Also known as : Margarita of Cascia; Rita La Abogada de Imposibles Memorial: 22 May
A pre-eminent Augustinian saint, was born at Roccaporena near Cascia in the Diocese of Spoleto, Italy. The name is perhaps a shortening of Margherita, the Italian version of the name "Margaret."
In the parish church of Laarne, near Ghent, there is a statue of Saint Rita in which several bees feature. This seems to arise from the story that, on the day after her baptism, a swarm of white bees was seen around the baby as she was asleep in her crib. They peacefully went in and out of her mouth, not injuring her in any way. Her family seems to have been mystified rather than alarmed. Later, and in retrospect, the bees were seen as representing her subsequent beatification by Pope Urban VIII
Profile: Daughter of Antonio and Amata Lotti; known as Peacemakers of Jesus, they had Rita late in life. From her early youth, Rita visited the Augustinian nuns at Cascia, and showed interest in a religious life. However, when she was twelve, her parents betrothed her to Paolo Mancini, an ill-tempered, abusive individual who worked as town watchman, and was dragged into the political disputes of the Guelphs and Ghibellines. Disappointed but obedient, Rita married him when she was 18, and was the mother of twin sons.
She put up with Paolo's abuses for eighteen years before he was ambushed and stabbed to death. Her sons swore vengeance on their father's killers, but through Rita's prayers and interventions, they forgave the offenders.
Upon the deaths of her sons, Rita again felt the call to religious life. However, some of the sisters at the Augustinian monastery were relatives of her husband's assassins, and she was denied entry for fear of causing dissension. Asking for the intervention of Saint John the Baptist, Saint Augustine of Hippo, and Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, she managed to bring the warring factions together, not completely, but sufficiently that there was peace, and she was admitted to the monastery of Saint Mary Magdalen at age 36.
Rita lived 40 years in the convent, spending her time in prayer and charity, and working for peace in the region. She was devoted to the Passion, and in response to a prayer to suffer as Christ, she received a chronic head wound that appeared to have been caused by a crown of thorns, and which bled for 15 years.
The symbol most often associated with Rita is the rose. One of the stories surrounding Rita and roses is that Rita would regularly bring food to the poor, which her husband prohibited her from doing. One day, her husband confronted her as she was leaving to bring bread to the poor. The bread was concealed in Rita's robes; when she uncovered the bread as her husband demanded, the bread became roses and Rita was spared her husband's wrath. This story is also associated with St. Elisabeth of Hungary. At the end of her life, when Rita was bedridden in the convent, a friend from her home town visited her. The friend asked if there was anything Rita wanted from her old home. Rita replied that she would like a rose from the garden. It was January, and although the friend did not expect to find anything in the garden, she went to the house and found one rose blooming. She brought the rose back to Rita at the convent. The rose is thought to represent God's love for Rita and Rita's ability to intercede on behalf of lost causes or impossible cases. Rita is often depicted holding roses or with roses nearby. On her feast day, churches and shrines of St. Rita provide roses to the congregation that are blessed by priests during mass
Among the other areas, Rita is well-known as a patron of desperate, seemingly impossible causes and situations. This is because she has been involved in so many stages of life - wife, mother, widow, and nun, she buried her family, helped bring peace to her city, saw her dreams denied and fulfilled - and never lost her faith in God, or her desire to be with Him.
Born : 1386 at Roccaparena, Umbria, Italy Died : 22 May 1457 at the Augustinian convent at Cascia of tuberculosis Beatified : 1 October 1627 by Pope Urban VIII Canonized : 24 May 1900
Patronage: abuse victims; against loneliness; against sterility; bodily ills; Dalayap, Philippines; desperate causes; difficult marriages; forgotten causes; impossible causes; infertility; lost causes; parenthood; sick people; sickness; sterility; victims of physical spouse abuse; widows; wounds
sources: catholic community forum, catholic.org, wikipedia
Saint Anne (also Ann or Anna) was the mother of The Virgin Mary. Her name Anne is a Greek rendering of a Hebrew name, Hannah.
