisterly virtues or inseparable companions. In fact, innocence and purity are so intimately associated that they appear as if one virtue. Though natural to infancy, the exercise of these two virtues is the effect of Divine grace.
Guided by the wisdom from above, Antonio Mancini and Amata Ferri, the pious parents of St. Rita, watched with loving and jealous care over every day of her infancy, for they regarded their little babe as a gift from Heaven, the fruit of a special grace, and the child of God rather than of man. Hence we may safely say, without any fear of exaggeration, that little Rita Mancini began to be a saint and to live a supernatural life from the very moment of her Baptism, when her soul was made beautiful by Divine grace-----and that the virtues of innocence and purity were deeply rooted in her pure soul, for scarcely had she come to use of reason than she became the possessor of an innocence and a purity which were really marvelous in one of so tender an age. These two virtues were mirrored on her angelic face. Her every word exhaled an odor of sweetness and possessed a mysterious power which inclined the soul to God; while her every act bespoke the guidance of a power far above the human. Little Rita was indeed, so to speak, a precious plant, planted, as it were, by the hands of God in His vineyard, and with loving care did God cause the dews of Heavenly grace to fall gently on that tender plant which was to become in later years, and we may say for all years, a towering cedar of His glory and omnipotence. Clothed, therefore, as our little sister was with the double cloak of innocence and purity, her guardian Angel, who was ever by her side, took her by the hand and led his little companion along the most prudent paths, nor did God permit her to perform any act, or entertain any thought, but those compatible with His holy will and service.
It is not, therefore, a matter of surprise that the little servant of God differed from other children in her early years, for at the age when most children are accustomed to enjoy and amuse themselves with dolls and other playthings, little Rita Mancini found no pleasure in children's games or toys. You must not think, however, that little Rita did not associate with children of her own age; on the contrary, she had scores of little friends among the children of Rocca Porrena, and though she did not as a rule engage in their games, nevertheless she took pleasure in seeing her little friends enjoy themselves. Even when she grew older, instead of desiring to be present at picnics or parties where little girls experience great joy in being admired and pampered by relatives and friends, little Rita preferred solitude to these mirthful gatherings, and many a time when her loving mother wished to dress her according to the fashion of the day, she would hie to a remote corner of the house to pray and contemplate the Divine mysteries, particularly the Passion of Jesus Christ, a devotion she had inherited from her pious parents.
We must not judge from little Rita's dislike to be clad in pretty frocks and dresses that she was at times willful and disobedient; on the contrary, she was a most obedient child, she loved dearly her aged parents, and many and many a time did she kneel at her mother's knees, listening to her holy counsels, after the manner of the little Immaculate Mary of Nazareth at the knees of her mother, St. Anne. Hence what may have seemed disobedience on the part of little Rita were in fact mild reproofs, prompted, no doubt, by God, against that vanity which alas too often is planted by indulgent parents in the hearts of their young children.
One of little Rita's chief delights was to go to church with her parents, and when she entered the house of God she sought the most retired place, where she recited with devotion the Angelical Salutation, which she knew by heart, and then, as if God had given His little servant a clear understanding of the Incarnation of Our Lord, she would close her eyes and give her whole soul to a deep contemplation of this great mystery.
Oftentimes, while assisting at the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, her face would change its expression. Sometimes it bore the expression of glad joy, and at other times her face would indicate that she was experiencing moments of sadness. These alternate expressions of gladness and sadness plainly told how glad she was to be in the house of God kneeling in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and how sad she became at the very thought that her innocent Jesus was obliged to die an ignominious death on the wood of the Cross. Oh, would that we, who assist so often at the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, could experience in our hearts and souls the same spiritual joy and sadness!
We must also observe that little Rita had a great love and affection for the poor. At table, whenever her mother put on her plate a portion of the family meal, one portion she ate herself, the other portion she preserved to give to some poor child of the neighborhood. This practice was habitual with the little Rita, and it is certain she felt more happiness in giving away a portion of her meals than in eating what she retained for herself.
The people of Rocca Porrena, when they saw how different Rita Mancini was from the other children of the hamlet, and when they observed that as she grew in years her life became more holy and sacramental, they respected and revered her-----not indeed as a child, but rather as a person grown old in virtue. Especially were the mothers of Rocca Porrena edified by her holy and exemplary child life, and they were continually telling their little daughters to take Rita Mancini as their model.
The fame of little Rita's holy life was not limited to the narrow zone of Rocca Porrena, it became known and was spoken of in many of the towns and villages of Umbria; but especially did the inhabitants of her humble birthplace rejoice, for they were beginning to see realized what was predicted at her cradle by the swarm of white bees, which, like flakes of snow, entered and issued from her sweet mouth; for the child life of St. Rita was so celestial that she appeared to be a little angel living in the world, yet immune from all its imperfection and corruption.
DESIRE FOR CONSECRATION AS A VIRGIN
GOD IS, indeed, wonderful in His Saints, and a careful study of the life of St. Rita of Cascia, from her cradle to the grave, will convince anyone of this beautiful and holy truth. Already a model of innocence and purity, and though as yet but a child, it was Rita's ardent desire to live a solitary life in some hidden cave or grotto where she might pass her days uninterrupted in prayer and contemplation, because she coveted to be alone with God. Filial love, however, and the obedience due her aged parents, whom she felt would oppose this, hindered the execution of her holy desire.
Not a little disappointed, but by no means discouraged, she did not waver in her determination to live in retirement, so that she might be as near as possible to God. How to succeed in this determination, and at the same time be submissive to her parents, was for Rita a perplexing problem. Her perplexity, however, was of short duration. God, who must have regarded with rapture the pure and innocent heart of His young servant, inspired her to build a small but pretty oratory in a retired part of her home, where she remained for one whole year, separated from all commerce with the world, unless we except her parents, to whom she spoke only when necessary. During that year of solitude, Rita spent her time meditating on the sorrowful mysteries of the Passion of Jesus Christ. And, as a help to her meditation, she had painted on the walls of her little oratory some scenes of the life of Christ: such as, the crib wherein the infant Jesus was laid after His birth; Mount Calvary, the theater of His death on the Cross; and the sepulcher wherein His sacred body was placed after it had been taken down from the Cross. It is also probable that a picture of the Blessed Mother of Jesus ornamented the walls of her oratory. Gazing at those pictures, she experienced no distractions in her prayers or meditations, but true as the steel to the magnet, her heart and soul were so attracted by Jesus Christ that she desired nothing more than to have and possess the love and grace of her crucified Lord.
At the conclusion of that year, spent for the most part in constant prayer and commerce with God and His Mother, Rita saw that her parents needed her constant aid and assistance, especially her mother.
Antonio Mancini, once robust and vigorous, had become so feeble that it was with great difficulty he cultivated a small garden, which supplied his frugal table with vegetables; and his faithful wife Amata, whose age had debilitated and sapped her strength, could only perform a small part of the ordinary household duties. Rita, who understood thoroughly the obligations of children toward their parents, judged it to be the will of God that she should give up her retired life so that it might not be in any way a hindrance to her duty toward her aged father and mother. Accordingly, Rita came forth from the retreat where she had spent so many days and nights with God and became, to the great joy of her parents, the housekeeper, so to speak, of her humble home.
How well Rita performed the duties of housekeeper, we may surmise. And it must have pleased her parents, especially her mother, to see how industrious and painstaking their little daughter was as, like an angel in human form, she busied herself while at work. But though Rita was most assiduous about her work, it never seemed to interfere or interrupt her prayer, notwithstanding her extreme attention to her exterior employments. She acquired a wonderful facility of joining them with mental prayer, and of keeping herself constantly in the presence of God, who no doubt aided His little handmaid with her work, and guided her little hands to make and keep the humble home of her parents a model of order and neatness. Would that the children of the present day loved and obeyed their parents as did little Rita Mancini! Then would be silenced forever that complaint of so many fathers and mothers: "I have lost control of my children."
Having spent a few years employed in the duties of housekeeper, Rita arrived at that age when young girls, especially in Italy, are accustomed to choose their future state in life. From the Augustinian breviary we learn that Rita Mancini was twelve years of age when she made her choice. She consulted no one but God, and as it was her one desire to consecrate her virginity to God, so that she might better preserve the candor of her soul, of which the white bees that hovered around her cradle were the heralds, she determined to be a true spouse of Christ by embracing a religious life, and become a nun. But alas, many years were to pass before Rita's aspirations were fulfilled, for by the permission of God, it was only after being tried in the crucible of afflictions and contradictions that she found, at last, that happiness for which her heart had yearned from the time she was but a child.
Having resolved to become a spouse of Jesus Christ and to dedicate herself wholly to His service, Rita's first thought, as became an obedient daughter, was to make known her determination to her parents and obtain their permission. Accordingly, one evening when father and mother were talking together, Rita, who had been an attentive listener to their pious and holy conversation, waited until they finished. She then kissed them both reverently, and told them that she had made up her mind to become a nun.
Antonio Mancini and Amata Ferri were overcome with surprise, and their old and wrinkled countenances became clouded with sadness at what their young daughter had told them. And as she continued, with humility and with an eloquence that was more than human, to plead for their permission, every word that Rita uttered pierced, like sharp arrows, the hearts of her parents and even brought tears to their eyes. And yet, because Rita loved her parents and would not do anything to cause them the least sorrow or pain, there were included in her holy plea the words of submission and resignation: "Not my will, dear parents, but thine be done."
The silence that followed Rita's earnest plea for her parents' permission to permit her to embrace the religious state caused her to divine that her parents had just reasons for not granting her desire. At length when her parents could no longer hide their sorrow, they broke silence, and, betwixt sobs and sighs, spoke feelingly to Rita. They reminded her that they were already advanced in years; that she was their only child, and, after God, their solace, comfort and support; and finally they said that through her, they hoped to see their family saved from extinction. The tears and pleading of Antonio and Amata were not fruitless. Hitherto Rita had never disobeyed her parents. In fact, it had been her custom to anticipate their wishes. But on this occasion, no one but God will ever know how much, and what it cost Rita Mancini, when she told her parents that she would obey their will and remain at home to comfort and assist their old age. Nevertheless, though love and obedience prevented Rita from embracing the religious state, she was firmly determined to remain a faithful spouse of her Divine bridegroom, Jesus Christ, to whom, in her heart, she had pledged her fidelity.
Saint Rita of Cascia
CONSENT TO MARRIAGE IN OBEDIENCE
Saint Rita's promise to her parents, however, did not in any way weaken her determination to preserve inviolate the flower of her virginity, which she already desired to consecrate to God. But seeing that there was little hope of embracing the religious state, at least while her parents lived, so inflamed was she with the love of Jesus Christ and the most glorious Virgin Mary that she resolved never to embrace the married state. Having made this resolution, a double joy and consolation filled the heart of Rita; she could remain faithful to her Divine Bridegroom, and at the same time be a loving and obedient daughter. By reason of this double joy and consolation, a Heavenly light illumined continually her countenance, and as she performed, day in and day out, her domestic duties, she cast a halo of happiness everywhere around her.
But Rita's joy and happiness were of short duration. Her filial love and obedience were to be put to a further test, a test that was to cause in her soul a real combat between her love of God and the love of her parents. Antonio Mancini and Amata Ferri, overjoyed that their daughter had given up the idea of entering a convent, now determined that she should enter the marriage state. They had already hinted that this was their wish when they had persuaded their young daughter that she was duty-bound not to abandon them. It is certain, however, that in yielding to the entreaties of her parents not to enter a convent, it had never entered into the mind of Rita to have any spouse other than Jesus Christ. We can therefore imagine, first the surprise and then the inexpressible anguish to which Rita became a prey when her parents told her they were going to choose a husband for her, as it was their wish that she should marry. Their age added eloquence to their words as they insisted that she should consent to their wishes. They reminded her that she had been given to them in their old age, long after they had almost given up all hope of offspring, and they emphasized that she, by her marriage, would be the cause, not only of saving their family from extinction, but also of making their declining years happy and comfortable. We would, indeed, be tempted to condemn Antonio Mancini and his wife Amata for arrogating to themselves the right to force the vocation of their daughter, and thus making her the prey of human calculation, did we not believe that God, in His profound and impenetrable wisdom, permitted this, so that His chosen servant Rita, after having been a model for Christian maidens, should also, like Saint Monica, become a model for Christian wives and mothers.
The unexpected announcement of her parents wrung tears from the eyes of Rita and nearly broke her heart. A sort of paralysis seized her, and for some moments she could not find her voice. When the martyrdom that was taking place in her pure soul had somewhat subsided, Rita recovered the use of her tongue and firmly, but with dove-like simplicity, said: "My parents, I do not wish any spouse but Jesus Christ. Years ago I dedicated my whole body, heart and soul to His love and holy service. Because you wished it, I gave my promise not to enter a convent. I feel sure, with the help of God, without embracing the marriage state, that I will be able to console and comfort you, and provide for all your necessities, until God calls you to a better and a happier home."
But Antonio and Amata, who had made up their minds that their daughter should marry, turned deaf ears to the heartfelt words of Rita, and the poor child, judging that further speech would be useless, in her desire to be alone with God retired from the presence of her parents and hurried to the solitude and quiet of her beloved oratory. Once within its walls she fell upon her knees, and raising her eyes, with hope and confidence, to the crucifix, asked her crucified Lord to relieve her of that poignant perplexity which had begun to tear her very heart, from the moment her parents told her that it was their will that she should marry. She also implored the Queen of Angels and Virgins, and asked her to be so kind as to obtain for her from God the lights which were necessary for accomplishing what would prove most acceptable to His Divine majesty and conducive to her soul's salvation, expressing to her merely the ardent desire she felt of embracing on earth an angelic mode of life.
Without any doubt, Rita knew it would be no sin to marry in obedience to the will of her parents, but since she felt that God had called her, even from her early years, to be His spouse, and since she had responded generously to this summons, by desiring to vow to God the jewel of her virginity, Rita now awaited on bended knee the voice and decision of God, which would tell her if she should and could obey the will of her parents without offending the will of her Jesus whom she loved with her whole heart and soul.
