Life of St. Rita of Cascia, O.S.A. - the Catholic Kingdom!

ST. RITA RECEIVES HER MIRACULOUS WOUND[Frontispiece

@hi1 Qbsktt :FR. JOANNES L. CONDON, O.S.A.,CEN~. DEPUTATUS.PERMISSION TO PUBLISHWE approve of the publication of the ' Life ofSt. Rita of Cascia.' from the Italian, by theVery Rev. Fr. Richard Connolly, O.S.A., D.D.FR. W. O'SULLIVAN, O.S.A.,VIUR PROVINCIAL.CORK, FCd of Sf. PPdri, 1903.Emprimafat% :HERBERTUS CARDINALIS VA~GHAN,AUCHI~PI~COPU~ WESTMONAST~R~~NS~S.More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

CHAPTERPAGEV. RITA'S OBSERVANCE OF THE RELIGIOUS VOWS - I10VI. RITA'S PENANCES - - I20VII. RITA'S SPIRIT OF PRAYER - 125VIII. A THORN FROM THE SAVIOUR'S CROWN OFTHORNS WOUNDS RITA'S FOREHEAD - - 132IX. RITA GOES TO ROME TO GAIN THE INDULGENCEOF THE JUBILEE . - - 137X. RITA'S LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH - - I42PART I11RITA IN HEAVENI. WONDERFUL EVENTS THAT HAPPENED AT RITA'SDEATH-BURIAL OF HER SACRED BODY -11. MIRACLES WROUGHT BY GOD THROUGH RITA'SINTERCESSION BEFORE HER BEATIFICATION -111. EFFICACY OF THE RELICS OF ST. RITA -IV. MARVELS OF ST. RITA'S SEPULCHRE -V. IMMEMORIAL WORSHIP OF ST. RITA -VI. SOLEMN BEATIFICATION OF RITAVII. MIRACLES WORKED BY RITA AFTER HER BEATI-FICATIONVIII. MORE RECENT MIRACLES OF ST. RITA -IX. HER CANONIZATIONX. THE THREE MIRACLES APPROVED FOR HERCANONIZATION -CONCLUSIONMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

LIFE OF ST. RITA OF CASCIACHAPTER ICASCIA: A GLANCE AT ITS HISTORYT. BERNARD abserves that the place inS which our Saviour died attracts our devotionin a greater degree than any of those placesin which He dwelt during His life, and can thereforeboast of a certain pre-eminence. Speakingof St. Rita, we can say the same of Cascia comparedwith Rocca Porena, her birthplace. Casciagoverned Rocca Porena as did Jerusalem Nazareth,but it is not on this account we claim its superiority,but because our saint lived there for many yearsand died there, and there her relics are venerated.Cascia is therefore looked upon as St. Rita'shome, and hence she is called St. Rita of Cascia.Were we but to give a cursory sketch of the historyof Cascia from its annals, which still exist, thepresent volume could not contain what we shouldMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

e forced to write, so important did it become ;we will therefore content ourselves with alludingto a few of the more salient points in its story.This ancient and illustrious town is built underthe shadow of the Apennin'es, at a point in thatchain of mountains almost midway between theAlps and the Mediterranean. It is on the bordersof Umbria, seven miles from Norcia, ten fromLeonessa, thirty from Rieti, and twenty-threefrom Spoleto. It stands on the site of the ancientCursula, whigh is believed to have been a Romanfree-town-that is, its people enjoyed the honours,rights, and privileges of Roman citizenship, andtheir town was governed by its own laws. ThatCursula was a town of some importance is attestedby its remains, which are still extant, notably bythe Temple of the Augurs, the Temple of Mars,and the House of the Duumviri.We have nothing else than these remains toguide us in inquiring into the history of Cursula,nor can we surmise the epoch from whence to dateits existence. We know from ~ioi~sius of Halicamassusthat it was destroyed, and that a newtown rose on the ruins of the original one, butthe dates of these events cannot be fixed withcertainty. The date of the rebuildmg of Cursulamay, with some probability, be placed at somethingmore than ten years before the birth ofPrivate Use Only

our Saviour, and hence its pagan inhabitantswere strengthening the foundations of its futuregreatness when Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem,was laying the foundation of the Redem$tion ofman. We know, too, that it was a republic, butare left in the dark as to how it managed to achieveand preserve its independence. It is crediblethat, like other Italian cities, it acquired itsliberty at the time of the second fall of the RomanEmpire, after the death of the Emperor-SaintHenry, during the Pontificate of John XIX., orabout the year 1025. -This independence itretained till 1260,' in which year, through theambition of rival leaders, the seeds of civicdissension were sown, and the republic was exposedto dangers from without. It was at thistime that the people of Cascia determined to putthemselves under, the authority of Alexander IV.,who then occupied the Papal chair. They wereinduced to this action by what they saw of thepeaceful nature of the Papal government, andbecause they adhered to the Guelph party, whichwas favourable to the Holy See. Alexander IV.was the great Pontiff who, uniting the greatestvirtues to the highest mental attainments, contrivedduring the height of the sanguinaryquarrels between Guelphs and Ghibellines, whichlxd for twenty years tom and divided Italy,More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

to stamp out incendiarism, to crush tyranny,and cause peace and happiness to flourish againin the distracted peninsula. Cascia had no reasonto regret the changed state of affairs, for themonarchical system which its submission to thePope introduced by no means destroyed its republicanform of government. Hence it retainedthe right of regulating its own affairs by its ownlaws ; hence its mayor, elected every six months,retained his authority ; hence it retained thosechiefs of the people, at first called 'Ateposti,'then ' Gonfalonieri,' and hally ' Consuls.' Tothese latter a troop of soldiers, called the people'sjury, was subject, who had the duty not only ofdefending the people, but of acting on the offensivewhen necessary. The court of justice, theguards and robes of the consuls, the stately retinueof the mayor, the fortifications with their garrisons,the number of subject towns and villages-ofwhich more than forty recognise Cascia as theirchief at present, without speaking of the manywhich the ravages of time have destroyed-theright of peace and war left, at least in part, to thebrave people of Cascia-these and other memoriesof the past, which even now may be seen in theconsular registers, constitute a proof of theliberty which Cascia enjoyed under the Popesand of the fame which it acquired.iPrivate Use Only

But at the bepnhg of the disastrous andprolonged schism of the anti-Popes, Cascia unfurledthe standard of rebellion, either through adesire of complete independence, or, as some say,on account of the insolent conduct of the Papalsoldiers, and for a period of about 131 years--till the year 1517-it remained under a sort ofmixed government. This interval of completeindependence was filled up by an uninterruptedseries of wars waged with its neighbours of Norcia,of Leonessa, of Monreale, of Aquila, or of Cerreto.But after the first outburst of enthusiasm forcomplete independence, and in the midst ofquarrels with its neighbours, the republic ofCascia took occasion to show its pristine reverenceand love for the See of Rome; A clear proof ofthe correspondence between Cascia and the Papal'See is the formal announcement, made by theCardinals met together in council at Constance,to the commune of Cascia, of the election of PopeMartin V. to the Pontifical throne. The promptassistance given by the people of Cascia toEugene IV., successor to Martin V., againstCorrado Trinci, Governor of Foligno, who triedta make himself lord and master of that city, isanother proof of their loyalty to the Holy See.When the wise and great-minded Leo X. ascendedthe Papal throne he brought back Cascia to itsMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

CASCIA: A GLANCE AT ITS HISTORYi I5the Poli, Frenfanelli, Benenati, Cruciani, Squarcipani,Colangeli, Negroni, Graziani, Francexhini,Leonetti, Giudici, Elemosina, Girolami, Gregorietti,and of other illustrious families, would supplyample material to whosoever would wish to pronouncethe praises of Cascia. We, who have forour study a nun and a saint, shall content ourselveswith going into the shadow of the cloisterand of the sanctuary. We find Andrew of Cascia,a Franciscan who lived at the same time as St.IRita, who had the happiness of bringing theGospel to the Turks at Fez, where he sufferedmartyrdom after converting many to Christ andworking many miracles. The glory of this humblefriar outshines the glory which the honours of theworld can give. Blessed Pace, a Minor Conventual,born in Cascia, great in virtue and by themiracles he worked, raised himself above everyearthly greatness.But what must have most drawn the soul ofour St. Rita to desire from her childhood the lifeof the cloister, and to follow it in her mature years,were the singular models of sanctity which theAugustinian institute in Cascia could furnish.The memory of the saintly heroes, followers ofthe great Augustine, who dwelt in the woodsabout Cascia, was to her the memory of a recentevent. The first of these recluses is Blessed J'ohn,iMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

who from being lord of three towns shut himselfthe Valley of Attino, not far from Cascia, in ,order to lead a life hidden in God in the deepestconteqlation. Then comes Blessed Ugolino,who imitated the example of Blessed John inrenouncing the pleasant things of this world toengage himself entirely with heavenly thingsin the hermitage of St. Anatolia, in the territoryof Cascia, where, living in misery, he prepared forhimself a way to a high degree of glory in heaven.The third is Blessed Simon Fidati, whom theshades of the hermitage could not hide from theworld. For the books on the ascetic life whichthis very learned hermit of St. Augustine wrotein these solitudes began to make him known ;then his unwearying and fruitful preaching throughthe chief cities of Italy, especially Florence andSiena ; the conversions of which he was theinstrument ; the number of enemies he reconciled ;his spirit of prophecy ; his unconquerable charityon most difficult occasions ; the foundation of two -monasteries in the city of Florence ; the otherworks written by him, whence he deserved to bereckoned the brightest ornament of the AugustinianOrder at that time, both by his eloquenceand profound learning, more infused than acquired,as well as for the piety and fervour whichanimated him in writing-these and many otherIPrivate Use Only

-nearly so, as Angelus and Louis of Cascia, CherubinusLavosi (Bishop of Telesia), Paoletti, Squarcipani,Amici, three of the Simonetti family-alleither theologians of some eminence or famouspreachers, or remarkable for their writings ; but-the notice of these and of others, however praiseworthyfor virtue or honourable to their nativecity of Cascia, might seem beside our purposeand be tedious to those who wish to read the lifeof St. '~ita. At all events, it may be deducedfrom what we have written that Cascia was not ,without honour in its history and in its inhabitants.IStill, what is Cascia in the sight of God ?IWhat is even Jerusalem before Him and in thelight of His inscrutable judgment ? Humangreatness, which dazzles our eyes, disappears inthe glance of God, and is lost in its own nothingness.There is no distinction of persons withHim, nor is there distinction of places. Thelittle town of Nazareth, out of which, in thecommon very poor opinion of it, it seemed nothinggood could come, was, in the Divine councils,preordained to be the fatherland of the Saviourof the world ; and the still meaner town ofBethlehem--even a stable in Bethlehem-waschosen as His place of birth. Thus it often happensthat God chooses the weak things, the lowly, 1:Private Use Only

CASCIA : A GLANCE AT ITS HISTORY I9the despicable, the things of naught to confoundthe goodly things and the strong, and to workgreat designs, in order that the creature may nothave whence to vaunt himself before his Creator.Such was the case exactly with that humble spotRocca Porena, which was destined to be the birthplaceof St. Rita.To give some idea of it, let us say it is two miles .and a half from Cascia towards the west, whereit is closed in, not to say buried. An overhangingI mountain crushes it in on all sides and dominatesit, and with difficulty gives access to it from theeast by two narrow roads, one on either side of aprecipitous rock. The river which flows to thebase of this rock, famous in the life of the saint,does not approach the small piece of level groundwhich, together with the village, forms the bottomof a deep basin. The sun is tardy there in rising,Iand sets early, leaving the barren plain to itslangour and sadness. One would say that a1 place so isolated and confined, where neither theI beauty of nature nor of art appears, and wherethe sky is almost the only thing in view, wasI created for contemplation and to be the home ofinnocence. The two houses of St. Rita are stillto be seen, almost at opposite ends of the village,the one in which she was born and lived until hermarriage in that part called the Borghetto, and?cZMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

CHAPTER I1IIIIFTHE fortunate parents of Rita were AntonioMancini, of Rocca Porena and Amata Ferri,who is believed to be from a village called Fogliano.Antonio was not noble, nor had he a title, butwe may apply to him the praise which the HolySpirit gives to Noah-that he was a just manand perfect in his times, and he walked withGod. The Gracchi, the Scipios, the karsamong the number of their family honourscannot find a title greater or even equal to this.Every other superiority is vanity, and if therebe glory from other titles, it is the glory of another,which cannot pass to the posterity of those whomerited it. Justice alone makes that real nobilitywhich St. Augustine and other holy fathers dallnobility according to the heart of God. Andalthough even this cannot be passed on to descendants,as it did not pass from Noah to hisson Cham, whom he cursed, yet it is not unusual, [ZI ]More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

for God to recall the justice of parents, not onlyfor a model, but to give a certain extrinsic gloryto their descendants. Hence, when the HolySpirit wished to record the praises of St. Johnthe Baptist, He wished also for his honour thatwe should remember that his parents were both' just before God, walking in all the commandmentsand justifications of the Lord withoutblame.' So we can also say of Antonio and Amata,of whom was born St. Rita, who had a specialdevotion to St. John. They were not of nobleblood, but they were noble in their works ; theywere not rich in temporal goods, but they wererich in the true treasures of Divine grace, whichdo not pass from those who possess them, Theyenjoyed the esteem of all who knew them, anesteem more precious than that which flatteryoffers to the rich and great of this world. Theirfortune constituted that mediocrity which thewise man sought from God in order that abundancemight not tempt him to forget his Creator, norpoverty to give himself a prey to any vice. Theindustrious and honourable labour, and the innocentpastoraI life which in their time did notdegrade the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, andJacob, did not make the Mancini family lessworthy of honour. Rather from the fruits oftheir labour did they acquire the means of exer-Private Use Only

cising a beneficent liberality towards the poor ofJesus Christ, whom they cherished with an ardentcharity. Whether the fruits of their fields wereabundant or scarce, . these two happy ones,husband and wife, lived contented in theirfrugality, always giving thanks to the Giver ofevery good gift, and placing themselves entirelyin conformity with the most just and providentialdispositions of heaven. Perfect concord, whichwas their dearest virtue, since in it is the fulnessof the law, always reigned in their home. Andhence when they heard of divisions amongstothers, which were only too frequent in that ageand country, they were speedily present withthem, and with their insinuating manners andholy zeal they insisted in their charitable officestill peace was restored. They were, on thisaccount, commonly called the ' peacemakers ofJesus Christ.'They corrected the erring according to the rulesof the Gospel ; they interceded for them with sofervent prayers, with so great concern, and withso happy results, that, like Moses, they appearedto be constituted mediators between the peopleand God. They steadily hated vice, and practisedevery virtue. The book from which theylearned and cherished sentiments so virtuouswas none other than the Passion of the Redeemer.More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

It furnished them with inexhaustible matter fortheir meditations, for their liveliest -compassion,and for that remarkable piety which, from hercradle, they instilled into the heart of Rita, andwhich they left her as a heritage. In a word, itmay with reason be said of them what was saidof the parents of St. John the Baptist-that theywere both just to the eyes of God, walking withoutstain in the exact observance of the law. Thiswas their nobility, this was their wealth, whichit pleased God to pass to their daughter and tomultiply in her in a singular way. Thus we maysay, as Blessed Simon of Cascia writes, that theparents' goodness instilled the best dispositionseven before her birth into her who was to be bornfrom them, as the goodness of Zachary andElizabeth went to exalt the holy precursor St.John.Thus these two holy souls, husband and wife,lived a long series of years in these exercises ofvirtue and piety, without, however, seeing anyfruit of their chaste union. God so disposed itthat the desires of their youthful years should bevain, that they should labour to detach theirminds still more from mortal things, and in orderthat the proofs of an extraordinary work of Hisprovidence should one day shine the brighter.Meanwhile, their desire of offspring, with whichPrivate Use Only

IIInature innocently inspired them, had not onlygrown cold with advancing years, but was quiteextinct ; no other care should remain with themnow than that of ascending to the eternal heritageof the heavenly Father, instead of descendmg tothe care of children and transmitting their temporalpossessions to their posterity on earth.More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

as the sanctity of the Baptist was likewise foretoldto Zachary.The miraculous pledge of grace which Antonio'shappy wife bore already in her womb and her livelyfaith prevented her from smhg at announcementsso wonderful; unlike Abraham's wife, whosmiled at a not dissimilar announcement. Nordid she sin through incredulity, as did Elizabeth'shusband, who was punished for his sin, butforewarned by fact, and full of that faith whichteaches that God can raise up children to Abrahameven from the vwy stones, she instantly believedin the words of the angel. The angelic visiondisappeared, and Amata, considering her ownunworthiness, was seized with fresh wonder andprofound humility. Thinking at the same timeon the signal favour, she retired, with great contentmentand singular gratitude and love towardsthe Divine goodness, to pour out the fulness ofher pure and fervent affection at the feet of hermost beneficent God. It is easy to think what anew stimulus to piety in herself and her virtuoushusband was this great grace. Thus they remainedhappy in their virtue and secure in thehands of Divine providence, joyously awaitingthe happy day of Rita's extolled birth.More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

CHAPTER IVNOW that we are about to describe Rita'sbirth, it will not be out of place to casta passing glance at the unhappy state of thosetimes, in order to see things more clearly as weprogress with our history, and in order that theprovidence of God and His grace may moreclearly be discerned to His honour and glory.The memories are still fresh in our minds, or,rather, the wounds which the avenging sword ofthe God of armies inflicted on us. There is nota moment in which we do not recall with horrorthe mournful losses inflicted by arms on property,commerce, arts, study, families, States, goodorder, morals, on religion and the Church. Buthowever true and just our regrets may be, itis a fact that Italy was much more harassedand aficted at the period about the birth ofRita. To read of the extortions of the Viscontithrough the wide extent of their dominions in[ 30 1Private Use Only

Lombardy, the cruelty exercised by them onthe pretext of punishing treason, their unbridledlust, and their most unworthy harassing of theclergy, excites our horror. At the other extremityof Italy, in the kingdom of Naples, a temtoryof equal importance, wrongs and scandals of everydescription, and the most deplorable calamities,caused by the parties of the Dukes of Anjouand Surazzo, who laid claim to the kingdom,spread themselves and took root as the civilwar that followed on the death of King Robertbecame more widespread. The different other1 States into which Italy was then divided were notanything better. For the luxury of these littleCourts which tried to rival the great ones to thegrave oppression of the people, their despotism,their rivalry and wars, their unbridled ambitionto command which multiplied the domestictreasons and assassinations of brothers bybrothers, of relatives by relatives (if we except thehouses of Savoy, Monferrato, Saluzzo, and Este)-these and the other dominant vices and scandalsserved only to increase misery and sorrow. The?cities of the Papal States were also, for the mostpart, groaning under the yoke of rebels-bloody,inexorable, lewd tyrants-and especially beforeGregory IX. re-established his throne in Romeafter his return from Avignon. And, as if theseMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