The name of Anne, which in Hebrew signifies "gracious," shall always be venerated amongst Christians, for it is the name of the mother of Mary. How great was Anne's glory in having given birth to her who was the mother of God! "How," exclaims Saint John Damascene, "shall we worthily praise her from whom we have received the admirable and precious fruit that has given Jesus to us?"
Saint Anne lived at Nazareth, a town of Lower Galilee, a short distance from Mount Carmel. According to the opinion of Saint Augustine, she was of the priestly tribe. She married a just man, named Joachim, of the tribe of Juda, and of the race of David by Nathan.
Memorial : 26 July
Patronage: Adjuntas, Puerto Rico; against poverty; Brittany; broommakers; cabinetmakers; Canada; carpenters; childless people; archdiocese of Detroit, Michigan; equestrians; France; grandmothers; grandparents; homemakers; horse men; horse women; housewives; lace makers; lace workers; lost articles; Marsaskala, Malta; Micmaqs; miners; Molo, Philippines; mothers; diocese of Norwich, Connecticut; Nueva Valencia, Philippines; old-clothes dealers; poverty; pregnancy; pregnant women; Quebec; Santa Ana Indian Pueblo; riders; seamstresses; stablemen; sterility; Taos, New Mexico; turners; women in labour
Readings:
Joachim and Anne, how blessed a couple! All creation is indebted to you. For at your hands the Creator was offered a gift excelling all other gifts: a chaste mother, who alone was worthy of him.
Joachim and Anne, how blessed and spotless a couple! You will be known by the fruit you have borne, as the Lord says: "By their fruits you will know them." The conduct of your life pleased God and was worthy of your daughter. For by the chaste and holy life you led together, you have fashioned a jewel of virginity: she who remained a virgin before, during, and after giving birth. She alone for all time would maintain her virginity in mind and soul as well as in body.
Joachim and Anne, how chaste a couple! While leading a devout and holy life in your human nature, you gave birth to a daughter nobler than the angels, whose queen she now is.
- from a sermon by Bishop Saint John Damascene
***** Many early Canadian fur traders were Catholic; not only the French-Canadian voyageurs, but their mostly-Scottish employers as well; it's not surprising that they should have had a patron saint. In the memoirs of Alexander Henry (the Elder), written in 1804, he wrote of his first venture into the Canadian fur trade in 1761: "Saint Anne is the patroness of the Canadians, in all their travels by water."
"How shining and splendid are your gifts, O Lord which you give us for our eternal well-being Your glory shines radiantly in your saints, O God In the honour and noble victory of the martyrs. The white-robed company follow you, bright with their abundant faith; They scorned the wicked words of those with this world's power. For you they sustained fierce beatings, chains, and torments, they were drained by cruel punishments. They bore their holy witness to you who were grounded deep within their hearts; they were sustained by patience and constancy. Endowed with your everlasting grace, may we rejoice forever with the martyrs in our bright fatherland. O Christ, in your goodness, grant to us the gracious heavenly realms of eternal life."
"Angel of God, My Guardian Dear, to whom His love commits me here, ever this day be at my side, to light and to guard, to rule and guide. Amen. "
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"Guardian Angel from heaven so bright, Watching beside me to lead me aright, Fold thy wings round me, and guard me with love, Softly sing songs to me of heaven above. Amen."
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"Guardian Angel, watch over those whose names you can read in my heart. Guard over them with every care and make their way easy and their labours fruitful. Dry their tears if they weep; sanctify their joys; raise their courage if they weaken; restore their hope if they lose heart, their health if they be ill, truth if they err, repentance if they fail. "
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"Good night, my Guardian Angel, The day has sped away; Well spent or ill, its story Is written down for aye. And now, of God's kind Providence, Thou image pure and bright, Watch over me while I'm sleeping. My Angel dear, good night! "