It is very certain that the fervent prayers which Rita offered in her little oratory were graciously heard by God, who soothed and consoled her aching and troubled heart. And we may believe that God made known to His servant Rita that she should conform and submit her will to the will of her parents, and that by so doing, she would obey His holy will without losing any of the merits already gained by the ardent desire of consecrating her virginity to Him as the sole Lord and Spouse of her heart and soul.
As soon as Rita had learned that it was the will of God that she should submit to the will of her parents and that she would please God more by her submission than by following her own will, she resolved, then and there, to obey the voice and will of God and offer no further opposition to the will and desires of her parents. Accordingly; Rita returned to her parents, and prostrating herself at their feet, humbly asked pardon for the repugnance she had hitherto manifested to their will, and told them she was disposed and willing to embrace whatever state of life they wished her to enter.
THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND AND SONS
ST. RITA, before and especially after her marriage, had made a honeycomb of her heart, so to speak, filled with the odor and sweetness of virtues. Each virtue represented, as it were, a beautiful and fragrant flower, bound together by the girdle or cincture of charity, and formed the most exquisite bouquet she could offer to her Divine Lord after she had calmed the boisterous winds that had howled threateningly around her, during the time her husband was an easy prey to the ungovernable impulses of his violent passions. But alas, the days of harmony and peace were soon to be followed by a tragedy that was to cause grief and sorrow in the heart of St. Rita.
Though St. Rita had reformed her once violent and gambler husband and had also made him a man of peace, Ferdinando had not a few enemies in Rocca Porrena. Before his marriage, and for some years after, he had engaged in many disputes and contentions with companions as hot-headed and impulsive as himself, but as he was ready and adept with the stiletto or dagger, he was generally the victor over his adversaries. These persons became Ferdinando's enemies; a poisonous hatred rankled in their breasts, and though he avoided their company, they sought the occasion to avenge themselves. His enemies not daring to encounter him singly, banded together, as cowards generally do, and meeting him one day outside of the walls of Rocca Porrena, attacked him, stabbed him to death and left his lifeless body lying by the roadside, bleeding from a dozen wounds.
Some historians say that Ferdinando was not murdered in cold blood, as the saying is. They claim that he himself, in a fit of anger, provoked the quarrel and even struck the first blow of the altercation in which he lost his life. Others say that the violent death of Ferdinando was a visitation from God, in punishment for his extreme cruelty to St. Rita during the early age of his marriage, but that we may piously believe, though he did not have the sweet consolation of receiving the last Sacraments, that God had mercy on his soul on account of the ocean of merits which his holy wife had treasured in Heaven.
When the news of the death of Ferdinando and all the circumstances connected with it reached the ears of St. Rita, she was thrown into a paroxysm of grief. She wept as if her heart were breaking, and though her friends and kind neighbors tried as best they could to console her, she would not be consoled. Naturally, St. Rita felt as every good and holy wife must feel with the sudden taking away of her husband. But what grieved her heart and soul most was that he passed from this life to the other without being fortified with that Viaticum which gives the dying Christian the happy assurance of a safe journey from time to eternity. In her grief and sorrow, St. Rita prayed to God from the altar of her heart and said to Him: "O God, enter not into judgment with Thy servant Ferdinando, for in Thy sight no one will be justified." She also prayed to Jesus, her divine Lord and Master, the Judge of the living and the dead, and implored Him to grant that His precious Blood, shed for the Redemption of mankind, was not shed in vain for the soul of her husband, Ferdinando. And out from the grief-laden heart of that sorrowful widow came so loud and plaintive a cry for the pardon of her husband's faults and failings, that the cry must have been heard in Heaven, and as it penetrated the bowels of God's love, it moved Him to mercy. Nor did St. Rita, in the Gethsemane of her grief and sorrow, forget to have recourse to the Blessed Virgin, the mother of the seven Dolors, the sweet Comfortress of the afflicted, to whom, according to the great St. Bernard, no one ever has recourse in vain.
When the dead and bleeding body of her husband was brought home, St. Rita, with more reason than the Patriarch Jacob who looked upon the blood-stained tunic of his beloved son Joseph, again gave full vent to her grief and sorrow, with sobs and sighs, followed by a torrent of tears. And then, all of a sudden, as if a whisper from Heaven had reached her ears, in the twinkling of an eye her sobs and sighs lost their voices, the fountains of her tears became dry, and arming herself with a resignation like to that of Jacob, her heart and soul praised the name of the Lord, who was pleased to take to Himself the husband whom He had given her at the foot of His altar. O strong and valiant woman, where can we find your equal! To what can we compare you? You who bore with admirable patience the excessive grief and poignant sorrow which penetrated every fiber of your loving heart as you gazed upon the bleeding remains of him whom the bonds of matrimony had made a part of your life.
Not satisfied with that act of resignation to the will of God, who saw in the crucible of her patience the carats of the gold of her fortitude, she adorned and embellished her resignation with the most precious stone of pardon; for, in imitation of Jesus Christ, who, when dying on the wood of the Cross, asked His Heavenly Father to pardon His executioners, so also did St. Rita plead for the murderers of her husband. She herself pardoned them from the bottom of her heart, thus putting into practice that holy doctrine which Jesus Christ taught from the pulpit of the Cross.
After the funeral ceremonies were over and the mortal remains of her husband were placed in the cemetery of Rocca Porrena, St. Rita continued the exercise of those virtues which she had already been in the habit of practicing, and free from many of the cares of her married life, she determined to live solely for God, the only Lord and Master of her soul.
THE DEATH of her husband, Ferdinando, made St. Rita a widow, but she was not left alone. God had blessed her, as we have already observed, with two handsome sons who were now grown up, and on these she centered her utmost care and attention. She daily implored God, with the most fervent prayers, to preserve their innocence and aid her to guide them in the path of His holy law in which she had instructed them. Giovanni and Paulo, the children of St. Rita, became what their Saintly mother molded them. They grew up God-loving and God-fearing children. They loved their good mother with all the fullness of their boyish hearts, and no boys could be more respectful or obedient to a mother than were Giovanni and Paulo.
As they advanced in years, St. Rita, with the quick perception of a mother, noticed that a change was taking place in the characters of her sons and that sometimes, not unlike their departed father, they appeared to be sullen, morose and irritable. Especially did she observe a notable change in Giovanni, who was scarcely sixteen years of age. Young as they were, and even in spite of the religious training they had received from their mother, Giovanni and Paulo had become somewhat imbued with that false idea of honor and justice which made it incumbent on the nearest of kin to execute vengeance on the slayer of a relative. This criminal and unauthorized right of revenge was much in vogue in Italy at the time St. Rita lived, and was called: La Vendetta.
Though St. Rita had observed that from time to time her sons made remarks relative to the murder of their father, it never entered her mind that they had any thought of avenging his death. One day, however, from a conversation she overheard between her two sons she learned, to her great surprise and sorrow, that they were inclined to revenge the assassination of their father.
Like the good and saintly mother she was, St. Rita determined to destroy and stifle so heinous and criminal a desire. Summoning Giovanni and Paulo to her side, she told them what she had heard and begged them, with tears and supplications, to erase from their minds all desire of revenge, and to forget that their father had been assassinated. She also placed before their eyes the example of Christ, who asked pardon for those who had crucified Him and for whom He suffered to give them eternal life. By means of this beautiful example, she sincerely hoped she would be able to persuade her sons to pardon the murderers of their father. She furthermore reminded them that though they had lost their earthly father, they would gain a heavenly one if they would pardon from their hearts. And finally she represented to them the terrible sin the homicide commits, and plainly told them that they themselves would be murderers if they avenged the death of their father.
In this manner did St. Rita try to keep and guide her sons in the path of the fear of God. After some time, as we may read in the Decree of her Canonization, when she saw her sons persist in their desire for vengeance, she fled to the crucifix and related the whole affair to Christ, fervently beseeching Him either to change the desires of her sons, or no longer spare their lives. God heard the prayer of St. Rita. Both her sons died within a year, well-prepared to go before the judgment seat of Almighty God.
O glorious St. Rita! The fame of your sacrifice will never die. The pages of history make mention of no sacrifice more generous than your sacrifice. It is true Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac, but he was commanded by Almighty God to do so. Your sacrifice was an exact copy of the sacrifice which the Eternal Father made of His only Son on the Cross; for you, not satisfied with pardoning the murderers of your husband, even saved their lives by offering to God the sacrifice of the lives of your two beloved sons, Giovanni and Paulo.
THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND AND SONS ST. RITA, before and especially after her marriage, had made a honeycomb of her heart, so to speak, filled with the odor and sweetness of virtues. Each virtue represented, as it were, a beautiful and fragrant flower, bound together by the girdle or cincture of charity, and formed the most exquisite bouquet she could offer to her Divine Lord after she had calmed the boisterous winds that had howled threateningly around her, during the time her husband was an easy prey to the ungovernable impulses of his violent passions. But alas, the days of harmony and peace were soon to be followed by a tragedy that was to cause grief and sorrow in the heart of St. Rita.
Though St. Rita had reformed her once violent and gambler husband and had also made him a man of peace, Ferdinando had not a few enemies in Rocca Porrena. Before his marriage, and for some years after, he had engaged in many disputes and contentions with companions as hot-headed and impulsive as himself, but as he was ready and adept with the stiletto or dagger, he was generally the victor over his adversaries. These persons became Ferdinando's enemies; a poisonous hatred rankled in their breasts, and though he avoided their company, they sought the occasion to avenge themselves. His enemies not daring to encounter him singly, banded together, as cowards generally do, and meeting him one day outside of the walls of Rocca Porrena, attacked him, stabbed him to death and left his lifeless body lying by the roadside, bleeding from a dozen wounds.
Some historians say that Ferdinando was not murdered in cold blood, as the saying is. They claim that he himself, in a fit of anger, provoked the quarrel and even struck the first blow of the altercation in which he lost his life. Others say that the violent death of Ferdinando was a visitation from God, in punishment for his extreme cruelty to St. Rita during the early age of his marriage, but that we may piously believe, though he did not have the sweet consolation of receiving the last Sacraments, that God had mercy on his soul on account of the ocean of merits which his holy wife had treasured in Heaven.
When the news of the death of Ferdinando and all the circumstances connected with it reached the ears of St. Rita, she was thrown into a paroxysm of grief. She wept as if her heart were breaking, and though her friends and kind neighbors tried as best they could to console her, she would not be consoled. Naturally, St. Rita felt as every good and holy wife must feel with the sudden taking away of her husband. But what grieved her heart and soul most was that he passed from this life to the other without being fortified with that Viaticum which gives the dying Christian the happy assurance of a safe journey from time to eternity. In her grief and sorrow, St. Rita prayed to God from the altar of her heart and said to Him: "O God, enter not into judgment with Thy servant Ferdinando, for in Thy sight no one will be justified." She also prayed to Jesus, her divine Lord and Master, the Judge of the living and the dead, and implored Him to grant that His precious Blood, shed for the Redemption of mankind, was not shed in vain for the soul of her husband, Ferdinando. And out from the grief-laden heart of that sorrowful widow came so loud and plaintive a cry for the pardon of her husband's faults and failings, that the cry must have been heard in Heaven, and as it penetrated the bowels of God's love, it moved Him to mercy. Nor did St. Rita, in the Gethsemane of her grief and sorrow, forget to have recourse to the Blessed Virgin, the mother of the seven Dolors, the sweet Comfortress of the afflicted, to whom, according to the great St. Bernard, no one ever has recourse in vain.
When the dead and bleeding body of her husband was brought home, St. Rita, with more reason than the Patriarch Jacob who looked upon the blood-stained tunic of his beloved son Joseph, again gave full vent to her grief and sorrow, with sobs and sighs, followed by a torrent of tears. And then, all of a sudden, as if a whisper from Heaven had reached her ears, in the twinkling of an eye her sobs and sighs lost their voices, the fountains of her tears became dry, and arming herself with a resignation like to that of Jacob, her heart and soul praised the name of the Lord, who was pleased to take to Himself the husband whom He had given her at the foot of His altar. O strong and valiant woman, where can we find your equal! To what can we compare you? You who bore with admirable patience the excessive grief and poignant sorrow which penetrated every fiber of your loving heart as you gazed upon the bleeding remains of him whom the bonds of matrimony had made a part of your life.
Not satisfied with that act of resignation to the will of God, who saw in the crucible of her patience the carats of the gold of her fortitude, she adorned and embellished her resignation with the most precious stone of pardon; for, in imitation of Jesus Christ, who, when dying on the wood of the Cross, asked His Heavenly Father to pardon His executioners, so also did St. Rita plead for the murderers of her husband. She herself pardoned them from the bottom of her heart, thus putting into practice that holy doctrine which Jesus Christ taught from the pulpit of the Cross.
After the funeral ceremonies were over and the mortal remains of her husband were placed in the cemetery of Rocca Porrena, St. Rita continued the exercise of those virtues which she had already been in the habit of practicing, and free from many of the cares of her married life, she determined to live solely for God, the only Lord and Master of her soul.
THE DEATH of her husband, Ferdinando, made St. Rita a widow, but she was not left alone. God had blessed her, as we have already observed, with two handsome sons who were now grown up, and on these she centered her utmost care and attention. She daily implored God, with the most fervent prayers, to preserve their innocence and aid her to guide them in the path of His holy law in which she had instructed them. Giovanni and Paulo, the children of St. Rita, became what their Saintly mother molded them. They grew up God-loving and God-fearing children. They loved their good mother with all the fullness of their boyish hearts, and no boys could be more respectful or obedient to a mother than were Giovanni and Paulo.
As they advanced in years, St. Rita, with the quick perception of a mother, noticed that a change was taking place in the characters of her sons and that sometimes, not unlike their departed father, they appeared to be sullen, morose and irritable. Especially did she observe a notable change in Giovanni, who was scarcely sixteen years of age. Young as they were, and even in spite of the religious training they had received from their mother, Giovanni and Paulo had become somewhat imbued with that false idea of honor and justice which made it incumbent on the nearest of kin to execute vengeance on the slayer of a relative. This criminal and unauthorized right of revenge was much in vogue in Italy at the time St. Rita lived, and was called: La Vendetta.