Italian tyrants were not sufficient to cause publicmisery, hordes of devastating soldiers issued fromGermany, Hungary, and England to completethe confusion. Warner, Muriale, Sando, Anchino,Augustus, and others-all captains of the dissolutesoldiers of fortune-were the stubborn arbiters ofItalian affairs from the middle of the fourteenthcentury till the time of Charles V., although theywere not owners of even a perch of land. Thesegave their services in the perpetual wars to whoeverpaid them best, and went about pillaging,imposing tribute and subsidies-and woe to himwho was slow in satisfying their demads !-laying waste fields, besieging towns, and universallyexercising their pitiless power. Hence, asthe people model themselves after the manners ofkings and nobles, it is easy to divine the generalstate of morals in the midst of such depravity.Let us draw a veil over that picture, the sight ofwhich would move to horror humanity, religion,and especially modesty.Let it suffice to say that so deeply rooted wasthis universal depravity that not even the pestilence,that so evident sign of the anger of heaven,which in the middle of that century carried offmore than half the inhabitants of Italy, was ableto check it. And that which the prophet Isaiasseems to have foreseen in his time, but in anotherPrivate Use Only

sense, was fulfilled here too: such as the peopleis, so 'shall the priest be-so strong was theinfluence of the bad example and want of disciplineintroduced into Italy by the abandoningof their Apostolic See in Rome by the Popes.The prevailing depravity afterwards opened theway to still greater evils.For the zeal with which Urban VI., successorof Gregory XI., sought to remedy the evilswhich aacted the Church was intolerable to some,and hence followed the election of an ~nti-Pope,which gave rise to that terrible schism whichburst forth a little before the birth of Rita, andended only a short time before her death.Who can recall without tears the separationsbetween friends, princes taking opposing sides,the spiritual and temporal arms put in antagonism,the neglect of the canons, the numberless scandalsand losses of the Church, which would at that timehave been threatened with absolute ruin, butthat the gates of hell can never prevail againstthe unshakable edifice founded on the rock ofPeter, which can never fail ? The Church was atthat time, moreover, filled with sorrow by the.heresies of the Beguins, the Flagellants, theAdarnites, the Waldensians, the Wickliffites, andothers, and by the rapid successes of Amurath I.,who, to the loss of the Christian name, took3More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

possession of Thessaly and Macedonia about thetime of Rita's birth. Neither in the Eastern norin the Western Church was there an Emperoreither fitted to oppose a bulwark against theinrush of such evils or disposed to oppose them.John Paleologus in the East had lost heartthrough his frequent defeats, and was leaguedagainst the powers of Christendom; and in theWest, Wenceslaus, given to the wine-cup and toluxury, was become good for nothing.The republics of the time, amongst which wasCascia, were not much more fortunate than thekingdoms. Genoa and Venice, which only ashort time previous might have been comparedin their rivalry to Rome and Carthage in theancient world, had now both become exhaustedof all their strength through a long series of stubbornwars undertaken against one another, andalthough they were now mutually at peace and alsowith the other Powers, through the interventionof the Duke of Savoy, they were unable to showany opposition to the common enemy of Christendom.Nor did the avarice and ambition of theseStates fail to bring in their train a fruitful cropof all other vices. Florence, too, although happyin the cultivation of the fine arts, was infectedwith the general depravity. The city was tomby faction, and weakened by those other vices1IIIPrivate Use Only

against which Blessed Simon of Cascia had sostrenuously preached a few years earlier. Andalthough these exhortations brought about areform, it was but half-hearted and short-lived.Vicious practices increased in the city, and openrebellion against the Holy See was their eventualoutcome. Of Cascia itself we read that in 1380 theGuelphs and the Ghibellines committed horribleatrocities throughout the city and its dependentterritory. And although the opposing factionspatched up a peace between them in that year,it was of no long duration, since, as we have saidin the first chapter, the people of Cascia rebelled! against the Holy See during the first years of theschism of the anti-Popes, just after the birth ofRita. Murder and robbery, pillage and incendiarismfollowed in the wake of rebellion, andbrought ruin to many families in Cascia anddestruction upon her religious places. A warI.soon broke out between Cascia and Leonessa,which lasted for twelve months, and would havecontinued much longer but for the friendly interventionof the Trinci of Foligno, through whoseefforts peace was made. Such was the wretchedcondition of affairs in Italy at that time.It is truly wonderful, as St. John Chrysostomsays of a somewhat similar case, how so fair arose as St. Rita was could have bloomed amid so3-2More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

many thorns. Yet such was the disposition ofDivine providence, which decreed that where sinsuperabounded grace should abound in that chosensoul who, from the miraculous events that precededher birth and her innocence, which shepreserved intact, seemed almost to have beensanctified in her mother's womb. Rita, then,was born in the village of Rocca Porena in theyear 1381, during the pontificate of Urban. Herparents were Antonio Mancini and Amata Ferri,the child of whose old age she was, the first andonly fruit of their chaste love, or, rather, of theirremarkable virtue. The pure joy which filledAmata's heart at the sight of the infant, whichheaven itself had extolled, must have made herforget those trials which every mother has experiencedsince our first mother Eve committedoriginal sin. Antonio, too, as he gazed tenderlyon the predestined child, must have exultedinthe Lord, and must, like Simeon of old, have felthimself ready to die content ; he, too, could nowsing a hymn of thanksgiving to God, who hadgranted him the happiness of seeing the glory ofhis family, of his country, and of the new houseof Israel. The general joy and universal congratulationof relatives and neighbours added to thehappiness of the pious couple, whose virtue andcharity had made them esteemed by all. ThusqPrivate Use Only

did the relatives and neighbours of the holyElizabeth rejoice at the equally wonderful birthof St. John the Baptist, for the Lord desired tomake known the mercy he had shown in thefirst appearance of the Precursor. ' All who lovegoodness,? says Simon of Cascia, ' participate inthe joy that is occasioned by the birth of onedestined to live for the common good.' Thosewho rejoice in grace, and in the sight of the fruitsof justice, must let their sentiments be evident.to all, as in the present case, in which apious mother brought forth a saintly child. Itis part of the spiritual life to be pleased at theprosperity of others, and to rejoice with thoseespecially who have been marked by the favourof the Omnipotent God.Meanwhile, the parents of the newly-borninfant, in the midst of these rejoicings, werepondering on what name they should call her,and again that God, who had by an angel announcedher birth, again in a vision of the nightmade them know that Rita was to be her name.It is a rare privilege of some saints, remarks St.Arnbrose, to deserve to get their names from GodHimself. Thus Jacob was named Israel by theLord, thus was the Baptist named John by theangel, thus the Eternal Father called the Wordmade flesh by the name Jesus before He was born,More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

and thus did she who was to imitate the virtuesof the Baptist and be a faithful follower of JesusChrist get her name from heaven. The nameRita, as being quite an unusual name, must havebeen meant to signify the sanctity that was tomark the life of the child so designated, and ifwe were to give credence to the opinion of theAugustinian author Didacus, Rita signifies virtueand grace.But this name foreshadowed only what Ritawas to be, not what she was. For although shecould be considered from then as a child of Godin the order of predestination, yet according tothe order of nature, and according to her actualstate, she was, owing to original sin, a child ofwrath; and to become an adopted child of Godshe needed to be cleansed from the hereditarystain of original sin in the sanctifying waters ofthe Redeemer. Her baptism took place on thefourth day after her birth, although we maybelieve her pious parents wished her to be baptizedwith all possible speed, and from the delaywe may conclude that the time of her birth musthave been in the winter season. There was nobaptismal font at that time in Rocco Porena, andthe child had therefore to be taken to the collegiatechurch of St. Mary in Gascia, where that gracewhich was to be the beginning and the seal of herPrivate Use Only

sanctification awaited her. There Rita put offthe garb of sin, and came forth from the salutarybath of baptism clothed in the garment of innocenceand enriched with the gifts of the HolyGhost, who from the moment chose her to be Hisspouse. Thus did the regenerated babe return toher mother's bosom and the joyful embraces ofher parents, fairer to the eyes of faith than herbeauty made her to the eyes of men.More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

CHAPTER VwTHE WHITE BEES OF ST. RITAHEN the godmother and her attendantsreturned from Cascia after the baptism,a feast was prepared for them and the relatives ofthe happy parents, to celebrate in a manner becomingtheir humble position the double birthof Rita in the order of nature and of grace.Meanwhile, the child had closed her eyes in atranquil slumber. When the next day dawned,the fifth day of her existence, a swarm of bees,all of the fairest white colour, and such as werenever before seen, made their appearance. Theyflew a-buzzing about the cradle of the child, andafter alighting for a moment on her angelic facewere seen to go in and come out of her slightlyopen mouth in a sort of regular order, as if totake from her lips the honey of Paradise. Whatfeelings of wonder and awe must have beenawakened in the heart of Amata and those whowere present by so marvellous an occurrence ![ 40 IPrivate Use Only

wIThe Gospel tells us that fear came upon allthe neighbours of Elizabeth and Zachary as theyconsidered the miraculous events that markedthe birth of the Baptist, and that they noisedabroad all these things that foretold his futureextraordinary sanctity. In like manner similarsentiments were excited in those who witnessedthe wonderful signs that were given at Rita'sbirth, for Divine providence. so disposed it inorder that honour should be rendered to her bythose whose attention had been attracted bythese extraordinary happenings, and that thosewho came in contact with her should be inducedto order their own lives more exactly by followingthe salutary example she was to give. Thisincident of the appearance of the white bees inthe cradle of our saint is the one which thepainters and poets who have illustrated her lifehave vied most with one another in depicting. Toavoid having to return again to the subject ofthe bees, which have ever been mentioned inconnection with the life of St. Rita, we will heredescribe what seems to be a confirmation andperpetuation of the wonderful occurrence we havejust related. Going from Rocca Porena toqascia,and entering the convent where our saint resided,there, in an old wall opposite the convent gate, ata point midway between the cell which RitaMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

inhabited and the spot in which her body waslaid to rest, we are met with a sight that cannotfail to move us to admiration. For there, evento the present day, the bees, commonly called ,St. Rita's bees, have their nest. They are calledSt. Rita's, for they have been there since hertime, and have come there, we may believe,owing to her, and, as it were, to do her honour.There is only a small number of them-sometwelve or fifteen-and everything connected withthem is extraordinary and wonderful. In theh t place, as we have hinted above, the speciesto which these bees belong has never, as far as 1we are aware, been determined. They live eachone to itself in a hole which it has dug in the wall,and as often as these holes have been stopped upin the process of plastering the wall they haveagain excavated them. They spin a sort of whiteIsubstance, with which they stop the entrance totheir retreat, as if to hide themselves from viewduring their long retirement and fast of elevenmonths. They appear only on those days dediicated to the memory of our Lord's Passion, and,be it noted, these are mostly movable feasts;land they betake themselves to retirement aboutthe time of the death of St. Rita, who was devoted,as we shall see, to meditation on the Passion of ourLord. For four centuries they have been foundPrivate Use Only

in the same place, without ever. having changedtheir place of abode. These ascertained factsseem to declare clearly enough that it has beenthe will of the Most High to extol through themthe merit and the glory of His beloved servant.There is no need to add the many anecdotes ofthese bees, which are related in some lives of oursaint, and which the nuns of Cascia still tell ;let one suffice. Jacobilli says that one of thesebees was sent to Pope Urban VIII. in a crystalvessel, and that it soon flew back again to theplace it occupied in the convent wall.Here it may be asked whether the bees we havedescribed are the same that appeared when Ritawas an infant in-swaddling-clothes. It would beharder to give an answer to this question than tothe riddle which Sampson proposed to his bridesmen.Sampson's faithless spouse was able towrest his secret from him and then reveal it to her. Philistine friends: that the sweetness that cameforth out of the strong was the honeycomb thatwas made in the mouth of the lion that he hadtom in pieces a short time before. But we canfind no answer to our question. However, thosebiographers of St. Rita who, without hesitation,confused the bees that appeared at her birthwith those in the convent may be excused, asthey supposed both to be of the same whiteMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

colour. But they have been mistaken, for thoseat present in the convent wall are not white-infact, they do not differ in colour from ordinarybees, except that they are of a deep red on theback and they want the sting. But perhaps thesewriters were not so far from the truth, since thereis but the accidental variety of colour that distinguishesthe present bees from the white onesthat appeared first at Rita's birth. And who cansay but that those once meant by God to symbolizeby their whiteness the splendour of Rita'sbaptismal innocence may not, through the powerof God, have taken on their present appearanceto signify the humiliation and sadness of thepenances she took upon herself ? To change theappearance of a species already existing or tocreate a new species is easy to God. Let the truthof the matter be where it may, it is clear that bothare marvellous, and worthy to be recorded inthe history of our saint. But it is time we returnedto gaze on her, surrounded in her cradleby those lilies of her incipient sanctity, andcrowned with the bright circle of bees that stillbuzzed around her. We might now inquirewhether the bees that entered her innocent mouthmade a honeycomb in it, as is believed to havehappened to St. Ambrose in his infancy, as if toforecast the mellifluous eloquence which he poured.~II4,4Ii1IPrivate Use Only

forth in his manhood in defence of the Church.Although this anecdote as related of St. Ritais not sufficiently well proven, neither is it impossible; for when there is question of miraculousevents the difficulties of time and place do notform an insurmountable obstacle, as they did notin the case of St. Ambrose. At all events, we havetwo authors that assert it, and perhaps theiropinion is supported by the farther statementthat is made-that Rita abstained from hermother's milk on the day on which the beesappeared, the fifth day after her birth. Godmay have wished to give her for corporal foodmystical or symbolical honey of unearthly origin,as He had fed her soul with the food of baptismalgrace. In this way would be more clearly signifiedthat which was foreshadowed by the appearanceof the bees, the insinuating sweetness inword and manner which was afterwards the causeof the conversion of many sinners, which everbrought consolation to the afflicted, and spiritualprofit to all who had the good fortune to conversewith her.More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

CHAPTER VI5T. AUGUSTINE in his Confessions takes uptwo chapters in describing his infancy, andhe discovers in that period of his life only miseryand vestiges of sin, but he recalls these evilsthat spring from our sinful origin only to extolthe triumphs which Divine giace obtained in hismature years. The time of infancy is, however,one in which, sinci there can be no acts of reflection,nor exercise of will, there can be no demeritor actual sin, nor merit or virtue. It willnot, therefore, be strange if our history passes overthe infancy of Rita and proceeds to describe herchildhood. From the extraordinary piety thatdistinguished her parents we can easily surmisewhat care .they took in training and educatingtheir child to instil into her mind the truthsof religion. They had abundant proofs thatRita was especially dear to God, that she wasborn for heaven, and that Divine grace had146 IPrivate Use OnlyI

marked her for its own. But they knew alsothat God, who disposes all things wisely, wishedthem to co-operate in moulding the chosen childto virtue and in establishing her in holiness.They were well. aware that even the chiefestvessels of election had for a time kicked againstthe goads of grace. Nor were they ignorantwhat a bulwark of defence is raised by educationand by the example of parents-a fact whichmany unhappy parents either know not or arecareless of, and hence by their neglect they becomethe cause of the eternal ruin of their children. Itwill not, therefore, be useless to remark the watchfulness,the care and anxiety, with which Rita'sparents observed all the movements, words, andactions of a child so dear to them, lest she shouldtake a step to the right or to the left of the waythat leads to heaven, and which, with the dawningof reason, she began to discern for herself.But these happy parents had no cause for anxietyduring the process of instructing and mouldingthe character of their child, for she had, throughid's grace, acquired a disposition marked byuncommon submission and precocious wisdom.Let it suffice to say that even then she could notbear those pastimes and sports which are properto that tender age, and which are universallyregarded as innocent. she had an example inMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

Tobias, who, although he was the youngest io.his tribe, showed himself to be the wisest, andnever did anything that was childish.Another failing, which is dear not only tochildren, but to all, and especially to the femalesex, the love of fine clothes, was an abominationto Rita. We must not believe that 'a virtuousmother like Amata, especially considering herlowly condition, could allow her daughter toappear in anything savouring of pride or ostentation.On the other hand, Rita, although scrupulouslyobedient in other things to the slightestwish of her parents, became uneasy whenever theywished her to put on some pretty ornament ; sheused even to run away and hide herself at suchtimes, till she saw that her disinclination provokeda smile. Thus, satisfied with her humble dress,she took more pains to adorn her soul than toimprove her appearance by the addition of theleast ornament. To simplicity in dress shejoined a sedateness of manner so beyond her yearsthat it attracted universal respect, admiration,and love, and set a salutary example not only tothose of her own age, but to older people also.She restrained to a wonderful degree that commontendency of women to curiosity and gossip, andhaving her thoughts occupied with higher subjectsshe avoided all human conversation as farPrivate Use Only

as good manners and obedience permitted.Obedience was the virtue according to which sheregulated all her actions. She regarded a beckof her parents as a command of God which shecould not violate ; and her obedience was all themore willing as it accorded with the impulse ofgrace which impelled her to the practice of allother virtues. For obedience, as Blessed Simon ofCascia observes, is the gate of the virtues.Rita'slove of retirement and of prayer had already risento the heroic point. Whoever wished to see herwas certain of finding her either at home or in the~r neighbouring parish church, which was herfavourite place of prayer, where she spent entirehours in meditation and devotion, to the greatedification of all. Although penance is a virtuehardly suitable to so tender an age or to suchperfect innocence, yet Rita began froin herearliest years to chastise her body by differentmortifications, and especially by fasting ; and to1 render her abstinence more meritorious and acceptableto God she distributed to the poorchildren of the neighbourhood that food whichshe denied herself, thus bringing forth fruits ofmercy and charity from the root of penance.This was the only way in which her loving goodwilland tender compassion could show themselves -in action ; poverty made anything further im-More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

possible. But the Lord, who searches the heart,and delights in men of goodwill, sought nothingmore from Rita then. But she was unconsciouslyincreasing in charity and in merit as she grew inyears, so that she could apply to herself the sayingof Job-that mercy came out with him from his Imother's womb, and from his infancy grew upwith him.* Not only did her spirit grow, as itwere, and become strong by the exercise of thesebeautiful virtues, but her progress in all virtue was 1extraordinary.t* Job xxi. 18.*Private Use Only