Though St. Rita had observed that from time to time her sons made remarks relative to the murder of their father, it never entered her mind that they had any thought of avenging his death. One day, however, from a conversation she overheard between her two sons she learned, to her great surprise and sorrow, that they were inclined to revenge the assassination of their father.
Like the good and saintly mother she was, St. Rita determined to destroy and stifle so heinous and criminal a desire. Summoning Giovanni and Paulo to her side, she told them what she had heard and begged them, with tears and supplications, to erase from their minds all desire of revenge, and to forget that their father had been assassinated. She also placed before their eyes the example of Christ, who asked pardon for those who had crucified Him and for whom He suffered to give them eternal life. By means of this beautiful example, she sincerely hoped she would be able to persuade her sons to pardon the murderers of their father. She furthermore reminded them that though they had lost their earthly father, they would gain a heavenly one if they would pardon from their hearts. And finally she represented to them the terrible sin the homicide commits, and plainly told them that they themselves would be murderers if they avenged the death of their father.
In this manner did St. Rita try to keep and guide her sons in the path of the fear of God. After some time, as we may read in the Decree of her Canonization, when she saw her sons persist in their desire for vengeance, she fled to the crucifix and related the whole affair to Christ, fervently beseeching Him either to change the desires of her sons, or no longer spare their lives. God heard the prayer of St. Rita. Both her sons died within a year, well-prepared to go before the judgment seat of Almighty God.
O glorious St. Rita! The fame of your sacrifice will never die. The pages of history make mention of no sacrifice more generous than your sacrifice. It is true Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac, but he was commanded by Almighty God to do so. Your sacrifice was an exact copy of the sacrifice which the Eternal Father made of His only Son on the Cross; for you, not satisfied with pardoning the murderers of your husband, even saved their lives by offering to God the sacrifice of the lives of your two beloved sons, Giovanni and Paulo.
THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND AND SONS ST. RITA, before and especially after her marriage, had made a honeycomb of her heart, so to speak, filled with the odor and sweetness of virtues. Each virtue represented, as it were, a beautiful and fragrant flower, bound together by the girdle or cincture of charity, and formed the most exquisite bouquet she could offer to her Divine Lord after she had calmed the boisterous winds that had howled threateningly around her, during the time her husband was an easy prey to the ungovernable impulses of his violent passions. But alas, the days of harmony and peace were soon to be followed by a tragedy that was to cause grief and sorrow in the heart of St. Rita.
Though St. Rita had reformed her once violent and gambler husband and had also made him a man of peace, Ferdinando had not a few enemies in Rocca Porrena. Before his marriage, and for some years after, he had engaged in many disputes and contentions with companions as hot-headed and impulsive as himself, but as he was ready and adept with the stiletto or dagger, he was generally the victor over his adversaries. These persons became Ferdinando's enemies; a poisonous hatred rankled in their breasts, and though he avoided their company, they sought the occasion to avenge themselves. His enemies not daring to encounter him singly, banded together, as cowards generally do, and meeting him one day outside of the walls of Rocca Porrena, attacked him, stabbed him to death and left his lifeless body lying by the roadside, bleeding from a dozen wounds.
Some historians say that Ferdinando was not murdered in cold blood, as the saying is. They claim that he himself, in a fit of anger, provoked the quarrel and even struck the first blow of the altercation in which he lost his life. Others say that the violent death of Ferdinando was a visitation from God, in punishment for his extreme cruelty to St. Rita during the early age of his marriage, but that we may piously believe, though he did not have the sweet consolation of receiving the last Sacraments, that God had mercy on his soul on account of the ocean of merits which his holy wife had treasured in Heaven.
When the news of the death of Ferdinando and all the circumstances connected with it reached the ears of St. Rita, she was thrown into a paroxysm of grief. She wept as if her heart were breaking, and though her friends and kind neighbors tried as best they could to console her, she would not be consoled. Naturally, St. Rita felt as every good and holy wife must feel with the sudden taking away of her husband. But what grieved her heart and soul most was that he passed from this life to the other without being fortified with that Viaticum which gives the dying Christian the happy assurance of a safe journey from time to eternity. In her grief and sorrow, St. Rita prayed to God from the altar of her heart and said to Him: "O God, enter not into judgment with Thy servant Ferdinando, for in Thy sight no one will be justified." She also prayed to Jesus, her divine Lord and Master, the Judge of the living and the dead, and implored Him to grant that His precious Blood, shed for the Redemption of mankind, was not shed in vain for the soul of her husband, Ferdinando. And out from the grief-laden heart of that sorrowful widow came so loud and plaintive a cry for the pardon of her husband's faults and failings, that the cry must have been heard in Heaven, and as it penetrated the bowels of God's love, it moved Him to mercy. Nor did St. Rita, in the Gethsemane of her grief and sorrow, forget to have recourse to the Blessed Virgin, the mother of the seven Dolors, the sweet Comfortress of the afflicted, to whom, according to the great St. Bernard, no one ever has recourse in vain.
When the dead and bleeding body of her husband was brought home, St. Rita, with more reason than the Patriarch Jacob who looked upon the blood-stained tunic of his beloved son Joseph, again gave full vent to her grief and sorrow, with sobs and sighs, followed by a torrent of tears. And then, all of a sudden, as if a whisper from Heaven had reached her ears, in the twinkling of an eye her sobs and sighs lost their voices, the fountains of her tears became dry, and arming herself with a resignation like to that of Jacob, her heart and soul praised the name of the Lord, who was pleased to take to Himself the husband whom He had given her at the foot of His altar. O strong and valiant woman, where can we find your equal! To what can we compare you? You who bore with admirable patience the excessive grief and poignant sorrow which penetrated every fiber of your loving heart as you gazed upon the bleeding remains of him whom the bonds of matrimony had made a part of your life.
Not satisfied with that act of resignation to the will of God, who saw in the crucible of her patience the carats of the gold of her fortitude, she adorned and embellished her resignation with the most precious stone of pardon; for, in imitation of Jesus Christ, who, when dying on the wood of the Cross, asked His Heavenly Father to pardon His executioners, so also did St. Rita plead for the murderers of her husband. She herself pardoned them from the bottom of her heart, thus putting into practice that holy doctrine which Jesus Christ taught from the pulpit of the Cross.
After the funeral ceremonies were over and the mortal remains of her husband were placed in the cemetery of Rocca Porrena, St. Rita continued the exercise of those virtues which she had already been in the habit of practicing, and free from many of the cares of her married life, she determined to live solely for God, the only Lord and Master of her soul.
THE DEATH of her husband, Ferdinando, made St. Rita a widow, but she was not left alone. God had blessed her, as we have already observed, with two handsome sons who were now grown up, and on these she centered her utmost care and attention. She daily implored God, with the most fervent prayers, to preserve their innocence and aid her to guide them in the path of His holy law in which she had instructed them. Giovanni and Paulo, the children of St. Rita, became what their Saintly mother molded them. They grew up God-loving and God-fearing children. They loved their good mother with all the fullness of their boyish hearts, and no boys could be more respectful or obedient to a mother than were Giovanni and Paulo.
As they advanced in years, St. Rita, with the quick perception of a mother, noticed that a change was taking place in the characters of her sons and that sometimes, not unlike their departed father, they appeared to be sullen, morose and irritable. Especially did she observe a notable change in Giovanni, who was scarcely sixteen years of age. Young as they were, and even in spite of the religious training they had received from their mother, Giovanni and Paulo had become somewhat imbued with that false idea of honor and justice which made it incumbent on the nearest of kin to execute vengeance on the slayer of a relative. This criminal and unauthorized right of revenge was much in vogue in Italy at the time St. Rita lived, and was called: La Vendetta.
Though St. Rita had observed that from time to time her sons made remarks relative to the murder of their father, it never entered her mind that they had any thought of avenging his death. One day, however, from a conversation she overheard between her two sons she learned, to her great surprise and sorrow, that they were inclined to revenge the assassination of their father.
Like the good and saintly mother she was, St. Rita determined to destroy and stifle so heinous and criminal a desire. Summoning Giovanni and Paulo to her side, she told them what she had heard and begged them, with tears and supplications, to erase from their minds all desire of revenge, and to forget that their father had been assassinated. She also placed before their eyes the example of Christ, who asked pardon for those who had crucified Him and for whom He suffered to give them eternal life. By means of this beautiful example, she sincerely hoped she would be able to persuade her sons to pardon the murderers of their father. She furthermore reminded them that though they had lost their earthly father, they would gain a heavenly one if they would pardon from their hearts. And finally she represented to them the terrible sin the homicide commits, and plainly told them that they themselves would be murderers if they avenged the death of their father.
In this manner did St. Rita try to keep and guide her sons in the path of the fear of God. After some time, as we may read in the Decree of her Canonization, when she saw her sons persist in their desire for vengeance, she fled to the crucifix and related the whole affair to Christ, fervently beseeching Him either to change the desires of her sons, or no longer spare their lives. God heard the prayer of St. Rita. Both her sons died within a year, well-prepared to go before the judgment seat of Almighty God.
O glorious St. Rita! The fame of your sacrifice will never die. The pages of history make mention of no sacrifice more generous than your sacrifice. It is true Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac, but he was commanded by Almighty God to do so. Your sacrifice was an exact copy of the sacrifice which the Eternal Father made of His only Son on the Cross; for you, not satisfied with pardoning the murderers of your husband, even saved their lives by offering to God the sacrifice of the lives of your two beloved sons, Giovanni and Paulo.
MIRACULOUS ENTRANCE INTO THE MADDALENA CONVENT
AS WE already know, St. Rita was extremely anxious to embrace the religious state of life, and since she had a particular devotion to the great St. Augustine and his spiritual son, St. Nicholas of Tolentine, she desired to become a spiritual daughter of the Saint by joining a community of nuns that was governed and guided by the same rule which St. Augustine gave to the community of religious he founded when he was Bishop of Hippo, in Africa. At the time St. Rita lived in Rocca Porrena, there were two communities of Augustinian nuns in Cascia. One community resided in the convent known by the name, St. Mary Magdalen, or the Maddalena; the other was named after St. Lucy the Martyr.
One day while she knelt in the little oratory of her house, her eyes fixed on the Crucifix, speaking to Jesus and telling Him how anxious she was to enter the cloister and become a nun, a ray of Divine consolation penetrated her heart and soul. St. Rita arose from her kneeling posture, and prepared to go to Cascia. Once on the highway, that ray of Divine consolation gave haste to her footsteps which brought her direct to the very door of the convent of the Maddalena. With a trembling hand she knocked at the convent door, and in answer to her call, the door was opened by the sister-portress, who, learning that St. Rita desired to speak with the prioress, politely ushered her into the guest chamber. When the prioress, a sweet-faced venerable nun, came, St. Rita made known in as few words as possible the object of her visit.
She told the prioress that from the time she was a child, she had desired to consecrate her virginity to God; that she would have done so had not obedience to her parents prevented her, but being free now, she coveted the Augustinian habit, so that she might better serve the Lord, though she recognized she was unworthy to become a spiritual daughter of the great and glorious St. Augustine. The prioress listened with attention to the humble but earnest petition of St. Rita to be admitted into the community, and kindly told her that she would present her application for membership before a Chapter Meeting of the nuns of the community. We must observe here that it is a rule of the Augustinian Institute of nuns not to admit to their communities any but young girls whose vocations are certain, though widows may also be admitted, but only by special dispensation.
We must, therefore" not be surprised that the nuns of the Maddalena Convent of Cascia refused to admit St. Rita into the community, and indeed, a majority of the nuns hinted that since no widow had been received into the convent from the time of its foundation, it would be a blot on the Maddalena were they to admit St. Rita as a member of the community, though they knew her to be a person of the most irreproachable character and possessed even of eminent piety and sanctity.
When the prioress of the convent told St. Rita that the nuns had, in public chapter, voted against admitting her as a member of the community, she received the news with a calm exterior, though in her heart she was very much disappointed. Instead of returning to Rocca Porrena, St. Rita remained in Cascia in the house of a friend, and after a short lapse of time made a second application, only to receive a second refusal. She applied a third time" and most eloquently besought the nuns to admit her into their community, even as a servant, alleging that she did not consider herself a worthy companion of the spouses of Jesus Christ. Her pleading was all in vain, and because God wished to try further the patience of Rita, He permitted the nuns to remain firm in their decision, and thus St. Rita was told for the third time by the prioress that it was impossible to admit her as a member of the community, and that she should cease further importunities.
When the door of the Maddalena was closed against her, St. Rita returned to Rocca Porrena, judging that the time had not yet arrived for her to obtain that happiness to which she aspired. Yet deep down in her heart, she felt that God would soon come to her aid and by His omnipotence help her to overcome what the prioress of the Maddalena Convent had said was impossible.
When St. Rita returned to Rocca Porrena from Cascia, she began what proved to be her first successful trial against the impossible. With the words of the prioress of the Maddalena ringing in her ears: "My dear woman, it is impossible for you to become a member of our community," St. Rita determined to use every holy means to make possible what human lips had told her was impossible. With this determination dominant in her mind, St. Rita spent nearly all her days, and a goodly portion of her nights, supplicating her beloved Jesus to shorten the time of her anxiety, and admit her as one of His brides within the enclosed walls of the cloister. Not content with importuning Jesus with the most fervent prayers and exercises of penance and mortificiation, St. Rita also implored the aid of her patrons, St. John the Baptist, St. Augustine and St. Nicholas of Tolentine, firmly believing that their poweful intercession God would hasten the fulfillment of the only desire her heart sought in this world. St. Rita was not disappointed in her confidence and hope, and she, who preferred to be the lowliest among the brides of Christ than to be the most honored of the highest ones of the earth, was soon to taste that happiness she had sought from the time she was but a little girl. Yes, the time had come when St. Rita was to make her entrance into the cloister in a most miraculous manner.
One night while engaged in prayer and meditation, she heard a loud knock at the door of her house and a voice which called: "Rita! Rita!" As the hour was late, naturally a slight feeling of fear overcame her for a moment, but a whispered prayer to Heaven gave her the courage to approach the window, which she opened and glanced out to ascertain who called her. Seeing no one at the door, St. Rita thought that what she heard might have been an illusion or perhaps a ruse of the Evil One to divert her from her prayers.
Signing herself with the Sign of the Cross, she resumed her prayers with a redoubled fervor. Again she was interrupted in her prayers by the same voice which said:
"Rita! Rita! Fear not. God will admit
you into the cloister as His spouse."
This time St. Rita understood the true meaning of the double call that had fallen on her overjoyed ears, and, inflamed by the fire of Divine love, her heart gave itself up to so fervent a prayer, that she became rapt in ecstasy and saw in a vision the three Saints whom God had sent to aid her. They were St. John the Baptist, St. Augustine and St. Nicholas of Tolentine. And scarcely had they given her to understand that the cup of her heart's desire was to be filled to overflowing, than she heard a celestial voice, the voice of her Jesus, who called and said to her: "Come, Rita, My beloved. It is now time for you to enter the Maddalena Convent whose door was so often closed against you."
Awakening, as it were, from a profound sleep, St. Rita rose from the prie-dieu on which she had been kneeling, went to the window and saw a person of venerable mien and aspect standing at the door. He wore a garment of camel's hair, cinctured with a leather girdle, and he made signs that she should follow him. St. Rita, recognizing that the person who beckoned her to follow him was no other than her patron St. John the Baptist, whom she had seen in the vision, left her house at once, and with her heart filled with spiritual joy and gladness, she followed her holy guide. They climbed together the rugged steeps of the reef called Schioppo, on whose skirt Rocca Porrena is situated. When she had arrived at the summit of the reef, there appeared to her St. Augustine and St. Nicholas of Tolentine, and she felt as if she were standing, so to speak, on Mt. Thabor, so refulgent was the light which radiated from the countenances of her three patrons. Dazzled by the spectacle, St. Rita prostrated herself at their feet and thanked them, with humble and devout reverence, for all the favors they had obtained for her, and again she recommended herself to their protection.
They commanded her to arise and follow them. She obeyed immediately and walked behind them as they directed their steps in the direction of Cascia. Every step she took told St. Rita that she was drawing nearer and nearer to the long-desired goal, and her heart was filled with indescribable joy, as she listened to the heavenly words of her guides as they conversed with one another on the way. It was indeed a memorable journey, and St. Rita must have felt as did the two pilgrims who conversed with Christ on the road to Emmaus; for when she arrived at Cascia, yea, even at the very door of the Maddalena Convent, the desire of consecrating herself, body and soul to her beloved Jesus, was more ardent than ever.
Finding, as was natural, the door and the windows of the Maddalena closed tightly, her guides nevertheless led her into the cloister, and then addressed her these words: "Rita, remain a rational bee in the garden of the Spouse whom you have so long and ardently loved; so that, collecting the flowers of virtues, you may build a sweet honeycomb. You are now in the house of your Spouse, Jesus. Love Him with all your heart and soul, and your eternal salvation is secure. Return thanks to God for so great a favor done in your behalf. Praise His infinite mercy, and publish that there is nothing impossible to God. Rita, the impossible is overcome in your behalf." Having said these words, the three Saints disappeared. St. Rita, overcome with happiness because she was now within the cloister, spent the remainder of the night in giving thanks to the Lord for the singular favor He had bestowed upon her.
When the morning was come, and the nuns of the Maddalena discovered that a secular was within the cloister, they were both surprised and astonished. Who is she? How did she get in? ran from lip to lip, as with wondering eyes the nuns fixed their gaze on St. Rita. Some of the nuns began to suspect that one of the community had secretly allowed her to enter the cloister, while others thought that perhaps through negligence the door of the convent had been left unlocked. However, when some of the surprise that attended the discovery of St. Rita in the cloister had passed away, the nuns, in a body, approached her and asked: What manner of person she was, and by what means she had entered their cloister?
St. Rita with humility written in her gladsome eyes, and with humility guiding the sweet and convincing eloquence of her eager lips, thus answered them: "I am that poor widow of Rocca Porrena who many times asked to be admitted as a member of your community, and was as many times refused as unworthy of so great a happiness. But know, beloved Superioress and Sisters, that God, wishing to do me a singular favor, sent, last night, to my house in Rocca Porrena, His precursor, St. John the Baptist, accompanied by that Sun of Heaven, St. Augustine, and that Star of Heaven, St. Nicholas of Tolentine, to conduct me into your midst. Nevertheless, I ask you, in the name of that God who has favored me with His mercy, to accept me as a member of your community."
The nuns of the Maddalena listened with amazement while St. Rita related how she had been conducted into the cloister, and when she had concluded her story, all the nuns, with one voice, cried out that they accepted her as a companion, and then humbly besought her pardon for having refused, so many times, her request for admission into their convent home.
HOW SHE OBSERVED THE VOW OF OBEDIENCE
THE FIRST resolution St. Rita made after her solemn profession was to arrive at the summit of religious perfection by a strict observance of the vows she had professed in the Chapel of the Maddalena Convent. Being closely united to Jesus by the sacred bonds of her vows, she began at once to climb the ladder of religious perfection by placing her feet on the step of obedience, which is indeed the first step or rung of the ladder of religious perfection. That obedience is the first step of the ladder of religious perfection, we learn from our holy father St. Augustine, who said: "Poverty is a great virtue, because it rules over riches. Chastity is also a great virtue, because it dominates the flesh. But the virtue of obedience is greater than either poverty or chastity, because it rules and restrains the intellect and the will." The Holy Ghost expresses the same truth when He says: "Better is obedience than victims." Hence obedience is more excellent than poverty, or chastity, because the spiritual powers of the soul, which are sacrificed to God, are more excellent than the exterior goods of sensual gratification which are sacrificed by the two other vows.
To understand the nature of obedience, as regards the religious state, we must observe that there are two kinds or classes of obedience. In the first place, there is an obedience that is called blind obedience. This obedience has no eyes, as it were. It inclines the subject to obey the command of the superior without questioning the command, without taking into consideration the difficulty of obeying the command, or without adverting if the command be unjust or impossible. The expression "Blind obedience" signifies not an unreasoning or unreasonable submission to authority, but a keen appreciation of the rights of authority, the reasonableness of authority, and blindness only to such selfish or worldly considerations as would lessen regard for authority." This blind obedience may be called, and is, perfect obedience.
The second kind of obedience has as many eyes, so to speak, as the animals and the wheels of the cart that the Prophet Ezekiel saw in a vision, and the subject who is guided by this obedience understands perfectly the difficulties of the command of his superiors. He feels how repugnant it is to the intellect and the violence it does the will. Yet, notwithstanding this knowledge, he obeys promptly and joyfully, considering easy, even that which is impossible. This kind of obedience is superlative and therefore most perfect.
Jesus Christ Himself gives us an example of this obedience. Being Divine Wisdom itself, He became obedient even to the death of the Cross, though He knew that death was repugnant to His Divinity. And again when He was suffering a terrible agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, did He not cry out? "Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from Me"; and then as if recollecting the task that was before Him, He added: "Yet not My will but Thine be done."
The Angels also practice this kind of obedience, and though they are pure spirits, endowed with superior knowledge, nevertheless they not only obey God with diligence and promptitude, but they even make themselves obedient to the welfare of creatures, though they know the creatures are inferior to them in everything. Now since this most perfect obedience, more worthy of reward, because more meritorious than blind obedience, is truly characteristic of the Angels, we may call those persons angels or angelic persons who, on earth, are imitators of the Angels in their obedience.
Judged by this standard, St. Rita was indeed an angelic woman. So obedient indeed was she that when commanded by her superioress to do anything, even though she knew the command was impossible, she obeyed with the same promptitude as if the command was easily executed.
It is related by many authors of the life of St. Rita that the superioress of the Maddalena, in order to put her obedience to a test, commanded the Saint to water daily a dead and withered plant in the convent garden. St. Rita obeyed without saying a single word about the uselessness of her labor. She watered the plant every day for a year, though she knew it would not revive without a miracle. God, however, rewarded the obedience of St. Rita; to the great astonishment of the nuns, the dead plant revived, put forth leaves and flowers, and was the most beautiful of all the plants in the convent garden.
We will cite another beautiful example of the obedience and resignation of St. Rita. Pope Nicholas V had declared the year 1450 a jubilee year, to which were attached many indulgences that could be gained by those visiting Rome. As some of the nuns had received permission to make the journey, St. Rita prompted by motives of piety and zeal desired to accompany them. She therefore went to the superioress and humbly asked permission to go to Rome with the other nuns, so that she might gain the indulgences of the jubilee. The superioress, looking at the disfigured forehead of St. Rita-----of which we shall speak in another chapter-----did not at first feel inclined to grant the permission. However, after a few moments of consideration, she dismissed St. Rita saying: "Sister Rita, I will permit you to make the journey to Rome, provided the wound on your forehead be healed when the sisters are ready to start on the journey."
Leaving the presence of the superioress, St. Rita went at once to the chapel to ask her Divine Spouse if it were pleasing to Him that she should make the journey to Rome. If so, she supplicated Him to heal the wound on her forehead, but if not, she would resign herself to His holy will and the will of her superioress. God seeing the humble resignation of St. Rita and knowing the obedient spirit of His humble and devout servant heard her prayer, and wonderful to relate, the wound was immediately healed, and St. Rita was granted permission to accompany the other sisters to Rome.
So perfect, indeed, was the obedience of St. Rita that she rather would have died than not to obey the least command of her superiors, whom she considered the representatives of God and her guides and directors. She was like the sheep that always hear the voice of the shepherd and follow him. Free from the slavery of her own will, St. Rita was so perfectly united to the will of God that she had no self-confidence and abandoned herself entirely to God. Hence so Christ-like was the obedience of Sister St. Rita that her every act and all her acts were agreeable to God; for, having once placed her feet on the first step of the ladder of religious perfection, she ascended higher and higher, and nearer and nearer to God, and became what she truly was, a model of the most perfect obedience.
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Rocco Porenna is small village three miles outside of Cascia, situated on a small river, in a valley separated from the adjoining mountains by a cliff, so that the place looks like a perfectly formed pine cone. There is a tradition that at the time of Our Lord's death on the hill of Calvary, an earthquake split the rocks of the mountains near Cascia, and that this particular cliff remained detached from the mountain. on account of its rocky site, Porenna is called Rocco Porenna.
In this village in 1309, there lived a devout couple, Antonio Mancini and Amata Ferri, who were prosperous farmers, although not rich and who gave generously to the poor and lived a humble life all for God. They were, in fact God's very apostles to Rocco Porrena because they taught their neighbors by word and example the only way to save their souls, was by fearing and loving God, as well as by shunning sin and vice. The complete story of the apostolic work of St. Rita's parents is known to God alone. nevertheless, one of its chapters has been handed down by a chronicler of the Augustinian Order:
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St. Rita's parents had a home dedicated to prayer, a sanctuary of holiness with perfect conformity to the commandments of God and the Church. They meditated morning and night on the Passion of Jesus Christ; both had a great devotion to the Virgin Mary as Mary Immaculate.
For miles around they were known for the benevolence to those in need and for their radiant smiles. through their prudent and gentle influence family dissensions were healed and indifferent souls won back to the friendship of God.
They had a zeal for saving souls. Whenever an occasion required it, they would look for a way to approach the sinner without embarrassing of offending him, reproving with kindness, continuing until even the most hardened sinners were moved to repent.
Living amidst this holy peace and happiness, there was one joy lacking, that of a child, although they had prayer fervently, even when they had become advanced in years. God bestowed at last the same Divine favor He gave to Anna and Joachim, a child late in life:
One night, while Amata was praying, an angel appeared to her in a vision, and told her that it was the Will of God that there would be born of her a daughter who would be from her very birth, marked with the seal of sanctity, gifted with every virtue, and that she was to be a helper of the helpless, an advocate of the afflicted, and a guiding star in the firmament of the Church.
The biographers of St. Rita give the day and year of her birth as Saturday, May 22, 1381. Pope Urban VI was the reigning Pontiff.
St. Rita died on a Saturday, May 22, which is a day dedicated to our Blessed Mother, as a number of other saints have died on a Feast of Our Lady or on a Saturday in May, not coincidentally. The village considered the birth a miracle because of Amata's age.
A few days after the birth, the Baptism of their child was in the offing and both parents were deciding on a name. Antonio wanted the name to be Rita because that was the name given in Amata's vision, so she was Baptized on her fourth day in St. Mary's church in Cascia as Rocco Porenna had no Baptismal font. At the time Rita was not a known name for a saint, but since that time the sweet name of Rita has been given to many Catholic baby girls. Some say that Rita is a shot name for Margarita but, the Saint was not Baptized Margarita but Rita, so we know it was not a contraction. Shortly after the Baptism God attested, by a singular prodigy, that her name was not of human invention, but rather of Heavenly origin:
MYSTERIOUS BEES
The day after her Baptism, the fifth after her birth, a swarm of bees, white as the driven snow, was noticed hovering and buzzing around the sweet angelic face of baby Rita, as she lay quietly sleeping in her cradle. The bees alighted on her lips and were seen to enter and issue from her partially opened mouth, without harming her or causing her to awaken. All who witnessed this prodigy recognized that it implied a mystery, although they could not fathom it. In after years Rita herself made known the meaning of the mystery by the singular sweetness and simplicity of her manner and by the eminent sanctity of her life; the bees were also a presage of her Beatification by Pope Urban VIII.
After all these centuries, the swarm of bees still exists in the convent, within a small fissure in a wall midway between St. Rita's cell and the place of her sepulcher. Their color is not white, but that of the common bee, except they have no sting. They live retired during the year, only coming out in the last few days of Holy Week and then returning once again for the Feast of St. Rita. On one occasion, one of the bees was given to Pope Urban VIII but it would not remain and went back to the convent.