CHAPTER VIIpT. JOHN THE BAPTIST experienced aS similar strengthening of the spirit, as weread in that place in which it is also written thathe went into the desert, where he hid himself, asBlessed Simon says, in order to give himself upentirely to prayer, contemplation, and penance.The comparison between these saints is often afitting one, for Rita always follows closely in thefootsteps of her great model. It is true that,according to the example of the Psalmist, shewalked in the innocence of her heart, in the bosomof her virtuous family, for she found nothingabroad that could distract her spirit from theaffairs of her home, whilst her gravity, modesty,and habitual seclusion opened to her a wide fieldfor the exercise of her love of prayer. Yet shewas so enamoured of heavenly things that shewearied of the things of earth, and desired, ina certain sense, to be out of the world; and since[ 51 I 4-2More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

this could not be, she regarded with a holy envythe lot of so many anchorites and heroinesof solitude, who, in deserts and in the depthsof woods, lived lives more like those of angelsthan of men. She had before her eyes the examplesof Blessed Simon, of Blessed Ugolino,of Blessed John, and of the other saintly hermitsof St Augustine, who had only recently passed totheir reward in heaven, or were still living in the -neighbourhood of Rocca Porena. The exampleof these models of holiness increased in her hearther dearest desire to serve her beloved Jesusamid-the silence of the woods and on the mountsof myrrh. But the love of her aged parents,and obedience, more than any thought of heryouth and sex, prevented her from fulfilling her. generous design. The sacred love with whichshe was animated made her industrious, and suggestedthe thought of converting her home intothe solitude she longed for. With the consentof her parents she chose a little room separatedfrom the others, and turned it into an oratory.Its walls she decorated with pictures of our Lord'sPassion, and there she shut herself in, as into themidst of all delights. Her Divine Lover awaitedher there to speak to her heart, and there, farfrom the eyes of men, in perpetual silence andabstinence; she enjoyed those ineffable consola-Private Use Only

tions of grace which the profane know not of.The constant object of her thoughts, of herecstasies of soul, of the most ardent love of herr heart, was the Passion of her crucified Spouse ;and in the midst of the tears which accompaniedher meditation, whilst her heart was filled withDivine compassion, she experienced that truepeace and happiness of soul which only grace canproduce--how we know not-from sorrow. Shefelt herself transformed into the Crucified One,for whom alone she now lived-rather, she nolonger lived, but Jesus Christ lived in her. Inlp that school of love, through that Divine teaching,she came to know more certainly the fallacy ofall worldly things ; she saw how the world deceivesus, and she saw also the charms and pomps andpleasures of this life, but she saw them as theyreally are, and could therefore say with the wiseman that they are but vanity and affliction ofspirit. She therefore resolved to have no part inthis deceitful world, and since life in the desertr was denied her, she resolved to bury herself in acloister. But she had not yet reached the agein which to put her design into execution. . Meanwhilethe holy child lived in her first place ofretirement for a full twelvemonth, until theobligation of assisting her parents and the dutiesof charity and obedience forced her from the placec'More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

of her spiritual happiness. This happened probablywhen she was about eleven years old. Herparents were now beginning to feel the burden oftheir years, and Rita had perforce to enter uponan active life, and exercise works of mercy andjustice, without, however, entirely abandoningher practices of meditation. Her history doesnot tell us how she performed the domestic dutiesthat fell to her lot, perhaps because, from what weknow of her life hitherto, that may more easilybe imagined than described. Whilst fulfillingthe parts of both sisters of Lazarus, she did notcease to envy John in the desert. ~lthok~h theHoly Spirit had, through her prayers, made knownto her many things, and although she continuedstill to be enlightened from above, yet she knewnot what was written in the eternal decreesconcerning herself, that Providence only put offto a better time the fulfilment of her thirst forsolitude and for a cloistered life. Rita was intendedto be an example to every age and condition;she should therefore live other lives before .(reaching the cloister she panted for.Private Use Only

CHAPTER VIIIRITA'S MARRIAGEPrbIN the year 1393 Italy, not to say the wholeworld, was suffering under the evils thatproceed from political disturbance, and the stateof morals throughout the peninsula was deplorable.Still, the honour of the Church was upheldby the many saints whose lives then adorned it,not the least of whom was Rita. Urban VI. wasdead, and Boniface IX. ruled in his place. Butthe Holy See had to withstand many a rudeshock, for the anti-Pope Robert, then near hisend, continued to dispute the possession of theApostolic keys, and at his death left to his moreimpious successor, Pietro di Luna, his sad legacyof obstinate schism. Heresy, fanaticism,-religiousand political-and the utmost corruptionof morals were not wanting to fill the cup ofItaly's woes.The weak hands of the cruel and dissoluteWenoeslaus still held the sceptre of the West, and[ 55 1More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

John Paleologus, who had succeeded his fatherEmmanuel, cbuld only weep over the impendingruin of his falling empire, that was shaken inevery part by the infidel arms of the Sultan 4Bajazet. In Italy the rivalry of the differentStates, and, above all, the vaulting ambition ofGian Galeazzo Visconti, Lord of Milan, served tokeep alive disunion, antagonism, and wretchedness.At this very time the republic of Cascia,which, since its revolt against the Holy See, hadhardly enjoyed a moment of peace or prosperity,was in arms against the Guelphs of Cerreto, andhad at the same time to prosecute a stubborn qwar against Aquila. In these contests the militaryportion of Cascia, by their deeds of violence, theirrobberies, and their atrocities, trampled on everylaw of humanity and modesty. It is true thathostilities came to an end in 1395, when terms ofpeace were agreed on; but warlike Cascia could noSremain long at rest, but took up arms againstMonte Reale in a new war, which lasted till 1397.Whilst Cascia and the other States we havementioned were seeking by iniquitous means towiden the borders of the kingdom of confusion andsin, Rita, in Rocca Porena, was meditating onlyhow she could best please God, that, as theApostle says, she might be holy in body and inspirit. The lurid picture of universal disorderPrivate Use Only

IIrightly excited in her feelings of horror, and convincedher all the more of the vanity and crueltyof the world.She saw the deceitful pleasures, the snares andithorns, the inevitable evils that show themselvesat every step, and the dangers that at everymoment threaten the soul with ruin. On theother hand, she perceived the great advantagesthat result from separating one's self from theworld ; she recalled all the spiritual joy andinterior consolation she experienced during thetime she lived in retirement in her home, and sheA therefore felt herself more firmly grounded inher determination to flee for ever from the tumultof worldlings. The solitude which formed theobject of her desires, and in which she resolvedto offer to God the holocaust of her virginity, wasthe convent of Cascia, where she afterwards livedand died, called at that time St. Mary Magdalen's,and occupied then, as well as now, by nuns of theOrder of St. Augustine. This pious project hadbeen for some time maturing in her mind, andalthough she was hardly twelve years of age~she determined to carry it into effect withoutany of those wearisome delays which the grace ofthe Holy Spirit knows not of, which belong tocertain weak and hesitating souls that cannotbreak the world's ties, or those of vain fear, whenMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

God calls them to a state of perfection. AlthoughRita then heard the call of her Divine Lover, shedid not know the time He had fixed for thefulfilling of her wishes, but, overcome by a holy*impatience, she resolved to make known to herparents her desire for a religious life. Who cantell what struggles the voice of nature must havecaused in her soul at this crisis, as she thought thatshe was for ever about to separak herself fromthe side of her dearly loved and aged parents ?Even the saints feel the strength of nature, but,like giants, they pass on to triumphs in the kingdomof grace. Thus Rita acted. She shut her ?ears to the insinuating voice of flesh and blood,informed her parents of her religious vocation,and humbly and fervently begged their leave toobey the voice of God. When they heard theirdaughter express such a wish, Antonio and Amata,pious though they were, did not hide their sorrowand the trouble they felt. They besought withtears that their only child, the one object of theirtehderest love, their only prop and consolation,Ishould not abandon them in their old age. Theirtearful pleading, acting on the filial love and obediencewhich filled Rita's heart, prevailed on herto put off for a better time the fulfilment of hernoble purpose. Being so far successful, herparents turned their attention to providing aPrivate Use Only

husband for her, in order both to make sure ofretaining her society and her assistance that hadbecome necessary to them, and to save theirfamily from extinction ; and they fixed their eyeson a young man called, according to some,Ferdinand, and to others Paul. But old eyes donot always see clearly. The young man whomthey selected was impulsive and irascible, witha character formed amid the savage surroundingsof that time and place-in a word, he was wellfitted to try the patience and virtue of Rita.He was proposed as a husband to the saintlygirl, and all the weight of parental authority,and every motive that human nature couldsuggest, were adduced to win her consent. Wedo not know with what prayers and entreatiesthe distressed girl opposed the suggestion, butwe do know that she showed the repugnance hersoul felt. It was not, however, the dispositionof her intended husband that made her hate theidea of marriage, for if the knowledge of it werehidden from her parents, it could scarcely beknown to a young girl so fond of retirement. AllRita's aversion and complaining sprang from thefear of seeing closed to her the road that led tothe conventual life to which she aspired, and thedread of having to dwell in the midst of an eviland destroying world, in which she would beMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

plunged into the dangerous cares of married life.Seeing at last that her tears could not bend herparents to her wishes, and feeling somewhatshaken by considerations of filial piety and obedience,she had recourse in her hard trial to theFather of light. During her prayer she becameconscious of an inspiration that told her to bendher neck to the yoke of matrimony, and thusunderstood that what she took to be a suggestionof paternal love, purely human and the voice offlesh and blood, was in reality a disposition ofheaven. Resignation to the Divine will partlyrestored her peace of mind, and the consent toher marriage which she announced to her parentsfilled them with satisfaction. Rita gave herconsent through an impulse of obedience, andsince perfect obedience to the Divine will requiresa holy blindness, she took no care toinquire about the fortune, appearance, or otherqualities of her future husband. Rita was thereforein the first flower of her youth, her beauty,and virtue when, under the nuptial veil of hermodesty, she stood before the altar to become aparty to that indissoluble contract which JesusChrist raised to the dignity of a Sacrament, andwhich gives children to the people of God. Therelatives and friends on both sides were resolvedto celebrate the nuptials with feastings, but thePrivate Use Only

common joy did not reach the heart of the piousbride, for that was fixed on nobler objects. Tothe hour of her marriage Rita had been an excellentexample to all virgins. In those few yearsshe had given enough lessons to show how virginalcandour and pure innocence should be preserved ;she had now to follow another path to become abright example of virtue to all who live in themarried state.More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

CHAPTER IXRITA AS WIFETHE Apostle's saying, that ' all things worktogether for good to those who love God,'remains always true. Rita had passed from thestate of virginity to that of matrimony, yet thisstep towards a lower state was destined to leadher to a higher grade of glory. Thus St. Monica,whose faithful follower our heroine was ever tobe, would not have been St. Augustine's motherby nature, and in the order of grace would nothave drawn the erring Patrizio, her husband, toGod, would not have so wide a field whereinto exercise her patience and fortitude, would nothave lpt all those examples of virtue which hersowi&ugustine admires and exalts in his book of' Confessions,' if Divine Providence had not ledher by that path which, long after, her daughterRita followed.The ways are diverse and diverse are the gifts,but the Spirit is the same which guides souls in[ 62 IPrivate Use Only

a wonderful manner towards greater good. Theway of tribulation was that which the Lordopened to our saint, and by the means of matrimonyHe wished her to pass through fire and water-in other words, through every sort of danger,temptation, and persecution, in order to proveand purify her, as gold is purified in the furnace,and thence to receive her into heaven as a mostpure holocaust. Hence the God whose wishplaced her in the married state so disposed it thatshe should pass from her original life of filialsubmission to that of slavery under a tyrannicalhusband. Thus it was that hardly had a few dayspassed after the marriage than her unworthyhusband began to illtreat the innocent Ritawith reproaches, abuse, threats, and even blows,of which the only cause was his own brutalinclination. But our gentle heroine had studiedin the school of the Crucified One ; she had alreadylearned how to conquer her passions even to theextent of rejoicing in the midst of tribulation, forshe was convinced that tribulation is the food ofChristian patience, that penitence is the greatproof of real virtue, and that on the exercise ofit is based our priceless hope of eternal good thatshall not fail us.Yet because she was aware that not all whosuffer are blessed, but only those who suffer forMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

justice' sake, she took every care and tried everymeans to please her husband, whom nothing couldsatisfy. She waited on him, tried to discover hiswants, sought to interpret his unspoken wishes,studied his temper-in a word, she did her utmostnever to give him the least cause to complain, atleast in everything in which her duty as a Chris-' tian permitted. She was well aware that a wifeought to regard her husband as a master to whomthat obedience and reverential fear are due whichthe Church owes to her head, Christ Jesus. Shenot only knew, but practised it in a way thatastonished all who were acquainted with thenatural brutality of her husband and her ownheroic submission, meekness, and invincible constancy.She obeyed his every beck, and undertookno duty without first seeking his approval.So far did she carry this submission that she didnot go out of her house even to attend the Divineoffices in church without having first obtainedhis permission. With all this the contest was a-long one between the husband's cruelty and thewife's sweetness of temper, between his viciousnature and her virtue, between his pride and herhumility, his ferocity and her meekness, his arroganceand her tractableness, between his powerto give pain and her ability to suffer.But the victory was gained by Rita's virtues,IPrivate Use Only

for her long-suffering at length won her husband'sheart, and brought unity and love into theirhome. Whenever afterwards Ferdinand felt inclined,as he sometimes did, to have recourse tocutting words or unseemly acts, at the sight ofher humility and patience, and the memory ofher gentle admonitions, he adopted the expedientof going out of the house till his ,mind recoveredits tranquillity. We read, too, that, completelyovercome by her sweet gentleness, he one daythrew himself at her feet to ask pardon from herfor his faults and to promise to correct them. Tothe unspeakable consolation of Rita he kept thispromise, nor was she slow to refer all the praiseof this conversion to the Giver of all good things,who alone is Lord of the human heart. Whenfraternal correction is not the outcome of irritationor pride, it is an instrument of Divine grace,and we know that it has no other object than thesalvation of him who is corrected when the wordand manner which convey it are marked by moderationand kindness. Rita therefore brought intoaction all the graces, natural and supernatural,which she possessed, in order to bind closely toher that unquiet heart of her husband, and todraw him to the Lord, and induce him to fulfilhis Christian obligations.Two sons were born to them, the elder of whom5More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

was named Gian Giacomo, and the other PaoloMaria. Both of them inherited their father'squarrelsome and -irascible temperament, and hisexample did not help to improve them. We mayeasily imagine the trouble, the watchfulness,the uneasiness, the fear, and anxiety which adevoted Christian mother like Rita must haveexperienced in rearing, educating, and, above all,in forming the minds of her young children. Thewords which she kept continually repeating intheir ears, and which she would have wished toimpress indelibly on their hearts, were words ofthe holy fear of God, of piety and devotion.But not so much with words did the pious motherendeavour to instil into them the pure maximsof the Gospel as by the example of her own exaltedvirtues. Would that fathers and mothers wouldlearn once for all from the saints, and becomeconvinced of the undeniable truth that theirchildren are moulded more by their example thanby their words, even when these are not contradictedby their deeds! Rita, however, in hervigilance spared nothing, neither words noractions, nor advice nor blame, nor threats norchastisements, to train these tender plantsheavenwards; but their natural and more easytendency was downwards, and this was hergreatest cause of sorrow amongst so many causes,Private Use Only

and the worst of aJl her troubles. We do notmean to say that Gian Giacomo and Paolo werelike David's sons Amnon and Absolom, yet it isa fact that the children of holy people are sometimesself-willed and wicked, however holy theirupbringing may have been. Rita, however, knewwhat a mother's duty was, and she therefore, inbringing up her children, never allowed her zealto slacken, nor her patience to wear out, nor herwatchfulness to grow weary.The trials were severe enough which our heroinehad to undergo from the society of an irasciblehusband, whose virtue was none of the moststeadfast, but they were redoubled by the evilinclinations she saw appear in her children, andtheir hatred of all good instruction. The citizensof the heavenly kingdom, whilst they live in thisworld amongst the sinful and the wicked, must,as St. Augustine teaches, be tossed about bytemptations, in order that they may keep themselvesin the practice of virtue, and be proved asgold is proved in the crucible. Tried by suchafFlictions, Rita seemed to have come to such apass that she could do nothing else than, with theprophet, raise her pure hands to heaven night andday, to seek in God alone some relief in her troublesand some defence against the evils of her house.** Ps. lxxvi. 2.5-2More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

If ever she deemed it necessary to have recourseto prayer, now assuredly was a time that calledfor redoubled prayer and the greatest fervour.She therefore prayed without ceasing. Her continuedmeditations on the sufferings of our Lordwas a relief in her distress ; frequent communionbrought comfort to her troubled state, and herparticular devotion to our Blessed Lady, consolerof the afflicted, to St. John the Baptist, St. Augustine,and St. Nicholas of Tolentine, often broughtforgetfulness of her woes. Women of the worldenduring the like suffering and trouble woulddeem themselves dispensed from the practice ofany other mortification, and in their love of ease,which readily flatters them, would find a thousandpretexts to exempt themselves even from thefasts that are commanded. But Rita, who wasin the world but not of it, far from suspendingthe acts of penitence she was used to practisebefore her marriage, took refuge in works ofgreater austerity, in abstinence and fastings andin chastising her body. In spite of these acts ofmortification, she still had sufficient strength andvigour to attend to all the needs of her houseand assist the wants of her neighbours ; she relievedthe necessities of the poverty stricken, andwith her own hands prepared food for them ;by the bedsides of the sick she was unwearying,4Private Use Only

and, in a word, made herself all things to all men.When she had to appear abroad, either in theperformance of her works of charity or to bepresent at the Divine mysteries in the church,her angelic modesty and the goodness and interiorpeace which shone in her countenance served toedify all who saw her. These were her adornments,not the trappings of worldly show, whichfrom childhood she abhorred, and which weremore detestable in her eyes now that she hadadvanced so far on the way of perfection. Shecarefully avoided all unbecoming neglect in dress,and appeared in a garb free from' everythingsavouring of vanity, not to say indecency-sucha dress as would escape the eyes of the curious,and which, instead of luxuriousness, showed acontempt of the present life, and was exactlywhat necessity and Christian humility required.1In her intercourse with others, whilst always well-I mannered and agreeable, she possessed singulartact in avoiding all conversations which were notof God or of works of corporal or spiritual mercyto her neighbours. No one ever heard from herlips any of those complaints against her husbandwhich are so frequent when women meet together.If ever any of her female acquaintances who knewhow she was treated'by her ill-tempered husbandtried to provoke her to complain by affected pity,More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

70 LIFE OF ST. RITA OF CASCIAas grumbling women not unfrequently did, sheeither turned the conversation to another subjector covered her husband's faults with the mantleof charity, and thereby gave a practical exampleof virtue which her neighbours might to theiradvantage imitate. In brief, St. Rita was anotherSt. Monica: she was the strong woman of theparables of Solomon, and was in all respects thebest model for married women.Private Use Only