EARLY YEARS
Innocence and purity are sisterly virtues or inseparable companions. In fact, innocence and purity are so intimately associated that they appear as if one virtue. Though natural to infancy, the exercise of these two virtues is the effect of Divine grace.
Guided by the wisdom from above, Antonio Mancini and Amata Ferri, the pious parents of St. Rita, watched with loving and jealous care over every day of her infancy, for they regarded their little babe as a gift from Heaven, the fruit of a special grace, and the child of God rather than of man. Hence we may safely say, without any fear of exaggeration, that little Rita Mancini began to be a saint and to live a supernatural life from the very moment of her Baptism, when her soul was made beautiful by Divine grace-----and that the virtues of innocence and purity were deeply rooted in her pure soul, for scarcely had she come to use of reason than she became the possessor of an innocence and a purity which were really marvelous in one of so tender an age. These two virtues were mirrored on her angelic face. Her every word exhaled an odor of sweetness and possessed a mysterious power which inclined the soul to God; while her every act bespoke the guidance of a power far above the human. Little Rita was indeed, so to speak, a precious plant, planted, as it were, by the hands of God in His vineyard, and with loving care did God cause the dews of Heavenly grace to fall gently on that tender plant which was to become in later years, and we may say for all years, a towering cedar of His glory and omnipotence. Clothed, therefore, as our little sister was with the double cloak of innocence and purity, her guardian Angel, who was ever by her side, took her by the hand and led his little companion along the most prudent paths, nor did God permit her to perform any act, or entertain any thought, but those compatible with His holy will and service.
It is not, therefore, a matter of surprise that the little servant of God differed from other children in her early years, for at the age when most children are accustomed to enjoy and amuse themselves with dolls and other playthings, little Rita Mancini found no pleasure in children's games or toys. You must not think, however, that little Rita did not associate with children of her own age; on the contrary, she had scores of little friends among the children of Rocca Porrena, and though she did not as a rule engage in their games, nevertheless she took pleasure in seeing her little friends enjoy themselves. Even when she grew older, instead of desiring to be present at picnics or parties where little girls experience great joy in being admired and pampered by relatives and friends, little Rita preferred solitude to these mirthful gatherings, and many a time when her loving mother wished to dress her according to the fashion of the day, she would hie to a remote corner of the house to pray and contemplate the Divine mysteries, particularly the Passion of Jesus Christ, a devotion she had inherited from her pious parents.
We must not judge from little Rita's dislike to be clad in pretty frocks and dresses that she was at times willful and disobedient; on the contrary, she was a most obedient child, she loved dearly her aged parents, and many and many a time did she kneel at her mother's knees, listening to her holy counsels, after the manner of the little Immaculate Mary of Nazareth at the knees of her mother, St. Anne. Hence what may have seemed disobedience on the part of little Rita were in fact mild reproofs, prompted, no doubt, by God, against that vanity which alas too often is planted by indulgent parents in the hearts of their young children.
One of little Rita's chief delights was to go to church with her parents, and when she entered the house of God she sought the most retired place, where she recited with devotion the Angelical Salutation, which she knew by heart, and then, as if God had given His little servant a clear understanding of the Incarnation of Our Lord, she would close her eyes and give her whole soul to a deep contemplation of this great mystery.
Oftentimes, while assisting at the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, her face would change its expression. Sometimes it bore the expression of glad joy, and at other times her face would indicate that she was experiencing moments of sadness. These alternate expressions of gladness and sadness plainly told how glad she was to be in the house of God kneeling in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and how sad she became at the very thought that her innocent Jesus was obliged to die an ignominious death on the wood of the Cross. Oh, would that we, who assist so often at the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, could experience in our hearts and souls the same spiritual joy and sadness!
We must also observe that little Rita had a great love and affection for the poor. At table, whenever her mother put on her plate a portion of the family meal, one portion she ate herself, the other portion she preserved to give to some poor child of the neighborhood. This practice was habitual with the little Rita, and it is certain she felt more happiness in giving away a portion of her meals than in eating what she retained for herself.
The people of Rocca Porrena, when they saw how different Rita Mancini was from the other children of the hamlet, and when they observed that as she grew in years her life became more holy and sacramental, they respected and revered her-----not indeed as a child, but rather as a person grown old in virtue. Especially were the mothers of Rocca Porrena edified by her holy and exemplary child life, and they were continually telling their little daughters to take Rita Mancini as their model.
The fame of little Rita's holy life was not limited to the narrow zone of Rocca Porrena, it became known and was spoken of in many of the towns and villages of Umbria; but especially did the inhabitants of her humble birthplace rejoice, for they were beginning to see realized what was predicted at her cradle by the swarm of white bees, which, like flakes of snow, entered and issued from her sweet mouth; for the child life of St. Rita was so celestial that she appeared to be a little angel living in the world, yet immune from all its imperfection and corruption.
DESIRE FOR CONSECRATION AS A VIRGIN
GOD IS, indeed, wonderful in His Saints, and a careful study of the life of St. Rita of Cascia, from her cradle to the grave, will convince anyone of this beautiful and holy truth. Already a model of innocence and purity, and though as yet but a child, it was Rita's ardent desire to live a solitary life in some hidden cave or grotto where she might pass her days uninterrupted in prayer and contemplation, because she coveted to be alone with God. Filial love, however, and the obedience due her aged parents, whom she felt would oppose this, hindered the execution of her holy desire.
Not a little disappointed, but by no means discouraged, she did not waver in her determination to live in retirement, so that she might be as near as possible to God. How to succeed in this determination, and at the same time be submissive to her parents, was for Rita a perplexing problem. Her perplexity, however, was of short duration. God, who must have regarded with rapture the pure and innocent heart of His young servant, inspired her to build a small but pretty oratory in a retired part of her home, where she remained for one whole year, separated from all commerce with the world, unless we except her parents, to whom she spoke only when necessary. During that year of solitude, Rita spent her time meditating on the sorrowful mysteries of the Passion of Jesus Christ. And, as a help to her meditation, she had painted on the walls of her little oratory some scenes of the life of Christ: such as, the crib wherein the infant Jesus was laid after His birth; Mount Calvary, the theater of His death on the Cross; and the sepulcher wherein His sacred body was placed after it had been taken down from the Cross. It is also probable that a picture of the Blessed Mother of Jesus ornamented the walls of her oratory. Gazing at those pictures, she experienced no distractions in her prayers or meditations, but true as the steel to the magnet, her heart and soul were so attracted by Jesus Christ that she desired nothing more than to have and possess the love and grace of her crucified Lord.
At the conclusion of that year, spent for the most part in constant prayer and commerce with God and His Mother, Rita saw that her parents needed her constant aid and assistance, especially her mother.
Antonio Mancini, once robust and vigorous, had become so feeble that it was with great difficulty he cultivated a small garden, which supplied his frugal table with vegetables; and his faithful wife Amata, whose age had debilitated and sapped her strength, could only perform a small part of the ordinary household duties. Rita, who understood thoroughly the obligations of children toward their parents, judged it to be the will of God that she should give up her retired life so that it might not be in any way a hindrance to her duty toward her aged father and mother. Accordingly, Rita came forth from the retreat where she had spent so many days and nights with God and became, to the great joy of her parents, the housekeeper, so to speak, of her humble home.
How well Rita performed the duties of housekeeper, we may surmise. And it must have pleased her parents, especially her mother, to see how industrious and painstaking their little daughter was as, like an angel in human form, she busied herself while at work. But though Rita was most assiduous about her work, it never seemed to interfere or interrupt her prayer, notwithstanding her extreme attention to her exterior employments. She acquired a wonderful facility of joining them with mental prayer, and of keeping herself constantly in the presence of God, who no doubt aided His little handmaid with her work, and guided her little hands to make and keep the humble home of her parents a model of order and neatness. Would that the children of the present day loved and obeyed their parents as did little Rita Mancini! Then would be silenced forever that complaint of so many fathers and mothers: "I have lost control of my children."
Having spent a few years employed in the duties of housekeeper, Rita arrived at that age when young girls, especially in Italy, are accustomed to choose their future state in life. From the Augustinian breviary we learn that Rita Mancini was twelve years of age when she made her choice. She consulted no one but God, and as it was her one desire to consecrate her virginity to God, so that she might better preserve the candor of her soul, of which the white bees that hovered around her cradle were the heralds, she determined to be a true spouse of Christ by embracing a religious life, and become a nun. But alas, many years were to pass before Rita's aspirations were fulfilled, for by the permission of God, it was only after being tried in the crucible of afflictions and contradictions that she found, at last, that happiness for which her heart had yearned from the time she was but a child.
Having resolved to become a spouse of Jesus Christ and to dedicate herself wholly to His service, Rita's first thought, as became an obedient daughter, was to make known her determination to her parents and obtain their permission. Accordingly, one evening when father and mother were talking together, Rita, who had been an attentive listener to their pious and holy conversation, waited until they finished. She then kissed them both reverently, and told them that she had made up her mind to become a nun.
Antonio Mancini and Amata Ferri were overcome with surprise, and their old and wrinkled countenances became clouded with sadness at what their young daughter had told them. And as she continued, with humility and with an eloquence that was more than human, to plead for their permission, every word that Rita uttered pierced, like sharp arrows, the hearts of her parents and even brought tears to their eyes. And yet, because Rita loved her parents and would not do anything to cause them the least sorrow or pain, there were included in her holy plea the words of submission and resignation: "Not my will, dear parents, but thine be done."
The silence that followed Rita's earnest plea for her parents' permission to permit her to embrace the religious state caused her to divine that her parents had just reasons for not granting her desire. At length when her parents could no longer hide their sorrow, they broke silence, and, betwixt sobs and sighs, spoke feelingly to Rita. They reminded her that they were already advanced in years; that she was their only child, and, after God, their solace, comfort and support; and finally they said that through her, they hoped to see their family saved from extinction. The tears and pleading of Antonio and Amata were not fruitless. Hitherto Rita had never disobeyed her parents. In fact, it had been her custom to anticipate their wishes. But on this occasion, no one but God will ever know how much, and what it cost Rita Mancini, when she told her parents that she would obey their will and remain at home to comfort and assist their old age. Nevertheless, though love and obedience prevented Rita from embracing the religious state, she was firmly determined to remain a faithful spouse of her Divine bridegroom, Jesus Christ, to whom, in her heart, she had pledged her fidelity.
Saint Rita of Cascia
CONSENT TO MARRIAGE IN OBEDIENCE
Saint Rita's promise to her parents, however, did not in any way weaken her determination to preserve inviolate the flower of her virginity, which she already desired to consecrate to God. But seeing that there was little hope of embracing the religious state, at least while her parents lived, so inflamed was she with the love of Jesus Christ and the most glorious Virgin Mary that she resolved never to embrace the married state. Having made this resolution, a double joy and consolation filled the heart of Rita; she could remain faithful to her Divine Bridegroom, and at the same time be a loving and obedient daughter. By reason of this double joy and consolation, a Heavenly light illumined continually her countenance, and as she performed, day in and day out, her domestic duties, she cast a halo of happiness everywhere around her.
But Rita's joy and happiness were of short duration. Her filial love and obedience were to be put to a further test, a test that was to cause in her soul a real combat between her love of God and the love of her parents. Antonio Mancini and Amata Ferri, overjoyed that their daughter had given up the idea of entering a convent, now determined that she should enter the marriage state. They had already hinted that this was their wish when they had persuaded their young daughter that she was duty-bound not to abandon them. It is certain, however, that in yielding to the entreaties of her parents not to enter a convent, it had never entered into the mind of Rita to have any spouse other than Jesus Christ. We can therefore imagine, first the surprise and then the inexpressible anguish to which Rita became a prey when her parents told her they were going to choose a husband for her, as it was their wish that she should marry. Their age added eloquence to their words as they insisted that she should consent to their wishes. They reminded her that she had been given to them in their old age, long after they had almost given up all hope of offspring, and they emphasized that she, by her marriage, would be the cause, not only of saving their family from extinction, but also of making their declining years happy and comfortable. We would, indeed, be tempted to condemn Antonio Mancini and his wife Amata for arrogating to themselves the right to force the vocation of their daughter, and thus making her the prey of human calculation, did we not believe that God, in His profound and impenetrable wisdom, permitted this, so that His chosen servant Rita, after having been a model for Christian maidens, should also, like Saint Monica, become a model for Christian wives and mothers.
The unexpected announcement of her parents wrung tears from the eyes of Rita and nearly broke her heart. A sort of paralysis seized her, and for some moments she could not find her voice. When the martyrdom that was taking place in her pure soul had somewhat subsided, Rita recovered the use of her tongue and firmly, but with dove-like simplicity, said: "My parents, I do not wish any spouse but Jesus Christ. Years ago I dedicated my whole body, heart and soul to His love and holy service. Because you wished it, I gave my promise not to enter a convent. I feel sure, with the help of God, without embracing the marriage state, that I will be able to console and comfort you, and provide for all your necessities, until God calls you to a better and a happier home."
But Antonio and Amata, who had made up their minds that their daughter should marry, turned deaf ears to the heartfelt words of Rita, and the poor child, judging that further speech would be useless, in her desire to be alone with God retired from the presence of her parents and hurried to the solitude and quiet of her beloved oratory. Once within its walls she fell upon her knees, and raising her eyes, with hope and confidence, to the crucifix, asked her crucified Lord to relieve her of that poignant perplexity which had begun to tear her very heart, from the moment her parents told her that it was their will that she should marry. She also implored the Queen of Angels and Virgins, and asked her to be so kind as to obtain for her from God the lights which were necessary for accomplishing what would prove most acceptable to His Divine majesty and conducive to her soul's salvation, expressing to her merely the ardent desire she felt of embracing on earth an angelic mode of life.
Without any doubt, Rita knew it would be no sin to marry in obedience to the will of her parents, but since she felt that God had called her, even from her early years, to be His spouse, and since she had responded generously to this summons, by desiring to vow to God the jewel of her virginity, Rita now awaited on bended knee the voice and decision of God, which would tell her if she should and could obey the will of her parents without offending the will of her Jesus whom she loved with her whole heart and soul.