CHAPTER XDEATH OF RITA'S HUSBAND AND CHILDREN-RITA AS WIDOWRITA had succeeded, as we .have- said,' ii~assuaging the cruelty that seemed tb havebeen natural 'to her husband. The means sheemployed to effect this change were the gentlemanner which she naturally possessed, and which. Divine grace made still more gentle; the good,advice she ever gave, her kindness and unwearyingpatience, her good example, and, above all,her fervent prayers. But whether it was thathis enemies, brooding over old causes of hate,resolved to take revenge for past offences, orthat Ferdinand, in a fresh outburst' of passion, .had exposed himself to new quarrels and newdangers, the fact remains that when he had livedeighteen years with Rita he was barbarouslymurdered a short distance outside Rocca Porena(the place where the unfortunate victim fell isstill shown). Hardly had the report of his tragicC 71 I -More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

death reached the ears of his widowed spousethan, despite her magnanimous heart, she paidthe tribute of nature in an outburst of bitter,scalding tears. In the depths of her heart theholy woman felt the wounds that had taken fromher side the husband she loved. But the thoughtsthat made her weep were not thoughts of temporallosses, or of her sorrow, or of being left alone toprovide for her family, or of having to dwellwith undutiful children with no one to supporther. ~ aother r sadder and more serious considerationswere breaking her heart. A little humanfeeling and a weak grasp of faith are enough tofill us with horror at hearing of a violent death.We may, then, easily imagine what grief Ritafelt as she considered in the light of her livelyfaith all the evil on the one part and the otherthat may have preceded and accompanied thathomicidal attempt, or as she dwelt on the uncertaintyof pardon or of her husband's penitence,or his having to appear before his Judge without,having received the last Sacraments. Nevertheless,that lively faith which made her feeldoubly the crushing force of the calamity thathad overtaken her soon raised her above herself,above death and every human consideration.She raised the eyes of her soul to heaven andremembered, and was sure that Divine Providence,Private Use Only

whose designs are inscrutable, n_ot only disposesaIl the good that is done, but permits all the evilwhich comes from man's free-will. This thoughtsufficed to bow her down before the throne ofthe Divine Majesty, to adore His just judgments,and hence came comfort to her bruised heart.The saints have no need of the barren consolationsof the world; they find in religion thatcomfort which reason alone can never give.Our noble heroine did not for a moment hesitateto pardon sincerely from 'her heart the murderersof her unfortunate husband, but, mindful of theexample of Jesus Christ, who prayed to theEternal Father for those who crucified Him, andof St. Stephen, who interceded for those who werestoning him to death, she too offered ferventsupplications to the Divine Mercy for those cruelmurderers.Hardly had Rita raised her mind above thestormy sea of her sorrows than a new troubleappeared to afflict her. She perceived with consternationthat her soris, although yet of tenderyears, were plotting vengeance against those whowere guilty of their father's blood. The afflictedwidow exerted all her force by word and deed toexcite in them sentiments of resignation and offorgiveness and of Christian charity. She ceasednot to keep before their minds the eternal maxims,More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

the fear of judgment and of hell, the examples ofthe saints, and especially the example of ourcrucified Redeemer, who, in the extremity of Hissufferings, interceded for His inhuman executioners.She took care, too, immediately toremove out of the sight of her sons the bloodygarments of her slain husband. But in spite ofall her advice and solicitude, the sorrowingmother could not touch her children's vengefulhearts, or, if she did succeed in softening them,it was but for a moment they abandoned theirwicked intentions. Amidst circumstances of suchdistress, and oppressed by her fears, the unhappywidow knew not whither to turn, and on earthshe found only subjects of sorrow and vestigesof sin. She turned her weeping eyes once moreto heaven, and there again she found the greatestcomfort in her sufferings. Although she was amother, and had a mother's affectionate heart,yet because she loved and sought God's honourmore than her own flesh and blood, like a nobleChristian heroine, she supplicated the Lord eitherto change her children's hearts or to take themout of this world before they could accomplishthe vengeance they were meditating. Rita'svows were acceptable to heaven, and to her wasgranted to complete Abraham's sacrifice in a newway-for the patriarch's knife was arrested iniIPrivate Use Only

mid-air, and Isaac was saved; but she saw hertwo sons fall one after another victims to herprayers that pierced the heavens. Thus we maywell hope that the most merciful Lord providedfor their eternal salvation during their mortalillness. and then took them, lest wickednessshould alter their understanding,* and at the sametime provided for the mother by opening to her away into a new life far removed from the worldand so long'the object of her wishes, a life altogetherspiritual and by anticipation blessed.The brave woman did not weep, and although atthe time of her husband's tragic end she wasdissolved in tears through fear about the salvationof his soul and- the souls of his murderers, yet atthe deaths of her children she only thanked herGod who had taken them away from the dangersof sin and the risk of another more dreadfuldeath-that of the soul.It is difficult to discover how long Rita had tostruggle with her vengeful children, or how longshe remained in the world after they had passedto eternity. It seems certain, however, that thetime she lived as a widow was short. But weknow that during that period she placed all herconfidence in God, and that she was engagednight and day in the practice of most perfect* Wisd. of Sol. iv. I I.More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

prayer,* according to St. Paul's instruction towidows. She bore the cross with Jesus Christ,and lived a life of perpetual self-denial. Morethan ever she kept her body ii subjection byscourgings and continued fasting, and she distributedto the poor that part of her food whichher abstinence spared. She rejoiced in perform- .ing works of mercy, and was, in a word, all lovetowards God and her neighbour, and in no waysolicitous about herself. Amongst other instancesof her heroic charity we read that, happening oneday upon a poor man half naked and tremblingwith cold, she took one of her own garments andgave it to him, and went on her way rejoicingthat God had given her the opportunity and thegrace to deprive herself of what she herself neededin order to help one of the poor of the Lord. Herdress was of coarse serge, and was a dark blue incolour, and during the severity of the winter sheadded a rough cloak. She always wore sackcloththat she might always .be doing penance.In retirement alone she found her consolationand joy; and no sooner were her children deadthan her old burning desire to enclose herselfonce for all within the cherished shadows of thecloister sprang into life again. We may relatean incident which gave a new impetus to her* I Tim. v. 5.1Private Use Only

vocation, as it is told by an ancient writer :Having gone one day from Rocca Porena toCascia, she went into the church of the Augustiniannuns whilst Mass was being said, and thereshe felt as if those words of our Saviour werebeing imprinted on her mind, ' I am the Way, the.Truth, and the Life '-words which then passedinto her heart to pierce it with the Divine lovewhich spoke to her and invited her.We may well believe, too, that the worthyexamples of other female saints then living orbut recently gone to their reward offered newarguments to urge her not to delay entering on aconventual life. The memory of St. Bridget ofSweden and Blessed Angela of Foligno was stillrecent, whilst St. Margaret of Monferrato andSt. Frances of Rome were then still living, all ofthem illustrious women raised up by God, asRita was in Cascia, to oppose and bear testimonyagainst the corruption of those times, and all ofthem predestined to become models to the virginsof the cloister after having adorned in the worldthe three states of virginity, married life andwidowhood. But even without these examplesRita was sufficiently conscious of the interiorvoice of her heavenly Spouse, and she readilyprepared to obey it. Thus Abraham had hardlyheard the angel's voice when he arose in the dark-More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

ness of the night and went to sacrifice his son;the shepherds who were watching their flockswhen they heard the announcement of the DivineInfant's birth ran to offer Him their homage ;the Magi, as soon as they saw the new star, didnot hesitate to undertake their long journey toadore the King of kings in His swaddling-clothes ;the Apostles, at the first call of the Redeemer,left their nets and followed Him ; the head of theApostles, Peter, at a sign from the angel, rosequickly from his broken chains ; so Rita determinedto hide herself without delay in that sacredretreat where her Divine Lover was awaiting her.That retreat, as we have said, was the convent inCascia of the nuns who follow the rule of thegreat Augustine, who were called at that timenuns of St. Mary Magdalen, from the ancient titleof their church, and who were remarkable forstrict observance. We have said before that theAugustinian Order flourished there not only inthe convent of the nuns, but in the wonderfulsanctity of the worthy followers of the Blessed -Simon, Blessed Ugolino, and Blessed John andSimon, all of whom had dwelt in the woods ofCascia. This, too, must have been a strong attractionto our saint, and a further inducement to fixher mind unchangeably on Cascia. The memoryof the heroic virtues practised by St. Nicholas ofPrivate Use Only

Tolentine, her special advocate, was still fresh inthe minds of men, and the fame of his stupendousmiracles had spread throughout the land. Butthe principal motive why she sought to wear thehabit of St. Augustine was that God in His inscrutabledecrees had called her to that state bythe loving invitations of His.grace. The piouswidow approached the nuns, and, throwing herselfat their feet, in simple words and with all thefervour of her heart expressed her desire to serveGod within their walls and in that penitentialgarb they wore. But her request was vain ; itwas not thought convenient to receive a widowin a convent intended for virgins, and it wasagainst their custom. Rita took her refusalpatiently, but she did not lose courage, and, likeAbraham, she hoped against hope.* Some timeafter she went back again, represented that shehad a vocation, renewed her prayers and sighs;but she was rejected a second and, again, a thirdtime. But the more the nuns persisted in refusingher admission, the more did Rita acquirethe merit of humility, patience, and unalterableconfidence in God. She attributed her refusalto her own unworthiness, and in her self-contemptshe more and more conformed herself to hermodel, Jesus. This was the manner of life which* Rom. iv. 18.More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

Rita led in the world, where she was a mirror ofevery virtue- to virgins, to the married, and towidows. We shall see how she became an exampleof sanctity to religious in the cloister.END OF PART IPrivate Use Only

#art 3E3ERITA IN THE CLOISTERMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

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CHAPTER IRITA'S MIRACULOUS ENTRY INTO THE CLOISTERAND HER RECEPTIONA LL Rita's thoughts and all her affections -were centred in heaven, and the reasonwhy she desired to lead a more perfect life in thecloister was thereby to make more certain ofattaining the object of her desires. But the worldin that century of wickedness was engaged aboutfar different things ; the vortex of worldly hopesand ambitions had engulfed almost all the aspirationsof men. In the East, rapine, vice,violence, murder, irreligion, and a long train ofirreparable wrongs, had followed quickly uponthe victories of Sultan Bajazet and the defeats ofthe Emperor Emmanuel. The prolonged war wasstill being waged in the German Empire betweenSigismund and the rebellious Hussites, whodespised human life in their endeavours to spreadtheir heresy and profane and overthrow the altar.[ 83 1 2More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

The government of the Church, then underPope John XXIII., was most violently harassedby the anti-Pope Pietro di Luna, whose contumacythe Council of Constance failed to break down, asthe Council of Pisa had failed before. Italycontinued to be the laughing-stock of tyrantsand of the resuscitated factions of the Guelphsand the Ghibellines. Of the two Visconti whogoverned the Cisalpine province, one was theslave of his vices and the other was the prisonerof his rebellious subject Facino Cane, tyrant ofAlexandria, who was the formidable chief of amarauding band and the despoiler of the province.The tyrannous usurpations of Ottobonoin Parma, Da Vignate in Lodi, Fond010 in Cremona,and Malatesta in Brescia still continued.The Romagna and the Marshes enjoyed no higherdegree of liberty or prosperity under the yoke ofdespotism. The factions of Durozzo and ofAnjou still disputed possession of the kingdomof Naples, and the ambitious Ladislaus, withdesigns on the whole Italian peninsula, began tothreaten Rome with the fugitive Pontiff. The1Irepublics of Venice, Genoa, Florence, and Siena .Iwere either plotting against one another oractually at war. Cascia was the only one of therepublics that had begun to taste the almost forgottenfruits of peace. But neither in Cascia norPrivate Use Only

elsewhere were good morals to be found ; theyseemed to have barely secured a refuge in thecloisters. Hence Rita was sighing night and dayfor the sacred shelter, and although she had tillthen bloomed as a stainless lily among thorns, yetshe did not consider that she could live securein the danger-laden atmosphere that surroundedher. But how could she aspire to a cloistered lifewhen all hope seemed futile after the repulsesshe had received ? Yet to that life she aspired,and not in vain. For those undertakings whichseem arduous and sometimes impossible becomenot only practicable, but easy to heroic faith.The invitations which Divine grace held out to herand the refusals with which Rita was met bythe nuns were nothing more than the lovingpleasantries of her heavenly Spouse, and but trialsof her virtue and constancy. Therefore the moreher wishes were frustrated, the more frequentbecame her prayers and the more fervent thesighs of her heart. She had recourse, too, to themediation of the saints, and did not fear to makeherself importunate to her protectors, St. Johnthe Baptist, St. Augustine, and St. Nicholas.And the measure of the effect which her prayersproduced was, as St. Augustine teaches, the fervourof the love that preceded them. She meritedthe favour she sought, and received it. Here isMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

how the incident is related by the writers of herlife :The saint was one night kneeling on theground, rapt in prayer, her hands extended toheaven after her usual manner and as the royal .prophet teaches, when she suddenly heard aknocking at the door of her house, and someonecalling out her name. The first feeling of thelonely widow was one of trouble and fear, butshe invoked the Divine assistance, took courage,and went to the window-but nothing was to beseen or heard. She returned to her prayer, butwas interrupted by the same unknown voicecalling her. Her fear increased, but she went tothe window again-and again there was only darknessand silence without. She then began tothink it might be some trick of the devil, and,puzzled between doubt and fear, she threw herselfat the feet of Jesus Christ, and besought H& morefervently to enlighten and to help her, and thatHe would be pleased to make known His Divinewill, whether what she had experienced wasa delusion of the devil or a voice from heaven.Her short prayer was so pleasing to God that Ritasoon felt herself rapt in ecstasy, and then she'saw and heard clearly, and her fear was changedinto joyful consolation. She saw her three holypatrons, and heard the joyous words with whichPrivate Use Only

the spouse of the Canticles called his beloved,' Arise, make haste, my love, and come-come,for it is time at last to enter the cloister fromwhich thou hast been repulsed so many times.'As soon as these words had been uttered, the raptureof her ecstasy ceased, but she still retained,deeply impressed on her mind, a vivid picture ofthe entire vision. Then, by a Divine impulse,she went to the window a third time, and, enlightenedby God, she saw, to her great surprise,a person of venerable aspect, who invited her bysigns to follow him. Whether he appeared in hisusual rough vesture of woven camel-hair, or cladin skins, or in other guise, we know not, but forcertain it was no other than St. John the Precursor,as Rita was not slow to recognise, and heit was who was so clearly manifested to her in thepreceding vision. She felt her heart overflowingwith rapture, and hastened to obey the signs ofher heavenly guide. Hardly had she reached thespot where he stood than her astonishment andjoy were still further increased, for there, at eitherside of her great protector, stood her other patrons,Augustine and Nicholas, both ready and preparedto escort her towards the fate she desired soardently for herself. It will not be out of placeto remark here that the house in which Ritadwelt and out of which she went on the night inMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

which these extraordinary events occurred wasbuilt at the base of a steep shelf of rock ancientlycalled the ' Gun ' of Rocca Porena, and which itwas almost impossible to climb. Yet, leaving theusual road, it was by way of this rock that hersainted guides led Rita, perhaps to indicate to herby the precipitous nature of the place the steepnessof the mountain of monastic perfection which shewas destined to scale, and by the chasm belowthe terrible nature of a fall from grace. Rita wasseized by sudden fear at the sight here presentedto her, but Divine grace and her holy companionsbrought her comfort, and enabled her to risesuperior to herself, so that she mounted fearlesslythrough the darkness of the night over the roughstones and trunks of fallen trees till she reachedthe highest point of that beetling rock, which isnow called the ' Saint's Rock,' from so memorablean occurrence. If the ascent of the rock is difficult,the descent on the side of Cascia is quite impossible,from whence it is believed that when the foursaints had accomplished the difficult ascent theywere either borne through the air from mountainto mountain, or else passed without pause to theirintended goal, as if to signify the liberty enjoyedby all who reach the highest point of perfectionand have climbed the mount of God. Howeverthe authors may differ in minor points in describ-Private Use Only

ing this event, we may well judge that everythingconnected with it is miraculous, as Rita's entryinto the convent was also miraculous, for sheentered whilst the gates were closed, or througha gate opened for her and closed when she had. passed the portals by an invisible hand.When Rita found herself within the sacredenclosure where she had so ardently desired tobe, her glorious escort disappeared in a momentfrom sight, and she was abandoned and left allalone in the darkness, and had to pass the remainderof the night in an ecstasy of wonder,1 but tossed about on a sea of uncertainty by therush of the thoughts that filled her mind. Thenuns rose in the early morning to sing the praisesof the Lord, and what was their surprise whenthey saw within their convent, and tremblingwith fright, the humble widow whom they hadrepeatedly rejected ! They plied her with questions,and Rita replied simply and modestlyby describing the whole history of the miraculousoccurrence of the night. For the last time shebegged them with the greatest fervour not toreject her any longer-and how could they refuseher in the face of so evident a miracle ? The nuns,therefore, with common consent and unusualapplause, received the holy widow into theirnumber, and after joining with her in thankingMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

and praising the Most High, they put on her theirpenitential habit, and admitted her to the'novitiate#with all solemnity and every mark of generalsatisfaction. The nuns were dehghted at theturn of events, and Rita's joy exceeded allbounds, till, comparing her unworthiness with thegreat goodness of God, she was abashed beforeHim. The more she thought on the greatness ofthe remarkable favours conferred on her, the moreprofound did her humility become, and she pouredforth a thousand times her tribute of gratitudeto heaven, but could never find words or thoughtsable to express the thanks she owed to Divine .Providence.This miraculous entry into the convent occurredduring the unhappy years we have beforedescribed, or about' the year 1413, when Ritawas nearly thirty-two years of age; for she wasmarried in her thirteenth year, and lived eighteenyears with her husband, and was a widow forabout a year, when her second son died; whilstthe interval between that event and her entryIto the convent, the period of her repeated rejections,must have been short. In the same yearthe Augustinian Order could boast of anothersplendid addition to its members, for the receptionof Alexander Oliva, called the Blessed, occurred.then. He afterwards reached the highest honoursPrivate Use Only

within the Order, and was raised to the dignityof Cardinal before he passed to the glory he hadprepared for himself in heaven. But the Orderhas greater reason to be proud of Rita's reception,because, although her life was passed in obscurityand far from the eyes of the world, it certainlywas not less bright with the splendour of theSaints, and after death she has acquired more ofthe veneration of the faithful.More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

CHAPTER I1RITA AS NOVICE : HER PROFESSION1FROM her early youth Rita had a greatlonging for a solitary life, but now thatIthe Omnipotent God had placed her in the conventshe had no further reason to sigh for the 1deserts of the Jordan, the solitudes of Tagaste,the silence of Valmanente, the groves of hernative place, or any other home of hermits.The cloister constituted the fulfilment of all herdesires, and her only remaining anxiety wasto emulate the great virtues of her three holypatrons, the blessed hermits of Cascia, and theother holy ones whose lives had made the gloryof the solitudes. To say truth, it must have costher very little labour to follow in their footsteps,for there was no need for her to change herhabits and manners when she put off a 'seculardress for the garb of a nun, and she had but tolive the remainder of her life as she had hithertolived in order to reach the highest point of per-[ 92 IPrivate Use Only

cfection. Jesus Christ teaches us that the surestway of attaining perfection is by renouncing allearthly possessions, and our saint, although shehad always lived completely detached fromworldly things, hastened to practise the Saviour'steaching in the most effectual manner by distributingall her slender fortune amongst the poor.Thus, without property, without husband orchildren, and far from her relatives, Rita rejoicedto be an abject slave in the house of the King ofPeace, and deemed herself to enjoy a noblerfreedom, more ample wealth, and a happier lotthan they who dwell in the sumptuous tabernaclesof sinners surrounded by the riches, the pomp,and the glory of this world.No one can tell us better than her companionsin religion how she lived during the year of hernoviceship, and they were astonished and confusedat what they observkd in her, and from thefirst regarded her as a model of the purest andmost tried virtue. Poverty, chastity, and obediencehad nothing to alarm her, for she was longaccustomed to live in poverty in Rocca Porena;her body she had crucified with Christ in God; andshe had lived subject not only to her prudentparents, but to a cruel husband. So also had theother virtues which she practised in her noviceshipbecome familiar to her in the world, if weMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

except alone some prescribed corporal penancesand the more abundant prayers which she wasenabled to offer. Nothing else regarding her canbe established from the scanty memorials of thoseobscure times, and we only know that as the timeof noviceship went on she persevered in thoseholy practices of extraordinary piety and austerepenance, and prepared to bind herself to her Godwith stronger ties on the day of her new regeneration.The learned Cardinal Seripando and otherscall the day of the formal profession of monasticvows the day of new regeneration, for throughthe sacrifice then made of one's- will, of bodilypleasures, and of property, the total remission ofall punishment due to sin may be merited. Thatday at length arrived, and the holy novice, havingfirst made a rigorous examination of her wholelife and marked all the stains on her pure conscience,which she removed by the fire of hersorrow and the blood of Jesus Christ, presentedherself before the altar to vow perpetual observanceof the evangelical counsels. She had nohesitation in placing her hand on the holy Ruleof the great Augustine, for her heroic trust in theassistance of grace gave her courage, and for therest, although the Rule may seem severe to theminds of worldlings, the saints regard it but as alaw of love, and a cord to unite souls to God.Private Use Only

Therefore Rita preferred this sweet servitude toall the kingdoms of earth, and considered herselfthe happiest of women since she had at lastreached the goal towards which from her earliestyears she had felt herself drawn by heaven'sgentle violence.The exact date of the profession is unknown,but it very probably took place when Fr. Pietrodi Vena Tolosano was General of the Order, andhe succeeded in that office Fr. Saracini, who wasfrom Rocca Porena, and who had been madeBishop of Macerata. The date of profession wouldtherefore be about 1414. History leaves us toimagine also the feelings of the newly-professednun, but we may well judge from her past thatthat solemn day was one of an outpouring oflove and gratitude to God. But of one incidentconnected with the day we are informed, and itis that whilst Rita, never satisfied that she hadsufficiently extolled the goodness of the Lord,was still kneeling late at night before the crucifur,she suddenly felt herself ravished out of her sensesinto a state of sublime ecstasy. She thereuponsaw in spirit what was given Jacob to see in adream-a ladder that reached from earth toheaven, and angels ascending and descending byit, and at the summit our Lord, who was invitingher to ascend. We may believe that this wasMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

the mystic ladder of charity, whose steps, as St.Augustine says, God Himself prepares, so thatthose chosen souls which He wishes to exalt mayascend by them, and at whose top He stands toawait them at the term of their journey to receiveand introduce them into the possession of heaven.But no one could penetrate its meaning betterthan the ecstatic Rita. The holy woman awokefrom her ecstasy enlightened by these heavenlyinstructions, and came out of the light of Godto seek Him again and follow His leading withgreater anxiety amidst the darkness of ourmortal state.Private Use Only

iCHAPTER I11wHAT constitutes the greatness of themystic city, the new Jerusalem, is notthe number abd variety of its inhabitants, or.thefame of great .undertakings, but charity alone.In fact, the Virgin Mary was exalted above all thechoirs of heaven, and St. John the Baptist wascalled the greatest of the saints even before thetestimony at the Jordan, although their liveswere nothing more than a continuous exerciseof charity. Hence, coming to speak of Rita, ifshe had charity she possessed all things,* sincethe fulness of the law is charity, and if she had itin an eminent degree she was a great saint, forperfect charity is perfect justice.? This is thesublime principle which St. Augustine, himself agreat master of charity and evangelical perfection,proposes in that golden Rule of his, which so manyreligious Orders have adopted, and which Rita* I Cor. xiii. t St. Augustine.[ 97 I 7More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

observed to the last letter-a principle which, asBlessed Alphonsus of Oroza says, is a summaryof the entire Christian religion, and which at thesame time proves the excellence and the adaptabilityof the Rule to all ages.It was to the attainment of charity that Ritaeven before her profession, but more determinedlyafterwards, gave-her undivided attention, and employedall the affections of her heart and thepowers of her mind. We leave it to others todescribe her heroic faith and hope; for us it willbe enough to treat of that virtue which presupposesthe other two --embraces them and givesthem their life. The first proof that one possessesthis virtue is fulfilling the will of God by observingHis holy law, as Jesus Christ taught us when Hesaid : 'He that hath My commandments, andkeepeth them : he it is that loveth Me. And Hethat loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, andI will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.'*Now, all those who have written the life of oursaint and the evidence of tradition regarding herassure us that she observed with the utmost exactnessall the commandments of God, the preceptsof the Church, and the commands of her superiors.The very manner with which she observed theseprecepts was perfect, for she always obeyed* John xiv. 21.I1Private Use Only

hcheerfully, and with joy readily and exactlysought to anticipate commands, and to exceed infulfding them. And this exact observance wasextended not only to what is of command, butto the evangelical counsels also, and yet so lightto her was the weight of this burden that she tookupon herself very many works of supererogationto give an outlet to her burning piety. She wasthe first to rise from her bed at midnight, the firstat prayer, in the choir, at instruction, at penitentialobservances and the works of mercy, inobedience, first at all the duties of the community,in which latter she was always best pleased themeaner the office entrusted to her to perform.In the midst of her uninterrupted occupationsand vigils she had no other thought than to findthe safest ways of seconding the holy will ofGod, a thought that produced in her that holyfear which is the offspring of love. She wasalways afraid of offending her most loving Godeven in the slightest matter, and so fearsome ofit was she that the very name of sin was a horrorto her. Hence, to remove as far as possible alldanger of sin, she imposed on herself a law ofrigorous silence, for she knew the truth of thesaying of St. James the Apostle, that ' if any manoffend not in word, the same is a perfect man.'** Jas. iii. 2.7-25073rn -More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

In order more easily to carry out her design sheremained shut up in her cell alone with heragonized Spouse Jesus, like a 'dove in the cleftsof the rock, in the hollow places of the wall.'*She never left her cell except to find her sovereigngood either in the Blessed Sacrament or amongstthe poor and sick, or in such other works ofcharity as her state permitted her to perform.Even in circumstances such as these she was onher guard to utter no word that she had notweighed well, and it is said of her that she evenused to keep a pebble in her mouth to remind herto preserve the silence she loved.Sometimes, of course, she had to speak, throughnecessity or politeness, or for convenience' sake,and in such cases her words were in accord withthe feelings of her heart, and hence, since she wasall spirit, her discourses were on things of the'spirit; she was all charity, and her speech thereforetended to the greater glory of God and thesalvation of her neighbours. She was not wantingin that easy fluency which springs from theheart and can reach hearts, which is proper tothe saints and inspires sanctity, which feeds onlove and draws souls to God. Whether Ritapossessed this honied eloquence from the timethe wonderful bees appeared over her cradle,* Cant. ii. 14.Private Use Only

or acquired it by the practice of the greatestcharity towards her neighbour, only God, whogave it to her, knows. We only know that shemade use of the opportunities which this giftafforded her to give advice to doubting souls,to comfort the pusillanimous, to console theafflicted, to bring back the erring to the way ofsalvation, to practise these and other works ofmercy with that happy success which the Giverof every good gift was wont to grant her.Amongst her wonderful deeds of charity wefind it recorded that having heard of two personsof the town who had been long living in a stateof sin, and were thereby the cause of great publicscandal, she wept for their sins, and then determinedon the difficult task of making themseparate and leading them to repent. Rita hadhad too many proofs of the Divine goodness notto be confident of success in her present undertaking.She first had recourse to prayer and topenance, which she offered in union with thesufferings of Jesus Christ for the conversion ofthe sinners, and then had each of the scandalgiversbrought to her in turn, and, alone with them,by her gentle insinuating manner she broughtthem to see their deplorable condition, and shehad the happiness of seeing them shed tears ofcompunction and afterwards perform constantMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

penance for their past transgressions. In verytruth, such evils as those under which these twosinners laboured were what excited Rita'sgreatest compassion, but she was by no meanswanting in compassion for those suffering frombodily ills, nor was her fervent charity slow incoming to their assistance. Never was anyoneill in the convent whom Rita did not nurse,often for whole days and nights. She saw in thesick Jesus Christ Himself, and therefore delightedto be by their bedsides. She pitied them, andsought to soothe their pains by the sweet considerationswhich religion, and especially thePassion of Christ, inspired her. With her ownhands she gladly rendered them every service,even the meanest and most nauseating, and forthis blessed work of charity she did not hesitateIIto forsake her usual devotional practices, and1feared not to leave God for God's work. In aword, she was all things to all, for, as St. Paul,too, had experienced, her compassion made theinfirmities of the suffering her own. And thereforeall those who died in the convent during herforty years of life in it had the happiness of havingher for their attendant and consoler, and drewtheir last breath in her holy arms, reclining againsther tender heart. Her very charity was thereason which condemned her for many years to a1Private Use Only

total separation from her beloved sisters in religion,lest, as we shall tell later, the offensive odourof a sore on her forehead, by which she wasafflicted, might render her presence disagreeableto them. She then saw very well that she hadbecome almost an outcast from the community,but she felt no resentment on that account, butlived as an exile, contented in her cell, since sheknew that she was no inconvenience to her neighbour,and gave no offence to God. She evenrejoiced in her humiliation and in her infirmitiesand her separation from creatures. We omitmany other proofs of the greatness of the charityto God and her neighbour which filled Rita'sheart. In order to know her charity we have butto recall how she lived with a cruel and ferocioushusband, how she interceded for his murderers,how she offered her verf children as a sacrificeto God, how she devoted her time in the worldto deeds and prayers for her neighbour's good.Such was her charity, heartfelt, unbounded, kind,patient, strong, and unconquerable.Hitherto we have spoken only of Rita's effectiveor working charity, or, at most, of her love to herneighbour, but what description dare we give ofher internal love of God ? It would never bepossible for us to describe the ardour and fire oflove which was ever consuming her heart. HowMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

her affections soared towards heaven, how hersoul was transformed through Divine love, howthe interior life of that seraph of charity was lived,it would be impossible to describe. However, weshall try .to convey an idea, though imperfect, ofit, especially when we come to speak of her spiritof prayer. Meanwhile, the reader may form somenotion of it by gauging the measure of Rita'scharity to her neighbour, and from the considerationof what we have hitherto described of a lifenot only blameless and holy, but everywhere aidedand distinguished by heaven's most singularfavours.I~.!lPrivate Use Only

CHAPTER IVOTHER VIRTUES WHICH RITA PRACTISED IN THECLOISTERTHAT truth to which St. Augustine draws ourattention in many passages in his works-that charity is the source of all other virtuesand their life-giving principle-is confirmed bySt. Gregory, who illustrates it by comparing thevirtues to the branches of a tree, which all springfrom the same root, which root of the virtues ischarity. In fact, the virtue of Christian prudence,for example, is nothing else than a continuedeagerness, in those who love God, to distinguishgood from evil, and to select the fittest means toplease the Object of their love, and attain to Himas their last end; justice is but a constant desirein those who love God to render Him the worshipdue to Him and their neighbour whatever istheirs ; temperance is a curb which they whoprefer Divine to earthly love employ in order tokeep their rebellious appetites under the sweet[ 105 IMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

yoke of that heavenly love ; fortitude is but thestrength of charity which makes man superiorto every trouble and suffering ; and the teachingof St. Augustine regarding the other virtues isthe same, according to their various natures.Now, if Rita's charity was as great as we havedescribed it, and as we shall afterwards see moreclearly, to what a pitch of perfection must shenot have reached in her practice of the othervirtues !Prudence, which is the first of the moral virtues,was quite characteristic of Rita, and invariablyshowed its presence in her exercise of all her otherextraordinary gifts. This it was that taught herthe saving art of examining and judging rightlyand adopting the most suitable means for attainingthat better part which, like another Mary,she had irrevocably chosen for herself ; this suggestedto her the surest method of regulating herconduct, her appetites, and her very works ofpenance and devotion ; this made her sparing ofconversation, diligent, circumspect, cautious, compliantand gentle-mannered; and, finally, thisvirtue, through her long practice-of it, or, rather,because its origin is in God, enabled her to give thesolidest and holiest counsel to the advantage ofher neighbour.The virtue of justice also shone brightly in herPrivate Use Only

life, for her life was a continuous act of reverentialhomage to religion, the majesty of God, the greatnessof the most holy Virgin Mary, the meritsof the Saints, the authority of the Church, thelaws of right, of friendship, of gratitude, and oftruth.Nor was she less remarkable for the virtue oftemperance, for she had conquered her passions,and kept them subject to the spirit in a wayentirely heroic, by her continued rigorous fastingsand the uninterrupted practice of the most austerepenances. It is wonderful to consider how hervirtue of temperance, which increased and waxedstrong amidst harsh and stem surroundings ofpenitential practices, brought in its train apretty group of gentler virtues-modesty, purity,clemency, meekness, urbanity, graciousness.Rita's fortitude also, which whilst she livedin the world was extraordinary, increased in thecloister in proportion with her other virtues, ifwe may not say it surpassed the others, since itwas the distinguishing mark of her character.The devil, of course, tried, by insiduous suggestions,to tarnish the purity of her heart and inspireher with a love of sensual pleasures and a distastefor perfection ; but although his infernal assaultswere strong and long continued, our saint, whohad prepared her mind against temptation fromMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

Iher youth, and was now become an unconquerableheroine in the army of Christ, was so well ableto defend herself and fight valiantly that temptationonly served to multiply her triumphs andfher laurels. It is said, too, that the tempter,seeing that he failed in his interior assaults,sought to frighten her by horrible phantoms ; butin vain, for Rita, by the sign of the Cross, put himto flight, and showed her scorn for him as a powerlessenemy. The flesh, too, tried to rebel againstthe law of the spirit; but the holy woman kept itas a slave in bonds of sackcloth, and brought itinto subjection by sanguinary scourgings. Eventhe little world of her convent tried her virtue insome sense, especially during the years she sufferedfrom the sore on her forehead. But Rita's fortitudemade these little trials seem but playfulcaresses. The pain and the stench of the sore,the inconveniences of her poverty and mortification,the great length of her last illness, and othersimilar troubles with which the Lord tries thesouls that are most acceptable to Him, instead of

as if she were the vilest of creatures, thanklessfor the gifts which Divine goodness had bestowedon her, a miserable sinner, and unworthy to enjoythe companionship of so many sacred virgins ofthe Lord. She not only spoke in this manner, butwished everyone to have the same opinion which,in her heart, she had of herself. Hence she hada horror of praise, and when at meditation shefelt those extraordinary lights and that spiritualardour which preceded her ecstasies, she used tobeseech God that He would condescend so towork in her soul that her companions might not$ be conscious of it, and might never be led to havea favourable opinion of her. But it was herhumility that betrayed her expectations, for themore she humbled herself, the more was sheexalted, not only in the eyes of God, but of men,and the deeper she sunk herself in the abyss oflowliness, the higher was raised the edifice ofher sanctity.More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

CHAPTER VTHERE is a love which is the soul of everyvirtue, and another love which is an incentiveto every vice ; the former we call charity,the latter concupiscence. Charity, since it comesfrom heaven, has for its aim three noble objects-God, ourselves, and our neighbours. Concupiscence,since it is altogether of the earth,has low aims, which are likewise threefold-thepomp of the world, self-interest, and pleasure.According as one or other of these is stronger inus we attain sanctificatio'n and happiness, orspiritual ruin and misery. To destroy the reignof perverse love and these three hostile passionsthere are no arms more reliable than those whichattack their very foundations, and these armsare obedience, poverty, and chastity. These werethe arms which Rita continued to wield until shereceived from her Divine Spouse the eternalcrown prepared for her ripe and splendid virtues.I 110 IPrivate Use Only

The strongest weapon of the perfect is obedience,and when it is employed by charity it opens upthe way to every good object, as, on the otherhand, disobedience lays open the way to everyevil, visible and invisible, of the world. To beginwith the consideration of this great virtue, whichRita made a solemn vow to practise, we can affirmthat she possessed it in a most eminent degree.All her actions were so many acts- of obedience,or, rather, her whole conventual life was anuninterrupted act of the humblest, truest, andreadiest obedience. Following the principles ofher enlightened piety, she knew only too wellthe truth declared to Samuel, that the sacrifice ofthe will is more acceptable to God than the sacrificeof victims.* She always kept before her eyesthe example of a God who, for our instruction,willed to live subject to His own creatures. Shefelt moved to imitate the heroic virtue of so manysainted monks and nuns, and she saw clearly thegreat advantage which obedience gave in directingour steps through this world of darkness and sin.She therefore subjected herself not only to all thelaws of the Gospel, of the Church, of the Rule andConstitutions of her Order, and not only obeyedwith respect and alacrity all the commands of thedifferent superiors she had, and carried out the* I Kings xv. 22.More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

duties of the various offices she filled, but she. eagerly desired to subject herself to her equalsor juniors in the convent, and sought to anticipatethe cammands even of these, to follow theircounsels and carry out their desires, esteemingherself only as the unworthy servant of all.Virtue so rare deserved to be put to the severestproof, since God often tries the virtue of the piouseither Himself or through the means of others.The trial of Rita's obedience was this : ThePrioress, who had observed her great spirit ofsubmission, commanded her to water every daya dried-up tree that was in the convent garden.Rita made no objection against so strange a command;she did not say that such an order wasoutside the matters to which the Rule obliged her ;she did not even submit that it would be timelost, for she was convinced that the time in whichany work of obedience is done is time well spent.Therefore, with her will in complete accord withthe orders she received, she continued to obeythem for several seasons, and in this she was imi- itating the example of the holy abbot John, of1whom we read in the lives of the Fathers that, inorder to follow the instructions of his director,~he humbled himself so far as to carry a pail ofwater a considerable distance to water a 'drytrunk of a tree. So'did St. Rita likewise, andIPrivate Use Only

not in vain ; for so pleasing to God were her actsof heroic obedience that, as tradition tells, the treebloomed again, and began to bear flowers and fruit,and from that fact it was called the ' Saint's Tree.'What chiefly concerned her was that herobedience should bear fruit unto eternal life, andhence the love which her heart felt for this beautifulvirtue was ever increasing. She thereforesought the approval, direction, and restraininginfluence of another's will not only in her temporalundertakings, but also in her devotional andpenitential exercises. When there was question-rof going to Rome to gain the indulgences of thejubilee year, and again when she was to be separatedduring the last years of her life from thepleasant society of her sisters in religion, sheallowed no consideration of fervent piety, nopersonal reluctance, to come between her andher duty towards holy obedience, from which shewould not swerve an iota. Thus our saint passedthe rest of her life without a will of her own, or, ifshe had a will, it'was one that desired to do nothingexcept what obedience ordered, in this way makingcertain of doing the will of God in all things,which was the single object of all her desires.This is how she conquered in herself and annihilatedthat great predominant passion of man, thelove of worldly glory.8More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

She conquered also the second strong passion-love of self-interest-by a generous love ofevangelical poverty. We have already remarkedhow from her earliest years, and amongst thecomforts of her father's house, she was enamouredof this holy poverty, and how she was accustomedto observe it in her humble mannerof dress, in opposing all outward show, in thefrugality of her living, in her abstirfence, deprivingherself of her best garments for the poor,and in renouncing in their favour all her earthlypossessions at her entrance into religion, whenceit seems, there was nothing else that could beadded except the vow and perseverance. Nevertheless,the spirit of poverty markedly increasedin Rita whilst she lived in the convent, where shewas chosen to dwell till her death. There, intruth, everything breathed humility and straitnessof means, and she might well be satisfied thatby ordinary observance she was fulfilling her vow.But saints are never satisfied unless they gobeyond the goal of ordinary mortals and if they '1do not reach the heroic point of virtue. It happenedthus in Rita's case, for although she loveduniformity and wag opposed to those singularitiesIwhich often deserve to be the subject of suspicion,yet she felt that she ought not to oppose God'sinspirations, or confine herself solely to the usagesIPrivate Use Only

aof the community, but, subject to obedience, shecarried the rigours of religious poverty muchfarther. We might tell here of her protractedfastings and the small quantity of food of thepoorest sort with which she kept herself alive,but we shall speak of these things in a subsequentchapter, and shall now only touch on the povertyof her dress and of her abode.She did not show her poverty by wearing acoarser habit or one differing in any way fromthose of her sisters in religion, yet there is oneparticular that shows in a singular, not to saymiraculous, manner her spirit of poverty; for,like the Hebrews in the desert, from the momentshe put her foot in the convent till she enteredthe promised land of the blessed, a period of morethan forty years, she had only one habit, whichshe wore night and day, and even during her illnesses.As regards the poverty of her dwellingplace,her little room, which may still be seen,declares it sufficiently, for it is only a narrow cell,; the least of all, crushed into a corner of the dormitory,and with no light except a sort of twilightthat filters into it from the common window. Afew pictures representing the mysteries of ourLord's Passion were its only ornaments ; the bedwas hard and rough, and more adapted to givepain than rest ; all other necessaries were wanting.8-2More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