It is very certain that the fervent prayers which Rita offered in her little oratory were graciously heard by God, who soothed and consoled her aching and troubled heart. And we may believe that God made known to His servant Rita that she should conform and submit her will to the will of her parents, and that by so doing, she would obey His holy will without losing any of the merits already gained by the ardent desire of consecrating her virginity to Him as the sole Lord and Spouse of her heart and soul.
As soon as Rita had learned that it was the will of God that she should submit to the will of her parents and that she would please God more by her submission than by following her own will, she resolved, then and there, to obey the voice and will of God and offer no further opposition to the will and desires of her parents. Accordingly; Rita returned to her parents, and prostrating herself at their feet, humbly asked pardon for the repugnance she had hitherto manifested to their will, and told them she was disposed and willing to embrace whatever state of life they wished her to enter.
THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND AND SONS
ST. RITA, before and especially after her marriage, had made a honeycomb of her heart, so to speak, filled with the odor and sweetness of virtues. Each virtue represented, as it were, a beautiful and fragrant flower, bound together by the girdle or cincture of charity, and formed the most exquisite bouquet she could offer to her Divine Lord after she had calmed the boisterous winds that had howled threateningly around her, during the time her husband was an easy prey to the ungovernable impulses of his violent passions. But alas, the days of harmony and peace were soon to be followed by a tragedy that was to cause grief and sorrow in the heart of St. Rita.
Though St. Rita had reformed her once violent and gambler husband and had also made him a man of peace, Ferdinando had not a few enemies in Rocca Porrena. Before his marriage, and for some years after, he had engaged in many disputes and contentions with companions as hot-headed and impulsive as himself, but as he was ready and adept with the stiletto or dagger, he was generally the victor over his adversaries. These persons became Ferdinando's enemies; a poisonous hatred rankled in their breasts, and though he avoided their company, they sought the occasion to avenge themselves. His enemies not daring to encounter him singly, banded together, as cowards generally do, and meeting him one day outside of the walls of Rocca Porrena, attacked him, stabbed him to death and left his lifeless body lying by the roadside, bleeding from a dozen wounds.
Some historians say that Ferdinando was not murdered in cold blood, as the saying is. They claim that he himself, in a fit of anger, provoked the quarrel and even struck the first blow of the altercation in which he lost his life. Others say that the violent death of Ferdinando was a visitation from God, in punishment for his extreme cruelty to St. Rita during the early age of his marriage, but that we may piously believe, though he did not have the sweet consolation of receiving the last Sacraments, that God had mercy on his soul on account of the ocean of merits which his holy wife had treasured in Heaven.
When the news of the death of Ferdinando and all the circumstances connected with it reached the ears of St. Rita, she was thrown into a paroxysm of grief. She wept as if her heart were breaking, and though her friends and kind neighbors tried as best they could to console her, she would not be consoled. Naturally, St. Rita felt as every good and holy wife must feel with the sudden taking away of her husband. But what grieved her heart and soul most was that he passed from this life to the other without being fortified with that Viaticum which gives the dying Christian the happy assurance of a safe journey from time to eternity. In her grief and sorrow, St. Rita prayed to God from the altar of her heart and said to Him: "O God, enter not into judgment with Thy servant Ferdinando, for in Thy sight no one will be justified." She also prayed to Jesus, her divine Lord and Master, the Judge of the living and the dead, and implored Him to grant that His precious Blood, shed for the Redemption of mankind, was not shed in vain for the soul of her husband, Ferdinando. And out from the grief-laden heart of that sorrowful widow came so loud and plaintive a cry for the pardon of her husband's faults and failings, that the cry must have been heard in Heaven, and as it penetrated the bowels of God's love, it moved Him to mercy. Nor did St. Rita, in the Gethsemane of her grief and sorrow, forget to have recourse to the Blessed Virgin, the mother of the seven Dolors, the sweet Comfortress of the afflicted, to whom, according to the great St. Bernard, no one ever has recourse in vain.
When the dead and bleeding body of her husband was brought home, St. Rita, with more reason than the Patriarch Jacob who looked upon the blood-stained tunic of his beloved son Joseph, again gave full vent to her grief and sorrow, with sobs and sighs, followed by a torrent of tears. And then, all of a sudden, as if a whisper from Heaven had reached her ears, in the twinkling of an eye her sobs and sighs lost their voices, the fountains of her tears became dry, and arming herself with a resignation like to that of Jacob, her heart and soul praised the name of the Lord, who was pleased to take to Himself the husband whom He had given her at the foot of His altar. O strong and valiant woman, where can we find your equal! To what can we compare you? You who bore with admirable patience the excessive grief and poignant sorrow which penetrated every fiber of your loving heart as you gazed upon the bleeding remains of him whom the bonds of matrimony had made a part of your life.
Not satisfied with that act of resignation to the will of God, who saw in the crucible of her patience the carats of the gold of her fortitude, she adorned and embellished her resignation with the most precious stone of pardon; for, in imitation of Jesus Christ, who, when dying on the wood of the Cross, asked His Heavenly Father to pardon His executioners, so also did St. Rita plead for the murderers of her husband. She herself pardoned them from the bottom of her heart, thus putting into practice that holy doctrine which Jesus Christ taught from the pulpit of the Cross.
After the funeral ceremonies were over and the mortal remains of her husband were placed in the cemetery of Rocca Porrena, St. Rita continued the exercise of those virtues which she had already been in the habit of practicing, and free from many of the cares of her married life, she determined to live solely for God, the only Lord and Master of her soul.
THE DEATH of her husband, Ferdinando, made St. Rita a widow, but she was not left alone. God had blessed her, as we have already observed, with two handsome sons who were now grown up, and on these she centered her utmost care and attention. She daily implored God, with the most fervent prayers, to preserve their innocence and aid her to guide them in the path of His holy law in which she had instructed them. Giovanni and Paulo, the children of St. Rita, became what their Saintly mother molded them. They grew up God-loving and God-fearing children. They loved their good mother with all the fullness of their boyish hearts, and no boys could be more respectful or obedient to a mother than were Giovanni and Paulo.
As they advanced in years, St. Rita, with the quick perception of a mother, noticed that a change was taking place in the characters of her sons and that sometimes, not unlike their departed father, they appeared to be sullen, morose and irritable. Especially did she observe a notable change in Giovanni, who was scarcely sixteen years of age. Young as they were, and even in spite of the religious training they had received from their mother, Giovanni and Paulo had become somewhat imbued with that false idea of honor and justice which made it incumbent on the nearest of kin to execute vengeance on the slayer of a relative. This criminal and unauthorized right of revenge was much in vogue in Italy at the time St. Rita lived, and was called: La Vendetta.
Though St. Rita had observed that from time to time her sons made remarks relative to the murder of their father, it never entered her mind that they had any thought of avenging his death. One day, however, from a conversation she overheard between her two sons she learned, to her great surprise and sorrow, that they were inclined to revenge the assassination of their father.
Like the good and saintly mother she was, St. Rita determined to destroy and stifle so heinous and criminal a desire. Summoning Giovanni and Paulo to her side, she told them what she had heard and begged them, with tears and supplications, to erase from their minds all desire of revenge, and to forget that their father had been assassinated. She also placed before their eyes the example of Christ, who asked pardon for those who had crucified Him and for whom He suffered to give them eternal life. By means of this beautiful example, she sincerely hoped she would be able to persuade her sons to pardon the murderers of their father. She furthermore reminded them that though they had lost their earthly father, they would gain a heavenly one if they would pardon from their hearts. And finally she represented to them the terrible sin the homicide commits, and plainly told them that they themselves would be murderers if they avenged the death of their father.
In this manner did St. Rita try to keep and guide her sons in the path of the fear of God. After some time, as we may read in the Decree of her Canonization, when she saw her sons persist in their desire for vengeance, she fled to the crucifix and related the whole affair to Christ, fervently beseeching Him either to change the desires of her sons, or no longer spare their lives. God heard the prayer of St. Rita. Both her sons died within a year, well-prepared to go before the judgment seat of Almighty God.
O glorious St. Rita! The fame of your sacrifice will never die. The pages of history make mention of no sacrifice more generous than your sacrifice. It is true Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac, but he was commanded by Almighty God to do so. Your sacrifice was an exact copy of the sacrifice which the Eternal Father made of His only Son on the Cross; for you, not satisfied with pardoning the murderers of your husband, even saved their lives by offering to God the sacrifice of the lives of your two beloved sons, Giovanni and Paulo.
THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND AND SONS ST. RITA, before and especially after her marriage, had made a honeycomb of her heart, so to speak, filled with the odor and sweetness of virtues. Each virtue represented, as it were, a beautiful and fragrant flower, bound together by the girdle or cincture of charity, and formed the most exquisite bouquet she could offer to her Divine Lord after she had calmed the boisterous winds that had howled threateningly around her, during the time her husband was an easy prey to the ungovernable impulses of his violent passions. But alas, the days of harmony and peace were soon to be followed by a tragedy that was to cause grief and sorrow in the heart of St. Rita.
Though St. Rita had reformed her once violent and gambler husband and had also made him a man of peace, Ferdinando had not a few enemies in Rocca Porrena. Before his marriage, and for some years after, he had engaged in many disputes and contentions with companions as hot-headed and impulsive as himself, but as he was ready and adept with the stiletto or dagger, he was generally the victor over his adversaries. These persons became Ferdinando's enemies; a poisonous hatred rankled in their breasts, and though he avoided their company, they sought the occasion to avenge themselves. His enemies not daring to encounter him singly, banded together, as cowards generally do, and meeting him one day outside of the walls of Rocca Porrena, attacked him, stabbed him to death and left his lifeless body lying by the roadside, bleeding from a dozen wounds.
Some historians say that Ferdinando was not murdered in cold blood, as the saying is. They claim that he himself, in a fit of anger, provoked the quarrel and even struck the first blow of the altercation in which he lost his life. Others say that the violent death of Ferdinando was a visitation from God, in punishment for his extreme cruelty to St. Rita during the early age of his marriage, but that we may piously believe, though he did not have the sweet consolation of receiving the last Sacraments, that God had mercy on his soul on account of the ocean of merits which his holy wife had treasured in Heaven.
When the news of the death of Ferdinando and all the circumstances connected with it reached the ears of St. Rita, she was thrown into a paroxysm of grief. She wept as if her heart were breaking, and though her friends and kind neighbors tried as best they could to console her, she would not be consoled. Naturally, St. Rita felt as every good and holy wife must feel with the sudden taking away of her husband. But what grieved her heart and soul most was that he passed from this life to the other without being fortified with that Viaticum which gives the dying Christian the happy assurance of a safe journey from time to eternity. In her grief and sorrow, St. Rita prayed to God from the altar of her heart and said to Him: "O God, enter not into judgment with Thy servant Ferdinando, for in Thy sight no one will be justified." She also prayed to Jesus, her divine Lord and Master, the Judge of the living and the dead, and implored Him to grant that His precious Blood, shed for the Redemption of mankind, was not shed in vain for the soul of her husband, Ferdinando. And out from the grief-laden heart of that sorrowful widow came so loud and plaintive a cry for the pardon of her husband's faults and failings, that the cry must have been heard in Heaven, and as it penetrated the bowels of God's love, it moved Him to mercy. Nor did St. Rita, in the Gethsemane of her grief and sorrow, forget to have recourse to the Blessed Virgin, the mother of the seven Dolors, the sweet Comfortress of the afflicted, to whom, according to the great St. Bernard, no one ever has recourse in vain.
When the dead and bleeding body of her husband was brought home, St. Rita, with more reason than the Patriarch Jacob who looked upon the blood-stained tunic of his beloved son Joseph, again gave full vent to her grief and sorrow, with sobs and sighs, followed by a torrent of tears. And then, all of a sudden, as if a whisper from Heaven had reached her ears, in the twinkling of an eye her sobs and sighs lost their voices, the fountains of her tears became dry, and arming herself with a resignation like to that of Jacob, her heart and soul praised the name of the Lord, who was pleased to take to Himself the husband whom He had given her at the foot of His altar. O strong and valiant woman, where can we find your equal! To what can we compare you? You who bore with admirable patience the excessive grief and poignant sorrow which penetrated every fiber of your loving heart as you gazed upon the bleeding remains of him whom the bonds of matrimony had made a part of your life.
Not satisfied with that act of resignation to the will of God, who saw in the crucible of her patience the carats of the gold of her fortitude, she adorned and embellished her resignation with the most precious stone of pardon; for, in imitation of Jesus Christ, who, when dying on the wood of the Cross, asked His Heavenly Father to pardon His executioners, so also did St. Rita plead for the murderers of her husband. She herself pardoned them from the bottom of her heart, thus putting into practice that holy doctrine which Jesus Christ taught from the pulpit of the Cross.
After the funeral ceremonies were over and the mortal remains of her husband were placed in the cemetery of Rocca Porrena, St. Rita continued the exercise of those virtues which she had already been in the habit of practicing, and free from many of the cares of her married life, she determined to live solely for God, the only Lord and Master of her soul.
THE DEATH of her husband, Ferdinando, made St. Rita a widow, but she was not left alone. God had blessed her, as we have already observed, with two handsome sons who were now grown up, and on these she centered her utmost care and attention. She daily implored God, with the most fervent prayers, to preserve their innocence and aid her to guide them in the path of His holy law in which she had instructed them. Giovanni and Paulo, the children of St. Rita, became what their Saintly mother molded them. They grew up God-loving and God-fearing children. They loved their good mother with all the fullness of their boyish hearts, and no boys could be more respectful or obedient to a mother than were Giovanni and Paulo.
As they advanced in years, St. Rita, with the quick perception of a mother, noticed that a change was taking place in the characters of her sons and that sometimes, not unlike their departed father, they appeared to be sullen, morose and irritable. Especially did she observe a notable change in Giovanni, who was scarcely sixteen years of age. Young as they were, and even in spite of the religious training they had received from their mother, Giovanni and Paulo had become somewhat imbued with that false idea of honor and justice which made it incumbent on the nearest of kin to execute vengeance on the slayer of a relative. This criminal and unauthorized right of revenge was much in vogue in Italy at the time St. Rita lived, and was called: La Vendetta.