Yet the holy penitent lived there contented, andconsidered herself - rich and wealthy, especiallywhen she considered the nakedness of the CrucifiedOne, for she regarded the Cross of Christ, her lovingSpouse, as a mirror wherein to behold herself.The cold words ' mine ' and ' thine ' which havebeen the cause of division in families and kingdoms,and still divide hearts, never issued fromher lips, and even the things most necessary toher she let depend on her Superior's will, and wasalways ready to deprive herself of them at theslightest beck of authority, for she never had theleast desire to own anything.There is related of her a singular fact, whichproves her detachment from the things of earth.Going on a journey undertaken for reasons ofdevotion, of which we shall speak later, with someof the nuns of the convent, she threw into a riverthe money that had been given her to defray herexpenses, or, as others say, which she accidentallyfound. Her companions thought that, consider-ing their great necessity, this was an act of real :imprudence, and could not refrain from blamingher. But Rita, who was full of confidence in theprotection of heaven, assured them they would.want for nothing; and so it happened, for theywanted for nothing throughout their journey.That God who feeds the birds of the air and thePrivate Use OnlyIIiIIlI1

irrfishes of the deep took care to provide His servantand her companions with every necessary ontheir long way. In such a way did Rita, poor in,possessions and in spirit, advance with greatstrides on the way of perfection, and add newriches to the incorruptible treasures she had laidup in heaven.By poverty and obedience she had overcomethe two passions of self-interest and worldlyglory ; there remained the third passion, that forsensual pleasures, against which our saint hadto wage a more bitter war, because, like theApostle, she felt in herself that law that wascontrary to the law of the spirit, and because, asSt. Augustine writes, this is precisely the hardestfight that has to be fought by Christians and theperfect. It is true that this most virtuous womanwas accustomed from her earliest years to watchover all her thoughts and to keep a careful guardon her senses, and that from her youth she haddetermined to preserve the candour of her virginityintact ; that she constantly preserved themost exemplary modesty ; that she avoided tothe utmost of her power, even when in the world,all evil discourse and companions and otherincentives to impurity ; that she had lived mostchastely and immaculately even as a wife. Yetwith all this she was not free from temptations,More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

and to conquer them she had recourse to an extremerigour of life.The demon used all his power in attackingRita's purity; at one time he tempted her byimpure phantasms, at another by seductiveapparitions. But she put him to flight by herlively faith and her austere penances. In thefiercest assaults of temptation she went so faras to bum her hand or foot, thus putting out onefire by the pain of another, in order to keep herselfentirely pure in the sight of her most pure heavenlySpouse. Through love of this virtue she avoidedall opportunities of seeing or being seen, and sheadopted this safeguard even with her own relatives.When she had sometimes to appearabroad she showed such recollection, modesty,and gravity as to excite the wonder of othersand attract universal veneration. So remarkablewas her modesty on such occasions that when shecame back to the convent (in those days the obligationsof enclosure were not so strict as theynow are) she was sometimes able to declare thatshe had not seen a single person. This circurnspectionwhich our saint employed in the custodyof her eyes may seem excessive to worldlymindedpeople, but ' everyone hath his propergift from God';* and besides, the means of attain-* I Cor. vii. 7.Private Use Only

ing to extraordinary virtue like Rita's are notalways ordinary; nor were her penances, whichwere a means to this end, ordinary penances.. If such was the violence of her spiritual struggles,there is no doubt but that the victories she gainedwere remarkable and productive of many goodresults, and that the reward which God reservedfor her in a happy eternity was passing great.More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

CHAPTER VIHOWEVER hard and sharp penance mayappear at the first glance, yet it, too, is adaughter of love, love that gives strength to puta curb on carnal appetites, which are ever strivingto rebel against the first uncreated love, and whichincites to reparation of past offences and atonementfor them. It is no wonder, then, that Rita,who was burning with the flame of Divine love,and who had the holiest horror of sin, shouldcarry her austerities even to the point of heroism.True, such innocence did not deserve so greatpains ; but she who, in her profound humility,thought herself full of defects and faults, whoknew human frailty and the frequent dangersof falling into sin, and who was not exempt fromthe wicked suggestions of the world, the flesh,and the devil, did not consider herself exemptfrom those penances which she practised, for thegood of sinners, as a defence against danger and[ 120 IPrivate Use OnlyI!

iran assurance of victory in temptation. Herwhole life, therefore, was one continued exerciseof penance owing to the great self-denial whichshe exhibited from her early youth, but moremarkedly in her married life and her widowedstate, and owing also to the fastings she practisedin the world, and the other mortifications whichwe mentioned in former chapters, but, above all,owing to the severe and almost incredible chastisingof the flesh, which she made a law that sheobserved during all the years she lived in thecloister.To begin with her fastings, hardly had sheembraced the Rule of St. Augustine, which exhortsall to conquer the flesh by fasting as much ashealth will permit, than she abandoned herself toa life of the most rigorous and prolonged fasting.She never admitted any of those exaggeratedpretexts which the delicate sex finds it so easyto allege in order to be dispensed from the lawsof fasting and abstinence. She only knew thatGod is not deceived, and that to desire to deceiveone's self is impious folly. She therefore had nohesitation in fuliilling the most rigorous laws ofabstinence without any ill-timed fear of injuringher health. Every year she fasted during threeentire Lents, and also on the vlgds of all holidaysof obligation, of all the feasts of the BlessedMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

Virgin, of all the saints of the Order, and of herparticular advocates, not to mention other extraordinaryfasts which she observed. She took foodonly once a day, and never drank wine. Her con-$diments were often wormwood, ashes, and tears.For the greater part of the year she lived onbread and water, and as she advanced in years andprogressed in sanctity she reduced her food tosuch scanty proportions that it was looked on asa miracle how she could in such a way supportlife. St. Augustine's most prudent Rule does notprescribe such things, and therefore Rita, by herheroic fasts, gave all the more glory to the MostHigh ; and by imitating the abstinences of theBaptist, of St. Nicholas of Tolentine, and herother protectors, all well-known models of penitence,she rendered them the truest honour, forthe best way of honouring the saints is to imitatetheir virtues. But not only did she try to followtheir example by penances of this sort, but inI.all the other austerities of her life she endeavoured1to imitate them as exactly as her conditionallowed.The very dwelling-place in which she hid herselfproclaimed her penitential disposition, for itwas only a little cell, bare and dark, and had ratherthe appearance of a prison to which she had beencondemned for some serious crime. We do notPrivate Use Only

aknow for certainty whether even for appearance'sake there was a bed in it, but we do know verywell that when Rita was overcome by naturalweariness she took her short repose stretched onthe ground, or, at best, on a board. She rosewithout fail from that hardest of couches at midnightto begin the infliction of greater tormenton herself; for at that hour she scourged herselfwith a scourge of iron in order to appeaseDivine justice in favour of the souls in purgatory,who, though still of the communion of saints andparticipators in our suffrages, are left to sufferthe greatest sorrow, deprived as they are of theBeatific Vision and tortured by the pain of theirfires. Her great charity made her feel the holiestcompassion for these unhappy souls, and it wascharity that nerved her arm to continue thesescourgings ; but if she ever felt for herself charity,too, might have induced her to lay aside herensanguined whip of iron. On two other occasionsevery day she took the discipline, once forthe benefactors of her convent and Order, whenshe used thongs of leather, and again for theconversion of sinners, at which her whip was oftwisted and knotted cords. With all this shewas not satisfied if that rebellious enemy herflesh were not suffering continual pain, and henceshe always wore next her skin a cilicium made ofMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

ough bristles, and on the inner side of her habitshe fastened thorns that pricked her painfullyat every movement she made. Amongst thesethorns and the painful practices of her life oursaint lay hidden, like the mystic lily of the sacredCanticles, inaccessible to passions, guarded onevery side, growing more beautiful and brighterevery day, because more like her heavenly Spousecrowned with thorns.Private Use Only

CHAPTER VII0IF Rita's body, oppressed by fastings, imprisonedin hair shirts and galling bonds,made livid by scourgings, was forced to groan andsigh, it was far otherwise with her spirit. Themore the body was crushed under the weight ofpenances, the more were the spaces of the soulenlarged, the greater its liberty, the more readilymight it raise itself above all earthly things, to beplunged into the sublime depths of heavenlythings and taste of their ineffable sweetness.And if her spirit sighed, it was a far differentsigh from that of the body ; it was the sigh ofthe dove-a sigh of peace and love such as wasforetold by the Holy Spirit the Consoler by themouth of the Psalmist to all souls that devotethemselves to penance and prayer -' Rise yeafter ye have sitten, you that eat the bread ofsorrow.'** Ps. aorvi. 3.[ 125 IMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

The same wonderful effects of grace were ex-Iperienced by St. Augustine, who in his expositionof that verse of the Psalms could not refrain fromexclaiming, ' How sweet are the sighs and thetears of prayer ! No pleasure of the theatresor of the world can equal the joy of such tears.'*We must not, however, come to the conclusionthat this interior joy was the chief motive thatmade our saint love prayer, for she loved the Godof consolations much more than she loved theconsolations of God; but it was an innocent attractionto her God-loving heart, and on that accountshe never could interrupt exercises so dear to her .without feeling pain.We have already related that from her childhoodshe had received the gift of prayer, andwhich she developed in a striking way even inthe years of her early youth; and we have toldhow she gave herself entirely to prayer duringthe year of her marvellous retirement in herfather's house, and how she continued to makeprogress in devotional practices, especially whenishe was freed from the ties and cares of matrimony.Yet when we compare all these thingswith her advancement after she has embraced aconventual life, they seem but the vek beginningof piety. As a nun, Rita's prayers were offered* Ps. cxxvi.Private Use Only

in the darkness of the night, in the early morning,throughout the day-prayer, in a word,. was herlife, for not even for a moment could she withdrawherself from the presence of her uncreated Love.The hours between midnight and the break of daywere the fullest of delight for her, and the mostfavourable in which to treat all alone with Godthe most important affairs of eternity and to pourout' the fulness of her love at the feet of theCrucified One. In the winter time, however prolongedher vigils were, that time was always shortto her, and daylight came unlooked for. Itseemed to her, as once to St. Anthony the abbot,that the sun was doing her wrong by appearingtoo soon, for she feared that he was coming toscatter with his rays the beautiful light of herheavenly exaltations and seraphic thoughts. Shenever wanted matter whereon to meditate, forthe attributes of God and His inexhaustiblebeneficence were to her subjects that she couldnever be weary of considering. The sole thoughtthat she was in the presence of the majesty ofGod, that infinite majesty that fills with its beingheaven and earth and the abysses, was sufficientto raise her above every created thing and transformher into God Himself.One subject, nevertheless, beyond every other,occupied Rita's mind-that of the Passion ofMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

Jesus Christ. It almost seems as if she hadinherited from her parents this particular devotion,and that upon it she had laid the foundationstoneof her sanctity. It was to the Passion thatshe was accustomed from childhood to directher thoughts and affections, her sighs and tears.The reader may remember how at a tender ageshe shut herself into the little room at -home,and there continued to meditate on the sorrowfulmysteries, which also were depicted in the pictureswhich hung on the walls, and, better still, werecarved on her heart. The senses should do theirpart the better to assist the soul in its efforts .after piety, and this was the reason why Ritaprocured and kept in her cell in the conventcertain representations of the Passion of her dearJesus.To this end she kept.in two distinct parts of hercell objects that recalled to her the history ofthe Passion. In one place she constructed arepresentation of a mountain, which, whenevershe looked upon it, recalled Mount Calvary andall the torments which the Saviour of the worldIsuffered there. She meditated with sighs andtears on her Divine Spouse arriving there, fallingunder the terrible weight of His torments, Hiscross, and all the sins of men. With an outburstof weeping she thought of Him deprived of HisIPrivate Use Only

garments and fixed to the cross with rough nails.She meditated with the liveliest compassion onthe cruel strokes of the hammer that tore Hishands and feet, and on all the other terribletorments that Jesus suffered for love of men.In another comer of her cell she had a representationof the Holy Sepulchre, and at sight of it sheconsidered how the adorable body of Christ wasplaced in it, how for three days it remained buried,how His spirit went down to console the holyfathers in Abraham's bosom, and, finally, how theRedeemer rose again to a new life triumphant andglorious. During these meditations our saint wasalways alone; as Jeremias says, 'she sat solitaryand held her peace, and was raised above herself ' ;*in that sweet silence, in those loving soliloquies,in that intimate intercourse with God she wassuperior to passion, to nature, and to herself. Sogreat was her mental exaltation during hermeditation on the Divine mysteries that she wasoften raised above the life of the senses and raptin delicious ecstasies, and on one occasion, sostrong was the ecstatic influencle, the nuns thoughtshe was dead.Now, seeing that she soared to such sublimeheights in prayer, it will be no wonder that shepossessed also as she did, and in a singular-manner,+ Lam. iii. 28.9More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

the gifts of wisdom and intelligence, so that shecould reason on the perfections of God and on themost abstruse mysteries of faith with a subtleknowledge that could be acquired by no study norany natural capacity. Thus God hides the secretsof His wisdom from the wise of this world andreveals them to His humble servants, to those. whoappear ignorant in the eyes of the world. Allthese things excited to rage the infernal enemyof all good and all sanctity, and in order to makethe holy nun desist from her pious practice he-tried to frighten her with horrible yells and dreadfulapparitions. But she continued to be motionlessin prayer, and by prayer itself triumphedover all the powers of hell. By the merit of herprayers, too, she acquired a certain authorityover devils. A proof of this is that a woman whohad for years been harassed by diabolical interferencewas freed from it by Rita. Throughprayer, too, she obtained the grace of a supernaturalhealing for a young girl who was ill,whose mother had the consolation of seeing her 1cured after having brought her to the saint toask the help of her prayers. We know that Godwas accustomed to grant whatever she asked for,and so great was the fame of her successful intercessionand sanctity that devout people, confidentin her advocacy, came to her in crowds, and of allPrivate Use Only

who came none went away dissatisfied. Yetthese were but the first-fruits that appearedexternally and to the eyes of men to testify tothe extraordinary efficacy of her prayers. Weshall see more clearly in the remainder of her life,and much more so after her death, in the manyprodigious works that God performed throughher intercession, how great was the merit of oursaint's faith and of her prayers.We may also mention at the conclusion of thischapter the most fervent prayers which she oftenoffered before Jesus in the Blessed Sacramentb and before the pictures of the most holy Virgin ;but it was not the circumstance of place thatchiefly enkindled her devotion, for at every instantand in all places she found Jesus and Mary,and a thousand objects adapted to excite hermost fervent piety.More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

CHAPTER VIIIRITA had lived thirty years in the convent,leading that saintly life we have described,and had attained her sixty-second year, when, in rlthe year 1443, it pleased God to mark in a wonderfulmanner, and, as it were, put His seal onher merit by conferring on hkr a privilege that iswell worthy to be described.IThere lived at that time St. James of theIMarshes, one of those Apostolic men whom God 1then raised up, like St. Vincent Ferrer, St.Laurence Giustiniani, St. Bemardine of Siena,and St. John of Capestrano, to be strong barriersagainst the depravity of the world, the rage ofcivil discord, the shock of schism, and the advanceof rising heresies. After many years passed withgreat advantage to souls in the missions of Bosnia,Hungary, and the East, he was recalled in thatIyear by Pope Eugene IV., who destined him to[ 132 1Private Use Only

xrpreach the Crusade in the province of Aquila,against the infidel Sultan Amurath II., who hadalready penetrated into the heart of Hungary.On his return he had occasion to go throughthe territory and towns of Spoleto preaching theGospel, and he expounded the word of God inCascia amongst other places. His discourses inCascia were on the subject of our Lord's Passion,and Rita was present at them. That a nun waspresent amongst the people to hear the holypreacher will cause no astonishment when weknow that although the law of religious enclosurehad been established by many Councils and byPope Boniface VIII., yet its observance was notrigorously enforced until the time of the Councilof Trent, and nuns might go out of their convents,especially when there was question of fulfillingreligious duties or to hear the word of Godpreached.Rita, then, with the other nuns of her convent,was present at the sermons, which she listened towith that purity of intention that casts out allcuriosity, and has for its only objects the gloryof God and the sanctification of the soul. Thesanctity and zeal of the preacher, who had longknown the secret of touching the most hardenedhearts, will enable us to judge of the effects ofhis preaching. That his subject was our Lord'sMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

Passion-the chief object of Rita's meditation,and which excited her to the highest point ofthe love of God-will be enough to tell us howdeeply his discourses must have impressed her.A divine compassion filled her heart, and she onlyrestrained her tears as she listened in order afterwardsto pour them copiously forth when sheknelt before the crucifix in the old oratory ofthe convent. One day, as she was there prostrated,wounded in spirit by the vehemence of hergreat sorrow, with much sobbing she prayed andbesought her Love, who had been crowned withthorns, to permit her whilst still in the flesh to-4taste at least of the bitter chalice of His sufferings.Her heartfelt prayers were heard, and she sawone of the thorns of the crown of the crucifixdetach itself, as it were, and strike her on the leftside of the forehead with such force that it almostpenetrated the bone, causing her exquisite pain.She fainted from the pain, and it seemed to herthat only by a miracle could she survive suchgreat suffering. But love was stronger than painain her, and grace supported the weakness of natureitself. The wound, which by time grew larger,festered, and became wormy, was visible on herforehead for fifteen years. The worms and theoffensive smell, similar to that which once tormentedJob, increased the pain of the wound and1Private Use Only

disgusted others. But these things formed thedelight of the patient nun, whose one desire wasto become like her Saviour, who, as the prophet? Isaias says,* was become for her and for the humanrace the most abject of men and the Man of Sorrows,whose look was hidden and despised-aprophecy so exactly fulfilled that He was unrecognisablewhen the streams of blood flowed downHis face from the wounds the thorns had made inHis head. When Rita was asked, as she sometimeswas, what the worms were that occasionallyfell from her forehead, she used to reply, with aQ joyous smile, 'They are my little angels,' lettingit thereby be seen that the more she washumbled and afflicted in the flesh, the more sherejoiced in spirit, as was also the case withSt. Francis of Assisi and St. Catherine of Siena,whose great privilege of the stigmata is celebratedby feasts of the Church, and also with anotherAugustinian nun, St. Clare of Montefalco, on theliving flesh of whose heart miraculous representabtions of the Passion were impressed. Rita rejoicedthe more in this gift, inasmuch as it procuredfor her more frequent occasion of exercisingherself in humility, patience, retirement, silence,prayer, and the love of that God who had conferredon her so marked a distinction. From* Isa. liii. 3.More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

thenceforward as long as she bore that mark ofthe Redemption on her forehead, which was aslong as she lived, she never ceased to thank Himfor it and to praise and bless Him. She, too, wasbecome an outcast from amongst men, but 'insteadof being afflicted thereby she was only themore strongly united to God, in whom all herdesires and all her hopes of consolation werecentred. She considered that singular effect ofDivine grace which is not offended by unsightlinessof body as abundant compensation for anysufferings she had to bear and as a pledge of anample eternal reward in heaven.Private Use Only

CHAPTER IXRITA GOES TO ROME TO GAIN THE INDULGENCE OFTHE JUBILEEIF Rita's life till the time when she receivedthe wound in her forehead may be called a5 hidden life, from thenceforward it was a buriedlife, and invisible to the eyes of men. On thataccount, passing in silence over an interval ofeight years, our history proceeds to describe theevents of her life in the year 1450. The interveningyears were not, however, years of idlenessfor our holy nun, or if -she did enjoy repose itwas not very dissimilar from that of the blessedih heaven, and perhaps of more advantage to the• Church than any active efforts of hers. TheWestern Church, as amatter of fact, had just then,through the prayers of the saints, arisen from itsstate of dejection and abasement.The schism of the Greeks, Armenians, andEthiopians had come to an end ten years before,and the glory of that happy event was attributed[ I37 IMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

principally to the merits of St. Nicholas of Tolentine,who was canonized at that time by PopeEugene IV. The other schism, of the anti-Popes,died out, too, a few months later, when Felix V.voluntarily abdicated ; and Rita's penances andprayers must have co-operated in bringing aboutso joyful a conclusion.Nicholas V., who occupied the chair of Peter,was thus enabled to proclaim peacefully a solemnjubilee for the year 1450, to throw open thetreasure-house of Divine indulgences for theadvantage of the faithful. This was the sixthjubilee celebrated in the new Church of Jesus 4Christ, and seeing that the Church was enjoyingthe lately restored peace, and that piety hadbegun again to spring up, greater crowds of peoplethan ever before, from all parts of the world,were flocking to Rome to participate in the extraordinaryspiritual favours. When even the leastdevout were hastening thither, we may judge howIardent was Rita's desire of availing of so preciousan occasion. She was aware that even her sistersin religion were preparing to set out for Rome,and she, who for many years and until thatmoment seemed in her retirement to hate thevery light of day, was not afraid to leave her cellfor a purpose so holy ; and making light of the in- 1conveniences of travel and of her advanced age,Private Use Only

she threw herself at the feet of the Superior, andbegged leave to join the other nuns in their devout, pdgnmage. But the Prioress did not think itprudent that Rita, owing to the offensive natureof the sore on her forehead, should appear inpublic or undertake a journey, and thereforesent her back to her cell, telling her that sheshould first think of curing her wound, and thenshe would grant the permission asked for. Thecondition imposed almost in jest was not long inbeing fulfilled, for Rita had recourse to ferventprayer to the Lord, who had inspired her with thevdesire of going on the pilgrimage, and who wasaccustomed to grant all her petitions, and shereceived instantly the favour she so ardentlydesired. It is to be remarked here that Rita,who always, in her profound humility, endeavouredto hide the favours of heaven, chose inthis instance to make use of an ointment in orderto conceal the miracle of her instantaneous healing.But the work of God was too evident,c and the Superior had therefore no hesitation ingranting the permission that Rita sought, andher blessing.She set oOt on foot in the company of her sistersin religion without any consideration for her age,which was then about sixty-nine years, with noI dread of the long journey or the inconveniencesMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

of the season, and she pushed forward joyouslytowards the metropolis of the Catholic world.It was on this journey that the incident occurredwhich was mentioned when speaking ofher spirit of poverty, that when she was crossingover a river she threw into it the little sum ofmoney that was given to her probably to supplytheir wants on the pilgrimage. Her companionsblamed her for what she had done ; but not God,who had secretly urged her to that act of generosity,and who afterwards provided herself and. her companions with all they needed until theirreturn to the convent. When she arrived at herjourney's end she lost no time in gazing on thosemonuments of profane antiquity of which Romeis so proud, but directed all the feelings andsentiments of her body and soul towards thosethings that were the objects of her piety-thememories of the holy martyrs, the confessions ofthe blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, devoutvisits to the churches, and the gaining of the holyindulgences. It would seem, indeed, that havingled such a stainless life, and after so great and sosevere penances, that she had no need to haverecourse to those extraordinary means of atonementfor sin ; but holiness is always deeply humble,and the same humility which led St. Briget andSt. Catherine to the second jubilee broughtPrivate Use Only

St. Rita a century later to the sixth. Enrichedwith new treasures of grace, and impatient to befree from the din of the streets and the perpetualcrush of people, she with her companions, ever inthe arms of Divine Providence, began the journeyback to Cascia, and after walking four or five daysarrived again at the convent and her beloved cell.She had hardly reached home when, wonderfulto tell, the sore on her forehead, which had healedup by the power of God a little before she set outfrom Cascia, suddenly broke out again, and therebymade it more evident that the preceding curehad been miraculous. Never more, until the dayof her death, was Rita to be deprived of a privilegeso dear to her.More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

CHAPTER XRITA survived seven years after her returnfrom Rome. The first three of these, likethe eight preceding years, are hidden under theveil of God's deep designs, for it is not granted .=to us to discover anything of her exterior lifeduring that period. Of her interior life, too, thereis nothing left, if we except certain general knowledgeof her spirit of penance, her continuedlove of prayer, and her union with God everbecoming closer.Three years passed, and Rita had reached theseventy-second year of her age and the fortiethof her life in religion, when it pleased the Lordto visit her with an illness which afEicted herfor four years, and ended only with her life.This is the first time after so many years that anyillness of Rita's is mentioned, except the sore onher forehead, which goes far to prove that evenlong-continued and rigorous penances are not-[ 142 IPrivate Use OnlyiiI

1rIcontrary to the opinion of the world's delicacy--opposed to bodily health or calculated toshorten life. It might seem, indeed, that, consideringthe great misfortunes she had to bear,the many humiliations, and the many voluntarypenances she undertook, she ought to be exemptedfrom this final suffering. With all that,God wished that this beautiful work of His handsshould be marked by the greatest perfection, anddesired to exalt her to the higher places in Hisglory, and He also willed to add to her pastsufferings and the still present troubles of herwounded forehead the pain of this long illness.We do not know with certainty what malady shesuffered from, but, whatever it was, it resistedall the remedies of science. It is not improbablethat, as one of the writers of her life suggests,it was a wasting fever, one of those maladies thatsap the vital strength by degrees through anobstinate and mortal languor, and finally causesdeath.During all that time she remained confined toher hard bed, and the manner in which she boreall the pains and annoyances of her long illnesswas a cause of the greatest edification to all whoassisted, for her face not only showed the resignationand serenity of her mind, but she was alwaysdesiring to suffer still greater pain, and was forMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

ever thanking Divine Providence that deigned topunfy her in this world and give her some occasionof acquiring merit. But there was one painshe felt more than any other, and it was becausethrough illness she was become useless to thecommunity, and even a burden and trouble toher sisters, especially by reason of the deformityand offensiveness of the sore on her forehead;yet not even the grief of this could take awayfrom her the merit of her most heroic resignationto the will of God and equally heroic humilityand patience. Yet another matter there waswhich must have weighed heavily on her, when wecompare the very lowly opinion she had of herselfwith that sublimest idea she had been enabledto form of God's infinite majesty, and that wasthat she could now no longer present herself atthe Eucharistic table to receive her Jesus withthat frequency with which she had been accustomedto partake of that heavenly bread, butwas now, on the contrary, obliged to receive Himlying on her miserable pallet. But the holy soulsupplied in ardent desire and in the intensestinternal acts of adoration and love for that externalveneration which her bodily weaknessrendered impossible. As her disease progressed,or, rather, as her sanctity increased, so smallwas the quantity of food she consumed that itPrivate Use Only

P1could not be told how she was able to live, andtherefore the nuns who were attending on hercame to the conclusion that she was kept aliveby the bread of angels. Nor was their idea sofar from the truth, for Rita herself had to confirmit when, on their pressing her to take some morenourishment, she replied : ' My soul, fixed to thesacred wounds of Jesus Christ, is fed with otherfood.'Now, it happened that whilst the saint was inthis state, and not far from the end of her mortallife, a relative came to visit her, and after passingsome time in condoling with her and giving hercomfort, was about to go away. Before herdeparture she asked Rita if she wanted anything,and said she would willingly do her a service.' Yes,' said Rita. ' I beg you to go to the gardenof my house as soon as you reach Rocca Porena,and pluck a rose there and bring it to me.' Itwas then the month of January, the time in whichthe greatest rigour of winter is felt, especially inthat valley, which is closed in on all sides byoverhanging mountains, where the sun rises lateand sets early, and where at that season allnature is buried under snow and ice. At thestrange request the woman did not know what tothink except that Rita was wandering in hermind through the severity of her illness. SheI0More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

1pitied her, and went back to Rocca Porena. Whenshe reached home it happened that she went tothe garden, either through curiosity or becauseGod so disposed it, and she saw, conspicuousamidst the frozen bushes, a full-blown red rose.At the sight she was seized by various feelings ofwonder, joy, and devotion, and ran to pluck theflower, with which she returned without delayto the convent of Cascia to deliver the wonderfulgift to the saint. Rita took it as coming fromthe hands of her Divine Spouse, and with holyjoy offered it to her sisters who were standingaround. They, too, were seized with wonderand amazement, and joined with her in praisingthe goodness and omnipotence of God.Another prodigious occurrence, not unlike thatwe have just related and not less wonderful,happened very soon after.. The same womanwho had brought the flower to the saint wasbidding her farewell on another occasion, andasked her again if she needed anything. Ritathus answered the charitable question : ' Sinceyou are so kind, I beg that you will go to the samegarden, where you will find two figs, which youwill have the charity to bring me.' This timethe woman did not hesitate a moment, but assoon as she heard the words hurried home, andin a short time was in the garden mentioned.5Private Use Only

There, on a leafless tree, she found the two ripefigs, which she plucked with renewed wonderand pleasure, and carried immediately to the sicknun. At the sight of this second wonder Ritabroke forth into new acts of gratitude and loveto the Lord, in which her sisters joined. Thefame of these miraculous events was spreadthroughout the neighbourhood, and wonderseized on all the people, and they conceived agreat veneration for the dying saint, whom theyclearly perceived to be beloved by God.Thus compassed about with flowers and fruit,like the bride of the sacred Canticles,* Rita feltthat she was languishing with love, and by thisgrowing weaker, she eagerly desired to be freefrom the ties of the body, and at last take flightto enjoy for all eternity her Uncreated Good. Herchaste sighs were not in vain, for her Divine SpouseJesus, accompanied by the most holy Virgin,appeared to her to announce the joyous tidingsthat in three days she should be taken from theworld and from pain, and received into Paradiseto receive the reward due to her virtues and sufferings.The vision disappeared, and joy inundatedRita's heart, and well was this known from thatextraordinary and angelic serenity of her countenancewhich she preserved till her last breath, in* Cant ii. 5.1-2More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

spite of the pains and sorrows of death. Thenuns alone wept as they stood around her bed.In these last moments of hers, profoundly movedby her tranquillity and the wonders they had seen,they had come to know her better, and to appreciatemore perfectly her extraordinary virtues.In the midst of these tears the saint turned toher dear sisters, humbly asked pardon of all ofthem for any offence she might have given themand for the trouble she had caused, left them inremembrance of her beautiful words of peace,obedience, and piety,.and then asked the blessingof the Superior. Her desolate sisters wanted,too, to get a blessing from her as a pledge of thatcharity with which she had always loved them,and with which they besought that she would loveand protect them when she was in heaven. Ritablessed them, tried to console them, and then hadno thought for anything but eternity.Our heroine, it is true, was assured from aboveof the possession of future glory, yet she in nowise neglected to fortify herself with all the aidsand comforts with which our holy Mother Churchprepares us for the great passage. Gathering,therefore, all the strength of her spirit, sheexpressed her desire that the Holy Viaticumshould be brought to her, and Extreme Unctionadministered. She received these holy Sacra-'IPrivate Use Only

ments with a fervour which cannot easily beimagined, much less described, and with thesefresh pledges of grace, and with her eyes turnedtowards the home of the Blessed, her soul took itsflight thither, where she lives an immortal lifefilled with ineffable joy, the reward of her heroicvirtues. Her precious death took place duringthe Pontificate of Calixtus III., in the year 1457,when she had attained the seventy-sixth year ofher age and the forty-fourth of her religious life, onthe night of the 22nd of May, when Saturday wasending, a day specially consecrated to the honourof the Virgin Mary, to whom she was always mostdevout, and towards the beginning of Sunday,the day dedicated to the Lord and figurative ofeternal repose.END OF PART I1More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

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@art 3E3ERITA IN HEAVENMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

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ICHAPTER IWONDERFUL EVENTS THAT HAPPENED AT RITA'SDEATH-BURIALOF HER SACRED BODYIN describing Rita's mortal life, we judged itexpedient to give from time to time some4 idea of the trend of events and of the calamitiesof the times in which she lived, and we have hopesthat it will not be displeasing to the reader noroutside the scope we proposed to ourselves ifwe contkue to follow the same plan now that weare come to speak of her immortal life in so faras it may be said to be visible in those works inwhich God willed to give glory to His servant evenon earth. For her, indeed, time was changedinto changeless eternity, but the world was, asPever, in its instability, and was perpetuallychanging appearance. The short-lived peacewhich had been established at the Council ofFlorence had once more fled from the distractedEast, and Mahomet II., destined by God topunish those relapsing schismatics, had at this[ I53 IMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

time overturned the Empire of Constantinople,and was threatening with ruin the newly-establishedEmpire of Trebizond, as well as otherkingdoms. It is true that in the year 1457-the year of Rita's death-the infidel usurper wasdriven back out of Hungary and Belgrade, andhad been defeated by the brave Scanderbeg inAlbania, by Cardinal de Aquileia on the EgeanSea, and by Uson Cassano near the confines ofPersia. But these losses caused only a temporarycheck, and were but the last flattering hope ofthe hardened and perfidious Greeks. Calixtus 111.was then Pope, and from his Apostolic throne it .was his sad lot to see the heritage of Jesus Christdespoiled, and could only weep over what he couldnot prevent. The wise Pontiff strained everyeffort to prevent still greater ruin, but theeffeminacy, egoism, and rivalry of the Courts ofEurope opposed his brave purpose, and left opena free passage to the progress of the conqueror.In the West the outlook was brighter for theChurch and the world, for affairs were directediby the Emperor Frederick III., surnamed thePeacemaker, and Pope Calixtus, whose greatdesire was to see peace firmly established inItaly, from whence it had so long been banished.Indeed, it was only in the year before he ascendedthe Papal throne that the first signs of revivingPrivate Use Only

Ipeace were seen in that troubled peninsula. It'was through the means of a humble Augustinianfriar that in the end was obtained that peacewhich princes and monarchs had in vain attemptedto restore; for Fr. Sirnonetto of Camerino, apriest of extraordinary piety, is famous in historyfor being the pacificator of Italy. Good moralsand piety began to gain vigour, and broughtconsolation to the Church for the irreparablelosses it had sustained in the East. The reigninghouses also that were least friendly to nationalconcord, and which had not remained unstainedb by depravity, began again to give indicationsof sanctity. In this very year of 1457, Fr. GabrielSforza, Archbishop of Milan, styled the Blessed,passed to his heavenly reward, and a few months1after his death Blessed Christina Visconti followedhim to the kingdom of heaven. Like Rita, bothof these were Augustinians. The Governmentsof the republics of Siena and of Genoa were thelast to suffer from the disasters of war, the formerrhaving been attacked by the ambitious Picunino,and Genoa having been engaged with the maritimeforces of Alphonsus, King of Naples; but eventhese wars had at last come to an end. Cascia,which still continued to be governed as a republic,in common with the other States was enjoyingin prosperity the fruits of peace, and was now .More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

about to acquire greater renown through thedeath of Rita, whose imperishable glory was soonto be proclaimed.Scarcely, indeed, had she breathed her lastwhen began a long series of prodigious events,which immediately spread her fame abroad.The first of these to excite wonder was that atthe moment of her death the nun who had beenher closest companion in life saw the soul of thesaint take its flight to heaven, accompanied byangels, in the garb of brightness in which it hadpleased God to clothe her. The second wonderwas that at that same moment the bell of the7convent rang out, tolled by no visible agency,and the saint's cell was radiating with an unaccustomedsplendour. The sore on her forehead,too, which in life haa been most offensive, wasnow giving forth an odour of heavenly fragrance,and that wound, which had been an unsightlydeformity, now took on the appearance of ashining jewel. Her body, which before hadexhibited all the wasting effects of continual'1mortification, but was the seat of a most puresoul and the temple of the Holy Ghost, wasnow transformed and clothed with almost superhumanbeauty. In a word, not only her soul, buther very body seemed as if it had been assumedinto the splendour of the saints. At the manifesta-Private Use Only

WONDERFUL EVENTStion of events so wonderful the nuns and thefaithful who were present changed their sorrowinto a holy joy, and ceased not to bless the Lordand recommend themselves to Rita's patronage.As the report of these prodigies spread about, thepeople flocked in crowds to see and to veneratethat sacred body, and thus God was praised inthe wonders He had worked, the virtues of Hissaint were published, and in the hearts of manythere sprang up the desire of imitating her example.The obsequies were to be solemnly celebrated onthe following morning, and meanwhile the crowdsarriving from all the surrounding country werecontinually increasing. Amongst the others camea woman who was a near relative of Rita, whosearm had been many years paralysed. Thiswoman approached the sacred body, and, to relieveher feelings of love, sorrow, and devotion, claspedit around the neck. On the instant her witheredarm suddenly regained feeling and strength.She began to cry out that a miracle was wroughtfor her, and all the bystanders took up the cryof ' A miracle ! a miracle !' whilst she who washealed kissed again and again the body of herdeliverer, and returned thanks to God for Hisgreat mercy. The body was brought from thecell into the ancient chapel, where it was quicklysurrounded by a crush of impatient people, whoMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

LIFE OF ST. .RITA OF CASCIAseemed as if they never could be satisfied withgazing on the sacred remains of the holy nun.The last solemn offices were celebrated, but thebody had to be left visible for a long time to satisfythe pious curiosity and devotion of the faithful.At last it was placed in a coffin of poplar, whichwas enclosed in another of walnut wood, in orderthat one who was so honoured by God shouldreceive honourable sepulture. This was but thebeginning of Rita's renown. We shall see as weadvance how God gave greater glory to Hisservant.Private Use Only

CHAPTER I1,- MIRACLES WROUGHT BY GOD THROUGH RITA'SIiTINTERCESSION BEFORE HER BEATIFICATIONHE primary object of miracles is to establishthe Catholic religion, and this is the reasonwhy the Son of God and His disciples performedao many miraculous works that Ned the world$th amazement and invited men to embracek faith. Even when the kingdom of Christ1 been established miracles did not altogethers, but rather it pleased God for His greaterto raise up miracle workers in every age.) edification of the faithful, to place a moredistinctive mark on His Church, and to confirmHis followers in the faith. A little before Rita's- time there were chosen, amongst others, St.Nicholas of Tolentine, St. Vincent Ferrer, St.Bemardine of Siena, St. Francis of Paul to befamous ministers of His omnipotence and mercy.Then followed St. Rita, who, although duringher life she did not perform marvels as did theseC 159 1More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