Though St. Rita had observed that from time to time her sons made remarks relative to the murder of their father, it never entered her mind that they had any thought of avenging his death. One day, however, from a conversation she overheard between her two sons she learned, to her great surprise and sorrow, that they were inclined to revenge the assassination of their father.
Like the good and saintly mother she was, St. Rita determined to destroy and stifle so heinous and criminal a desire. Summoning Giovanni and Paulo to her side, she told them what she had heard and begged them, with tears and supplications, to erase from their minds all desire of revenge, and to forget that their father had been assassinated. She also placed before their eyes the example of Christ, who asked pardon for those who had crucified Him and for whom He suffered to give them eternal life. By means of this beautiful example, she sincerely hoped she would be able to persuade her sons to pardon the murderers of their father. She furthermore reminded them that though they had lost their earthly father, they would gain a heavenly one if they would pardon from their hearts. And finally she represented to them the terrible sin the homicide commits, and plainly told them that they themselves would be murderers if they avenged the death of their father.
In this manner did St. Rita try to keep and guide her sons in the path of the fear of God. After some time, as we may read in the Decree of her Canonization, when she saw her sons persist in their desire for vengeance, she fled to the crucifix and related the whole affair to Christ, fervently beseeching Him either to change the desires of her sons, or no longer spare their lives. God heard the prayer of St. Rita. Both her sons died within a year, well-prepared to go before the judgment seat of Almighty God.
O glorious St. Rita! The fame of your sacrifice will never die. The pages of history make mention of no sacrifice more generous than your sacrifice. It is true Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac, but he was commanded by Almighty God to do so. Your sacrifice was an exact copy of the sacrifice which the Eternal Father made of His only Son on the Cross; for you, not satisfied with pardoning the murderers of your husband, even saved their lives by offering to God the sacrifice of the lives of your two beloved sons, Giovanni and Paulo.
THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND AND SONS ST. RITA, before and especially after her marriage, had made a honeycomb of her heart, so to speak, filled with the odor and sweetness of virtues. Each virtue represented, as it were, a beautiful and fragrant flower, bound together by the girdle or cincture of charity, and formed the most exquisite bouquet she could offer to her Divine Lord after she had calmed the boisterous winds that had howled threateningly around her, during the time her husband was an easy prey to the ungovernable impulses of his violent passions. But alas, the days of harmony and peace were soon to be followed by a tragedy that was to cause grief and sorrow in the heart of St. Rita.
Though St. Rita had reformed her once violent and gambler husband and had also made him a man of peace, Ferdinando had not a few enemies in Rocca Porrena. Before his marriage, and for some years after, he had engaged in many disputes and contentions with companions as hot-headed and impulsive as himself, but as he was ready and adept with the stiletto or dagger, he was generally the victor over his adversaries. These persons became Ferdinando's enemies; a poisonous hatred rankled in their breasts, and though he avoided their company, they sought the occasion to avenge themselves. His enemies not daring to encounter him singly, banded together, as cowards generally do, and meeting him one day outside of the walls of Rocca Porrena, attacked him, stabbed him to death and left his lifeless body lying by the roadside, bleeding from a dozen wounds.
Some historians say that Ferdinando was not murdered in cold blood, as the saying is. They claim that he himself, in a fit of anger, provoked the quarrel and even struck the first blow of the altercation in which he lost his life. Others say that the violent death of Ferdinando was a visitation from God, in punishment for his extreme cruelty to St. Rita during the early age of his marriage, but that we may piously believe, though he did not have the sweet consolation of receiving the last Sacraments, that God had mercy on his soul on account of the ocean of merits which his holy wife had treasured in Heaven.
When the news of the death of Ferdinando and all the circumstances connected with it reached the ears of St. Rita, she was thrown into a paroxysm of grief. She wept as if her heart were breaking, and though her friends and kind neighbors tried as best they could to console her, she would not be consoled. Naturally, St. Rita felt as every good and holy wife must feel with the sudden taking away of her husband. But what grieved her heart and soul most was that he passed from this life to the other without being fortified with that Viaticum which gives the dying Christian the happy assurance of a safe journey from time to eternity. In her grief and sorrow, St. Rita prayed to God from the altar of her heart and said to Him: "O God, enter not into judgment with Thy servant Ferdinando, for in Thy sight no one will be justified." She also prayed to Jesus, her divine Lord and Master, the Judge of the living and the dead, and implored Him to grant that His precious Blood, shed for the Redemption of mankind, was not shed in vain for the soul of her husband, Ferdinando. And out from the grief-laden heart of that sorrowful widow came so loud and plaintive a cry for the pardon of her husband's faults and failings, that the cry must have been heard in Heaven, and as it penetrated the bowels of God's love, it moved Him to mercy. Nor did St. Rita, in the Gethsemane of her grief and sorrow, forget to have recourse to the Blessed Virgin, the mother of the seven Dolors, the sweet Comfortress of the afflicted, to whom, according to the great St. Bernard, no one ever has recourse in vain.
When the dead and bleeding body of her husband was brought home, St. Rita, with more reason than the Patriarch Jacob who looked upon the blood-stained tunic of his beloved son Joseph, again gave full vent to her grief and sorrow, with sobs and sighs, followed by a torrent of tears. And then, all of a sudden, as if a whisper from Heaven had reached her ears, in the twinkling of an eye her sobs and sighs lost their voices, the fountains of her tears became dry, and arming herself with a resignation like to that of Jacob, her heart and soul praised the name of the Lord, who was pleased to take to Himself the husband whom He had given her at the foot of His altar. O strong and valiant woman, where can we find your equal! To what can we compare you? You who bore with admirable patience the excessive grief and poignant sorrow which penetrated every fiber of your loving heart as you gazed upon the bleeding remains of him whom the bonds of matrimony had made a part of your life.
Not satisfied with that act of resignation to the will of God, who saw in the crucible of her patience the carats of the gold of her fortitude, she adorned and embellished her resignation with the most precious stone of pardon; for, in imitation of Jesus Christ, who, when dying on the wood of the Cross, asked His Heavenly Father to pardon His executioners, so also did St. Rita plead for the murderers of her husband. She herself pardoned them from the bottom of her heart, thus putting into practice that holy doctrine which Jesus Christ taught from the pulpit of the Cross.
After the funeral ceremonies were over and the mortal remains of her husband were placed in the cemetery of Rocca Porrena, St. Rita continued the exercise of those virtues which she had already been in the habit of practicing, and free from many of the cares of her married life, she determined to live solely for God, the only Lord and Master of her soul.
THE DEATH of her husband, Ferdinando, made St. Rita a widow, but she was not left alone. God had blessed her, as we have already observed, with two handsome sons who were now grown up, and on these she centered her utmost care and attention. She daily implored God, with the most fervent prayers, to preserve their innocence and aid her to guide them in the path of His holy law in which she had instructed them. Giovanni and Paulo, the children of St. Rita, became what their Saintly mother molded them. They grew up God-loving and God-fearing children. They loved their good mother with all the fullness of their boyish hearts, and no boys could be more respectful or obedient to a mother than were Giovanni and Paulo.
As they advanced in years, St. Rita, with the quick perception of a mother, noticed that a change was taking place in the characters of her sons and that sometimes, not unlike their departed father, they appeared to be sullen, morose and irritable. Especially did she observe a notable change in Giovanni, who was scarcely sixteen years of age. Young as they were, and even in spite of the religious training they had received from their mother, Giovanni and Paulo had become somewhat imbued with that false idea of honor and justice which made it incumbent on the nearest of kin to execute vengeance on the slayer of a relative. This criminal and unauthorized right of revenge was much in vogue in Italy at the time St. Rita lived, and was called: La Vendetta.
Though St. Rita had observed that from time to time her sons made remarks relative to the murder of their father, it never entered her mind that they had any thought of avenging his death. One day, however, from a conversation she overheard between her two sons she learned, to her great surprise and sorrow, that they were inclined to revenge the assassination of their father.
Like the good and saintly mother she was, St. Rita determined to destroy and stifle so heinous and criminal a desire. Summoning Giovanni and Paulo to her side, she told them what she had heard and begged them, with tears and supplications, to erase from their minds all desire of revenge, and to forget that their father had been assassinated. She also placed before their eyes the example of Christ, who asked pardon for those who had crucified Him and for whom He suffered to give them eternal life. By means of this beautiful example, she sincerely hoped she would be able to persuade her sons to pardon the murderers of their father. She furthermore reminded them that though they had lost their earthly father, they would gain a heavenly one if they would pardon from their hearts. And finally she represented to them the terrible sin the homicide commits, and plainly told them that they themselves would be murderers if they avenged the death of their father.
In this manner did St. Rita try to keep and guide her sons in the path of the fear of God. After some time, as we may read in the Decree of her Canonization, when she saw her sons persist in their desire for vengeance, she fled to the crucifix and related the whole affair to Christ, fervently beseeching Him either to change the desires of her sons, or no longer spare their lives. God heard the prayer of St. Rita. Both her sons died within a year, well-prepared to go before the judgment seat of Almighty God.
O glorious St. Rita! The fame of your sacrifice will never die. The pages of history make mention of no sacrifice more generous than your sacrifice. It is true Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac, but he was commanded by Almighty God to do so. Your sacrifice was an exact copy of the sacrifice which the Eternal Father made of His only Son on the Cross; for you, not satisfied with pardoning the murderers of your husband, even saved their lives by offering to God the sacrifice of the lives of your two beloved sons, Giovanni and Paulo.
MIRACULOUS ENTRANCE INTO THE MADDALENA CONVENT
AS WE already know, St. Rita was extremely anxious to embrace the religious state of life, and since she had a particular devotion to the great St. Augustine and his spiritual son, St. Nicholas of Tolentine, she desired to become a spiritual daughter of the Saint by joining a community of nuns that was governed and guided by the same rule which St. Augustine gave to the community of religious he founded when he was Bishop of Hippo, in Africa. At the time St. Rita lived in Rocca Porrena, there were two communities of Augustinian nuns in Cascia. One community resided in the convent known by the name, St. Mary Magdalen, or the Maddalena; the other was named after St. Lucy the Martyr.
One day while she knelt in the little oratory of her house, her eyes fixed on the Crucifix, speaking to Jesus and telling Him how anxious she was to enter the cloister and become a nun, a ray of Divine consolation penetrated her heart and soul. St. Rita arose from her kneeling posture, and prepared to go to Cascia. Once on the highway, that ray of Divine consolation gave haste to her footsteps which brought her direct to the very door of the convent of the Maddalena. With a trembling hand she knocked at the convent door, and in answer to her call, the door was opened by the sister-portress, who, learning that St. Rita desired to speak with the prioress, politely ushered her into the guest chamber. When the prioress, a sweet-faced venerable nun, came, St. Rita made known in as few words as possible the object of her visit.
She told the prioress that from the time she was a child, she had desired to consecrate her virginity to God; that she would have done so had not obedience to her parents prevented her, but being free now, she coveted the Augustinian habit, so that she might better serve the Lord, though she recognized she was unworthy to become a spiritual daughter of the great and glorious St. Augustine. The prioress listened with attention to the humble but earnest petition of St. Rita to be admitted into the community, and kindly told her that she would present her application for membership before a Chapter Meeting of the nuns of the community. We must observe here that it is a rule of the Augustinian Institute of nuns not to admit to their communities any but young girls whose vocations are certain, though widows may also be admitted, but only by special dispensation.
We must, therefore" not be surprised that the nuns of the Maddalena Convent of Cascia refused to admit St. Rita into the community, and indeed, a majority of the nuns hinted that since no widow had been received into the convent from the time of its foundation, it would be a blot on the Maddalena were they to admit St. Rita as a member of the community, though they knew her to be a person of the most irreproachable character and possessed even of eminent piety and sanctity.
When the prioress of the convent told St. Rita that the nuns had, in public chapter, voted against admitting her as a member of the community, she received the news with a calm exterior, though in her heart she was very much disappointed. Instead of returning to Rocca Porrena, St. Rita remained in Cascia in the house of a friend, and after a short lapse of time made a second application, only to receive a second refusal. She applied a third time" and most eloquently besought the nuns to admit her into their community, even as a servant, alleging that she did not consider herself a worthy companion of the spouses of Jesus Christ. Her pleading was all in vain, and because God wished to try further the patience of Rita, He permitted the nuns to remain firm in their decision, and thus St. Rita was told for the third time by the prioress that it was impossible to admit her as a member of the community, and that she should cease further importunities.
When the door of the Maddalena was closed against her, St. Rita returned to Rocca Porrena, judging that the time had not yet arrived for her to obtain that happiness to which she aspired. Yet deep down in her heart, she felt that God would soon come to her aid and by His omnipotence help her to overcome what the prioress of the Maddalena Convent had said was impossible.
When St. Rita returned to Rocca Porrena from Cascia, she began what proved to be her first successful trial against the impossible. With the words of the prioress of the Maddalena ringing in her ears: "My dear woman, it is impossible for you to become a member of our community," St. Rita determined to use every holy means to make possible what human lips had told her was impossible. With this determination dominant in her mind, St. Rita spent nearly all her days, and a goodly portion of her nights, supplicating her beloved Jesus to shorten the time of her anxiety, and admit her as one of His brides within the enclosed walls of the cloister. Not content with importuning Jesus with the most fervent prayers and exercises of penance and mortificiation, St. Rita also implored the aid of her patrons, St. John the Baptist, St. Augustine and St. Nicholas of Tolentine, firmly believing that their poweful intercession God would hasten the fulfillment of the only desire her heart sought in this world. St. Rita was not disappointed in her confidence and hope, and she, who preferred to be the lowliest among the brides of Christ than to be the most honored of the highest ones of the earth, was soon to taste that happiness she had sought from the time she was but a little girl. Yes, the time had come when St. Rita was to make her entrance into the cloister in a most miraculous manner.
One night while engaged in prayer and meditation, she heard a loud knock at the door of her house and a voice which called: "Rita! Rita!" As the hour was late, naturally a slight feeling of fear overcame her for a moment, but a whispered prayer to Heaven gave her the courage to approach the window, which she opened and glanced out to ascertain who called her. Seeing no one at the door, St. Rita thought that what she heard might have been an illusion or perhaps a ruse of the Evil One to divert her from her prayers.
Signing herself with the Sign of the Cross, she resumed her prayers with a redoubled fervor. Again she was interrupted in her prayers by the same voice which said:
"Rita! Rita! Fear not. God will admit
you into the cloister as His spouse."
This time St. Rita understood the true meaning of the double call that had fallen on her overjoyed ears, and, inflamed by the fire of Divine love, her heart gave itself up to so fervent a prayer, that she became rapt in ecstasy and saw in a vision the three Saints whom God had sent to aid her. They were St. John the Baptist, St. Augustine and St. Nicholas of Tolentine. And scarcely had they given her to understand that the cup of her heart's desire was to be filled to overflowing, than she heard a celestial voice, the voice of her Jesus, who called and said to her: "Come, Rita, My beloved. It is now time for you to enter the Maddalena Convent whose door was so often closed against you."
Awakening, as it were, from a profound sleep, St. Rita rose from the prie-dieu on which she had been kneeling, went to the window and saw a person of venerable mien and aspect standing at the door. He wore a garment of camel's hair, cinctured with a leather girdle, and he made signs that she should follow him. St. Rita, recognizing that the person who beckoned her to follow him was no other than her patron St. John the Baptist, whom she had seen in the vision, left her house at once, and with her heart filled with spiritual joy and gladness, she followed her holy guide. They climbed together the rugged steeps of the reef called Schioppo, on whose skirt Rocca Porrena is situated. When she had arrived at the summit of the reef, there appeared to her St. Augustine and St. Nicholas of Tolentine, and she felt as if she were standing, so to speak, on Mt. Thabor, so refulgent was the light which radiated from the countenances of her three patrons. Dazzled by the spectacle, St. Rita prostrated herself at their feet and thanked them, with humble and devout reverence, for all the favors they had obtained for her, and again she recommended herself to their protection.
They commanded her to arise and follow them. She obeyed immediately and walked behind them as they directed their steps in the direction of Cascia. Every step she took told St. Rita that she was drawing nearer and nearer to the long-desired goal, and her heart was filled with indescribable joy, as she listened to the heavenly words of her guides as they conversed with one another on the way. It was indeed a memorable journey, and St. Rita must have felt as did the two pilgrims who conversed with Christ on the road to Emmaus; for when she arrived at Cascia, yea, even at the very door of the Maddalena Convent, the desire of consecrating herself, body and soul to her beloved Jesus, was more ardent than ever.
Finding, as was natural, the door and the windows of the Maddalena closed tightly, her guides nevertheless led her into the cloister, and then addressed her these words: "Rita, remain a rational bee in the garden of the Spouse whom you have so long and ardently loved; so that, collecting the flowers of virtues, you may build a sweet honeycomb. You are now in the house of your Spouse, Jesus. Love Him with all your heart and soul, and your eternal salvation is secure. Return thanks to God for so great a favor done in your behalf. Praise His infinite mercy, and publish that there is nothing impossible to God. Rita, the impossible is overcome in your behalf." Having said these words, the three Saints disappeared. St. Rita, overcome with happiness because she was now within the cloister, spent the remainder of the night in giving thanks to the Lord for the singular favor He had bestowed upon her.
When the morning was come, and the nuns of the Maddalena discovered that a secular was within the cloister, they were both surprised and astonished. Who is she? How did she get in? ran from lip to lip, as with wondering eyes the nuns fixed their gaze on St. Rita. Some of the nuns began to suspect that one of the community had secretly allowed her to enter the cloister, while others thought that perhaps through negligence the door of the convent had been left unlocked. However, when some of the surprise that attended the discovery of St. Rita in the cloister had passed away, the nuns, in a body, approached her and asked: What manner of person she was, and by what means she had entered their cloister?
St. Rita with humility written in her gladsome eyes, and with humility guiding the sweet and convincing eloquence of her eager lips, thus answered them: "I am that poor widow of Rocca Porrena who many times asked to be admitted as a member of your community, and was as many times refused as unworthy of so great a happiness. But know, beloved Superioress and Sisters, that God, wishing to do me a singular favor, sent, last night, to my house in Rocca Porrena, His precursor, St. John the Baptist, accompanied by that Sun of Heaven, St. Augustine, and that Star of Heaven, St. Nicholas of Tolentine, to conduct me into your midst. Nevertheless, I ask you, in the name of that God who has favored me with His mercy, to accept me as a member of your community."
The nuns of the Maddalena listened with amazement while St. Rita related how she had been conducted into the cloister, and when she had concluded her story, all the nuns, with one voice, cried out that they accepted her as a companion, and then humbly besought her pardon for having refused, so many times, her request for admission into their convent home.
HOW SHE OBSERVED THE VOW OF OBEDIENCE
THE FIRST resolution St. Rita made after her solemn profession was to arrive at the summit of religious perfection by a strict observance of the vows she had professed in the Chapel of the Maddalena Convent. Being closely united to Jesus by the sacred bonds of her vows, she began at once to climb the ladder of religious perfection by placing her feet on the step of obedience, which is indeed the first step or rung of the ladder of religious perfection. That obedience is the first step of the ladder of religious perfection, we learn from our holy father St. Augustine, who said: "Poverty is a great virtue, because it rules over riches. Chastity is also a great virtue, because it dominates the flesh. But the virtue of obedience is greater than either poverty or chastity, because it rules and restrains the intellect and the will." The Holy Ghost expresses the same truth when He says: "Better is obedience than victims." Hence obedience is more excellent than poverty, or chastity, because the spiritual powers of the soul, which are sacrificed to God, are more excellent than the exterior goods of sensual gratification which are sacrificed by the two other vows.
To understand the nature of obedience, as regards the religious state, we must observe that there are two kinds or classes of obedience. In the first place, there is an obedience that is called blind obedience. This obedience has no eyes, as it were. It inclines the subject to obey the command of the superior without questioning the command, without taking into consideration the difficulty of obeying the command, or without adverting if the command be unjust or impossible. The expression "Blind obedience" signifies not an unreasoning or unreasonable submission to authority, but a keen appreciation of the rights of authority, the reasonableness of authority, and blindness only to such selfish or worldly considerations as would lessen regard for authority." This blind obedience may be called, and is, perfect obedience.
The second kind of obedience has as many eyes, so to speak, as the animals and the wheels of the cart that the Prophet Ezekiel saw in a vision, and the subject who is guided by this obedience understands perfectly the difficulties of the command of his superiors. He feels how repugnant it is to the intellect and the violence it does the will. Yet, notwithstanding this knowledge, he obeys promptly and joyfully, considering easy, even that which is impossible. This kind of obedience is superlative and therefore most perfect.
Jesus Christ Himself gives us an example of this obedience. Being Divine Wisdom itself, He became obedient even to the death of the Cross, though He knew that death was repugnant to His Divinity. And again when He was suffering a terrible agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, did He not cry out? "Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from Me"; and then as if recollecting the task that was before Him, He added: "Yet not My will but Thine be done."
The Angels also practice this kind of obedience, and though they are pure spirits, endowed with superior knowledge, nevertheless they not only obey God with diligence and promptitude, but they even make themselves obedient to the welfare of creatures, though they know the creatures are inferior to them in everything. Now since this most perfect obedience, more worthy of reward, because more meritorious than blind obedience, is truly characteristic of the Angels, we may call those persons angels or angelic persons who, on earth, are imitators of the Angels in their obedience.
Judged by this standard, St. Rita was indeed an angelic woman. So obedient indeed was she that when commanded by her superioress to do anything, even though she knew the command was impossible, she obeyed with the same promptitude as if the command was easily executed.
It is related by many authors of the life of St. Rita that the superioress of the Maddalena, in order to put her obedience to a test, commanded the Saint to water daily a dead and withered plant in the convent garden. St. Rita obeyed without saying a single word about the uselessness of her labor. She watered the plant every day for a year, though she knew it would not revive without a miracle. God, however, rewarded the obedience of St. Rita; to the great astonishment of the nuns, the dead plant revived, put forth leaves and flowers, and was the most beautiful of all the plants in the convent garden.
We will cite another beautiful example of the obedience and resignation of St. Rita. Pope Nicholas V had declared the year 1450 a jubilee year, to which were attached many indulgences that could be gained by those visiting Rome. As some of the nuns had received permission to make the journey, St. Rita prompted by motives of piety and zeal desired to accompany them. She therefore went to the superioress and humbly asked permission to go to Rome with the other nuns, so that she might gain the indulgences of the jubilee. The superioress, looking at the disfigured forehead of St. Rita-----of which we shall speak in another chapter-----did not at first feel inclined to grant the permission. However, after a few moments of consideration, she dismissed St. Rita saying: "Sister Rita, I will permit you to make the journey to Rome, provided the wound on your forehead be healed when the sisters are ready to start on the journey."
Leaving the presence of the superioress, St. Rita went at once to the chapel to ask her Divine Spouse if it were pleasing to Him that she should make the journey to Rome. If so, she supplicated Him to heal the wound on her forehead, but if not, she would resign herself to His holy will and the will of her superioress. God seeing the humble resignation of St. Rita and knowing the obedient spirit of His humble and devout servant heard her prayer, and wonderful to relate, the wound was immediately healed, and St. Rita was granted permission to accompany the other sisters to Rome.
So perfect, indeed, was the obedience of St. Rita that she rather would have died than not to obey the least command of her superiors, whom she considered the representatives of God and her guides and directors. She was like the sheep that always hear the voice of the shepherd and follow him. Free from the slavery of her own will, St. Rita was so perfectly united to the will of God that she had no self-confidence and abandoned herself entirely to God. Hence so Christ-like was the obedience of Sister St. Rita that her every act and all her acts were agreeable to God; for, having once placed her feet on the first step of the ladder of religious perfection, she ascended higher and higher, and nearer and nearer to God, and became what she truly was, a model of the most perfect obedience.
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BRIEF YOUTUBE VIDEO ON THE LIFE OF ST. RITA, SAINT OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
NOVENA TO ST. RITA
O holy protectress of those who art in greatest need, thou who shineth as a star of hope in the midst of darkness, blessed Saint Rita, bright mirror of God’s grace, in patience and fortitude thou art a model of all the states in life. I unite my will with the will of God through the merits of my Savior Jesus Christ, and in particular through his patient wearing of the crown of thorns, which with tender devotion thou didst daily contemplate. Through the merits of the holy Virgin Mary and thine own graces and virtues, I ask thee to obtain my earnest petition, provided it be for the greater glory of God and my own sanctification. Guide and purify my intention, O holy protectress and advocate, so that I may obtain the pardon of all my sins and the grace to persevere daily, as thou didst in walking with courage, generosity, and fidelity down the path of life. [Mention your request.]
Saint Rita, advocate of the impossible, pray for us.
Saint Rita, advocate of the helpless, pray for us.
Recite the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be three times each.
Another Novena to St. Rita of Cascia
O glorious St. Rita, your pleadings before the divine crucifix have been known to grant favors that many would call the impossible. Lovely St. Rita, so humble, so pure, so devoted in your love for thy crucified Jesus, speak on my behalf for my petition which seems so impossible from my humbled position.
(Mention your petition...)
Be propitious, O glorious St. Rita, to my petition, showing thy power with God on behalf of thy supplicant. Be lavish to me, as thou has been in so many wonderful cases for the greater glory of God.
I promise, dear St. Rita, if my petition is granted, to glorify thee, by making known the favor, to bless and sing thy praises forever. Relying then upon thy merits and power before the Sacred Heart of Jesus I pray. Amen.
Holy Patroness of those in need, Saint Rita, you were humble, pure and patient. Your pleadings with your divine Spouse are irresistible, so please obtain for me from our risen Jesus the request I make of you:
(Mention your petition...)
Be kind to me for the greater glory of God, and I shall honor 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.
O holy protectress of those who art in greatest need, thou who shineth as a star of hope in the midst of darkness, blessed Saint Rita, bright mirror of God’s grace, in patience and fortitude thou art a model of all the states in life. I unite my will with the will of God through the merits of my Savior Jesus Christ, and in particular through his patient wearing of the crown of thorns, which with tender devotion thou didst daily contemplate. Through the merits of the holy Virgin Mary and thine own graces and virtues, I ask thee to obtain my earnest petition, provided it be for the greater glory of God and my own sanctification. Guide and purify my intention, O holy protectress and advocate, so that I may obtain the pardon of all my sins and the grace to persevere daily, as thou didst in walking with courage, generosity, and fidelity down the path of life. [Mention your request.]
Saint Rita, advocate of the impossible, pray for us.
Saint Rita, advocate of the helpless, pray for us.
Recite the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be three times each.
Another Novena to St. Rita of Cascia
O glorious St. Rita, your pleadings before the divine crucifix have been known to grant favors that many would call the impossible. Lovely St. Rita, so humble, so pure, so devoted in your love for thy crucified Jesus, speak on my behalf for my petition which seems so impossible from my humbled position.
(Mention your petition...)
Be propitious, O glorious St. Rita, to my petition, showing thy power with God on behalf of thy supplicant. Be lavish to me, as thou has been in so many wonderful cases for the greater glory of God.
I promise, dear St. Rita, if my petition is granted, to glorify thee, by making known the favor, to bless and sing thy praises forever. Relying then upon thy merits and power before the Sacred Heart of Jesus I pray. Amen.
Holy Patroness of those in need, Saint Rita, you were humble, pure and patient. Your pleadings with your divine Spouse are irresistible, so please obtain for me from our risen Jesus the request I make of you:
(Mention your petition...)
Be kind to me for the greater glory of God, and I shall honor 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.
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