Apostolic men, yet after her death became celebrated,and is still celebrated throughout thewhole world for the many great miracles withwhich it pleased the Lord to publish the meritsof His beloved spouse.But as St. John the Evangelist has said, speakingof our Lord, so very numerous were themiracles He wrought that only a small proportionof them is recorded in the Sacred Writings, wemay say, preserving due proportion, much thesame of Rita. For not only have lapse of timeand carelessness deprived us of the memory ofmany of the miracles worked through her intercession,but even in the present, when nearlyevery part of the world is ringing with the fameof her great prodgies, authentic testimony isoften wanting, and sometimes we are at a lossfor a simple relation of the facts. We musttherefore perforce be contented with recording acertain number of them taken from the processof her beatification, and we shall follow the orderin which they are related by those writers of herlife who have preceded us. The series of miraclesof which we have authentic knowledge beginsfrom the third day after the saint's death. Wegive it here in compendium.On the 25th of the month of May in whichSt. Rita died a certain Baptist d'Angelo of ColIPrivate Use Only

Giacone, in the territory of Cascia, who had completelylost his sight, having heard of the miracleswhich God was working through her intercessionin those first days after her death, had his faithquickly aroused, and with confidence recommendedhimself to her patronage, and in aninstant his sight was restored.Two days later a woman named Lucrezia diPaolo, from Col Forcella, a village also in theterritory of Cascia, whose body was swollen anddoubled up through advanced years and owingto a sort of dropsy from which she suffered, wentto where the saint's body was lying, and, havingprayed there with strong faith, was enabled toreturn to her home free from disease and inperfect health.On the same day another woman namedFrances, the wife of Antonio Fucelli of Cascia,who had been deaf for five years, was prayingbefore the body of the saint in the presence of amultitude of people. On a sudden she felt thather hearing was restored. The truth of thismiracle is attested by the people who werepresent .Two days later still a man named SalimbenedYAntonio, from Poggio-Primocaso, one of whosefingers had lost all power of motion and was driedup for many years, went to pray that he might11More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

e cured, and touched the saint's sacred bodywith his powerless finger; he, too, was instantaneouslycured, and went back to his home rejoicing.On the last day of May a woman called Giacomucciadi Leonardo, from Ocosce, a village quiteclose to Cascia, was miraculously cured of grievouspains, from which she had been tormented fortwo years, and which had reduced her to a stateof extreme weakness. This grace was granted toher after having prayed most fervently for eightdays, at the end of which her persevering faithwas rewarded by her restoration to health.Frances di Giovanni, from Bisella, in Nursia,who was deaf and dumb from birth, was broughton the same day to visit the miraculous body ofthe saint. She ardently recommended herself toher patronage, and performed the acts of devotionpossible to a deaf mute. Speech and hearingwere thereupon suddenly granted to her. Thefirst words she uttered were ' Ave Maria,' a factwhich amazed her parents and the people whowitnessed the miracle.Still another miracle was wrought by theomnipotence of God, through Rita's intercession,before the end of that month of May. A certainLucrezia, wife of Ser Paolo of Golforalla, whowas all swollen with dropsy, and whose case the-Private Use Only

physicians judged incurable, had herself broughtbefore the saint's body, and there with thestrongest confidence begged that her heart'sdesire might be granted. She, too, was restoredto health and strength.On the 2nd of June in the same year a youthnamed Bernard, the son of Matteo Del-re, fromOcosce, who was suffering from the gravel andwas in very great pain, was brought to where thesaint's coffin was by his father, who besoughtfor him the pity of the saint, and was grantedthe grace he prayed for.The next day a man called Spirito d'Angelo,from Cascia, through the intercession of St. Rita,was cured of chronic sciatica, from which he hadsuffered grievous pain for four years.Four days later a young girl from Rocca, inthe territory of Nursia, whose name was MariadYAngelo, who had been deaf and dumb frombirth, went with her parents to do homage tothe saint of Cascia, and, like Frances di Giovanni,she, too, obtained hearing and speech. Whenthis miracle was made known the girl had to getinto the pulpit to satisfy the pious curiosity of thepeople, and there for the first time she pronouncedthe sweet name of Mary and the names of othersaints, and so great was the wonder of the peoplethat a thanksgiving procession was formed, in11-2More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

which the clergy took part, and a sermon waspreached by Fr. Giovanni Paoletti of Cascia. .On the 13th of the same month Francesco, sonof Antonio Pasquali, of the village of San Cipriano,in the district of Amatrice, who was also a deafmute, was brought by his father and others toRita's glorious tomb, and departed thence withthe full use of his senses, astonished at thenovelty of his sensations and the greatness ofthe miracle.Another miracle took place five days after infavour of Lucia di Sante Lalli, from the town ofS. Maria, in the territory of Nursia. One of hereyes was entirely blind for fifteen years, and theother was nearly so. She went, accompanied byher mother, to visit the holy body of the saintin Cascia, and remained there praying for fifteendays, at the end of which, through her faith andthe intercession of the saint, she regained hersight, as she had ardently desired.After describing the last-mentioned miraclethere is a break in the ancient records, and weread of no other miracles till thirty years later.Under the date of the 3rd of June, 1487, we findthat Pietro di Giovanni of Paganelli, and his wife,a native of Nursia, made a vow to St. Rita for therestoration to health of their son Pietro, who wasso tongue-tied that he could not utter a word.IPrivate Use Only

The saint consoled them, for in a short time theirson was in perfect health, with full use of speech.A daughter -of Gregorio d'Antonio of ColGiacone, who had lost the power of speech aftera severe illness, recovered it after being broughtto the saint's tomb. This fact is mentionedunder the date of the zznd of June in the sameyear.About the same time Sante di Mariano of RoccaPorena, whilst playing bull, was thrown violentlyagainst one of his companions, who had a knifein his belt, and was accidentally so severelywounded in the ventral region that the physiciansdespaired of curing him. He had recourse to thesaint, and although he was not cured instantly,yet he immediately began to improve, and ultimatelyhe was restored to perfect health.On the 18th of May, about two years afterwards,Angela, wife of Domenico Berardi of Logna,a town in the territory of Cascia, whose arm wascrippled and so diseased that it brought onfeverish feelings every day, had recojrse to theinvisible virtue of that holy body, and was completelyhealed.Father Nicola Galli, who had been confessorof the nuns in the convent in which the saintlived, and who wrote her life, which to a greatextent we are making use of in this chapter, andMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

who declares that he took his account of Rita'smiracles from the process of her beatificationgiven him by the nuns, relates as the sixteenthof her miracles that a certain Giovanni di RoccaPorena was restored from death to life throughthe merits of the saint, but he mentions nocircumstances.A woman named Fior di Pier Antonio had a sonnamed Spirito, who suffered from a sort of insanity,which doctors would call lycanthrofiy (aspecies of insanity in which the patient imagineshimself to be a wolf), owing to which he was givento wandering through the woods and mountains,and felt a tendency to hurl himself from highplaces. His afflicted mother, seeing that all theremedies of science were useless, had recourseto St. Rita, and was consoled by her son's beingrestored to health and his right mind.About the year 1491 a certain Vannetta,daughter-in-law of Ser Antonio di Nardo, fromthe town of Fogliano, near Cascia, was sufferingfrom so dangerous an affection of the throat thatshe could swallow neither food nor drink, andtherefore believed that she had reached the endof her days. Once, on being awakened from aheavy sleep, which her friends thought was thelethargy of death, she complained of being deprivedby them of the beautiful vision she hadPrivate Use Only

een enjoying. To their questions about hervision she replied that she had seen St. Rita, whohad called to her and touched her throat with herfinger and disappeared. It was found that thecure was not simply imaginary, but that the girlwas freed from her disease.About the same time a boy named Amico,the son of Antonio of Col Forcella, who was sufferinggreat pain from gravel, was recommendedby his mother to the powerful intercession of thesaint, and her faith was rewarded by his instantaneouscure.In the following year Giovan Marino, of Logna,was cured of a disease called serfientina, throughwhich his whole body was paralysed, for it pleasedGod to hear, through the intercession of Rita,the fervent prayers offered in his behalf by hisaunt Donna Santa.Towards the end of the same year Pier Marino,son of Marino Bruchi of Nursia, who had receivedtwo mortal wounds in a scuffle, had recourse tothe patronage of Rita, and not in vain, for he-was seen to get better, and through perseveringprayer was soon restored to health.Three other miracles are described as havingtaken place about this time through Rita'sintercession. The first was the healing of DonnaSanta (perhaps the same as was mentioned before),More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

daughter of Domenico of Logna, who was sufferingfrom headaches, and tumours, and swelling ofthe throat. She besought the saint to obtainher restoration to health, and vowed to send a florin as offering to her convent. Rita heard her1prayers, and became her advocate before theGiver of every good gift, who instantly gave herback the health she prayed for.The next was that wrought in favour of acertain woman named Giacoma, the wife ofMartino of S. Anatolia, in the territory of Cascia,who broke her shoulder-blade and her thigh byfalling from a height on a rock. She was tortured iIby most violent pains, against which she couldfind no better remedy than to have recourse toRita, to whose convent she vowed to present ahalf-florin. Her prayers were heard, and shewas instantly cured.The third of the cases, registered under date ofthe 18th of November, happened thus : Antonio,the son of Giuliano and Gemma of Nursia, waslying mortally wounded and left for dead, having 41received fourteen wounds, one of which had almostsevered his shoulder from his body. His motherand his sister Maria determined to trust themselvesto the help of heaven, and had recourse to theintercession of St. Rita. They therefore made avow to visit her venerated body and to bring a 1IPrivate Use Only

waxen image. Hardly had they made the vowthan the young man was cured of his wounds.Lucchessa, the wife of Giovan Marino of Collecurioso,now destroyed, in the territory ofCascia, had been possessed by the devil for manydays. She was brought to Rita's grave, andthere was delivered from that molestation throughthe saint's intercession. When this favour wasconferred there were many present, religious andseculars, who also bore witness to the horribleyells uttered by the infernal spirit as it left thebody.In 1494 Monica di Colantonio of Colle, in thedistrict of Nursia, was cured of a fistula solelybecause her father, Domenico, had gone to Casciato honour the saint, to whose efficacious patronagehe had recommended himself.Towards the end of the same year, on the16th of December, a man named GiovanniAndrea, son of Giovannuccio, from Atri, a townin the territory of Cascia, came to Cascia to thankhis protectress Rita, who, he affirmed, hadformerly delivered him from a serious illness,and had saved him again from imminent dangerof death when a chestnut-tree had fallen on himand threatened to crush him.Two years later a certain Paolo, son of Giovanni,a native of Collecurioso, whose son Angelo wasMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

suffering torture from the gravel, made a vowto bring his son to return thanks at the saint'stomb if he were cured, and to have the miraclepainted on a tablet. His faith was rewarded byhis son being cured.In the same year Andrea dYAngelo, from Onelli,in the Cascia district, was cured, through theintercession of the saint, from an illness bywhich he was confined to bed for ten months.In 1501 a woman named Perna, wife of Marinodi Aliena, who was tormented by evil spirits,was delivered from them by favour of the saint,to whom she had had recourse.At the same time Giovanni di Bartolomeo,from Roccatervi, in the neighbourhood of Cascia,who had cut a vein near his left instep eightyears before, and whose case was consideredincurable, besought St. Rita with fervent prayersto come to his aid. When he perceived that hisprayers were heard, and that a cure impossibleto human science had been effected, he made anoffering on the 10th of June of a silver crown tothe church that guards the saint's body.Pier Angelo, son of Pier Domenico, from theneighbourhood of Spoleto, had fled in the year1503 from that district to escape an epidemicthat was raging there. When he thought thedanger was past he returned, but one of hisiIi .Private Use Only

daughters was seized by the malady. Theafflicted father bethought him of seeking theprotection of the miracle-worker St. Rita. He, promised to visit her venerated tomb and to makean offering of four carlins. His faith was rewardedby his daughter's deliverance.Vannuccio di Sante of Foligno, one of whosearms was withered, had recourse to the saintto obtain the favour of being cured, and madea vow to offer the figure of an arm in wax. Thepower of his arm was immediately restored. Hedetermined thereupon to fulfil his vow on ac certain Sunday, but when the day came hechanged his mind, and meant to go to Nursia.But he paid the penalty of his ungrateful fickleness,for he was seized with such a pain in one ofhis feet that he could not walk. Thereupon heresolved to fulfil immediately his vow, and headded a second one of bringing also the waxenfigure of a foot. He was relieved of the pain,and hesitated no longer to fulfil his double vow.I This happened in 1506.It happened about the year 1510 that a certainMesser Francesco of Monferrato, who was fiveyears bedridden owing to gangrene of the throat,saw St. Rita appear to him in a dream. He paidno attention to the vision, but the saint appearedto him a second and a third time. On the third*More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

occasion she informed him who she was andwhence, and exhorted him to go to her tomb;she then touched his throat, and he was restoredto health. He arose from his bed cured, and setout for Tuscany, and from thence he went toRome, for he did not know where Cascia was,where Rita was buried. But in Rome he founda farmer from Nursia, who gave him the informationhe needed, and when he arrived at Casciahe made an offering of a box full of silver coins,had a procession of thanksgiving celebrated, andon the occasion of it a sermon was preached byFr. Ludovico of Cascia, a Franciscan.Giovan Angelo, the son of Leonardo, fromOcosce, in the district of Cascia, was freed onthe 26th of April, 1525, from an evil spirit by .which he was obsessed, and to express his gratitudefor the favour, obtained through Rita'sintercession, made an offering of four carlins tothe,convent, a thousand wooden stakes for thevineyard, and his own services as long as he lived.In the same year and month another manobsessed by the devil, whose name was Bernardino,the son of Domenico Saccomadi, from the townof San Giovanni, in the Cascia district, wasdelivered from the infernal enemy after beingbrought to visit the body of .St. Rita, before whichpublic prayers were recited for his liberation.Private Use Only

On the 26th of December of the same year ason of Giovan Francesco of Nardi, in the suburbsof Cascia, a child three years old, after a veryserious illness, which lasted for thirteea days,was become quite blind, and could take nonourishment, and was, in fact, at the point ofdeath. The father went to Cascia to beg the ,intercession of St. Rita, and to his prayers wereadded those of the nuns, who also gave him a littlepiece of Rita's habit. He returned home, andwith firm faith touched his son's eyes with therelic he had received, and invoked the name ofRita,.and immediately it was seen that the &acehe had sought had been granted. As a sign ofgratitude he brought an offering of eight florins'worth of articles to be used in the services of thesaint's church.A similar miracle happened towards the year1535, in the case of Constantino, the son ofScolastica and Giacomo di Pietro '~occhi, fromAgriano, in the district of Nursia. He, too, wassuffering from a mortal illness when his mothermade a vow his favour to St. Rita, and he wascured on the instant. To fulfil her vow and testifyher gratitude, Scolastica presented a vestmentto the church on the 1st of June.About the same time it also happened that alittle girl of ten years, called Antonia, who.wasMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

the daughter of Giovanni di Silvestro of RoccaPorena, fell into the river Corno, then very muchswollen by floods, and was swept along in thestrong current for nearly half a mile. Beforelosing consciousness she offered herself to St. Rita,and the waters bore her tb the river bank as onereturned to life from the dead.Donna Brigida, wife of the noble Marsiglio diMarino of Nursia, was also the recipient of asingular favour from St. Rita in the year 1548.She was lying ill in bed, despaired of by thephysicians and near death. A certain .Girolamodi Giovanni, who occupied a room not far fromwhere the sick woman was lying, twice heard avoice commanding her to make a vow to thesaint. At the second time of hearing ,he wokethe servants, the vow was registered by theinvalid, who instantly spoke. She was curedwithout the application of other remedies, andthe same day the little silver crown she vowedto send to Cascia was despatched.The year after a certain Ferrantino di BenedettoIof Collecurioso, in the Cascia district, was soterrified by a phantom of the night that he fellinto convulsions and became delirious. St. Rita,to whom he had remembered to pray, appearedto him in one of his lucid intervals and advisedhim to go to her tomb and pray there, and that !Private Use Only

fhe would there regain his health. He went onSt. James's Day, and although he was as ill asusual whilst going, no sooner had he reached theblessed tomb than he was cured in body andmind.Nicola, the son of Francesco Cascianelli ofAntrodoco, in October, 1562, had recourse tothe saint to heal him of a chronic illness,promising to make an offering of three crownsat her sepulchre. He, too, was instantaneouslycured.On the last day of May, in the year 1563,there happened another noteworthy miraclewrought in favour of Donna Cheava di Paolo, ofthe Castle of Uncciafora. Two months beforeshe had an apoplectic fit, and during all the interveningtime her tender mother could obtain norelief for her, and was herself condemned touseless weeping, till she determined to make avow to the saint. After two days she had thehappiness of seeing her daughter restored to her1 former health. On the very day of the recoverythe mother went to Cascia to perform her vowat Rita's tomb, and the assembled people celebratedthe miracle with a procession.Four years afterwards, on the 23rd of April,Angelina di Marco of Poggio-Primocaso was prostrateat the saint's tomb, returning thanks to her'More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

for having saved her nephew, who had been atthe point of death after falling down a precipice.Many other wonderful cures are recorded inthe process of beatification without a date beingmentioned. We read, for example, that a womanfrom Monte Leone named Pazienza, who wasobsessed by the devil, was freed from her greatmisfortune on being brought to the tomb of thesaint ; that Ristorio Sarsio from Amatrice, whowas brought almost to death's door by pains in.his sides, was cured whilst in the act of makinga vow in the saint's honour ; that a child offour years-Giovanni Andrea, son of FabianoFortunati-who had fallen into a vessel of boilingwater, and thereby lost sight and speech, as soonas his mother had asked the saint's intercessionfor him, again spoke and recovered sight, and in .a short time was as well as ever ; that a certainBernardino di Tiberio, who had become blindof an eye from a wound, was brought to thesaint's tomb, and instantly regained the sight ofhis eye whilst the coffin was being uncovered;and that a woman from Logna, who was returningfrom Cascia after being cured there miraculously,suggested. to another woman to make a vow toSt. Rita in order that a daughter of hers who wasblind might recover sight. The daughter promisedSt. Rita to become a nun in the Augustinian4Private Use Only

MIRACLES THROUGH RITA'S INTERCESSION 177!convent in Cascia, and her vision was immediatelyrestored. She was afterwards Prioress of theconvent for thirty-five years. Fr. Galli, whowrote the saint's life, through fear of wearyinghis readers contented himself with simply alludingto many other like miracles and wonderful favoursworked by St. Rita. Most other writers of herlife have followed his example, except that afew have given some little additions. We, too,shall imitate these older examples, and close ourlist of miracles worked by St. Rita before herbeatification.More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

CHAPTER I11EFFICACY OF .RELICS OF ST. RITAIT is quite certain that the power of workingmiracles belongs only to Omnipotence; nevertheless,the many wonderful works done at thetombs of the saints seem to indicate that in thoseholy places there breathes an air participatedthrough that incommunicable virtue by means ofwhich not only those sacred bodies, but everythingthat belongs to them, co-operates in performingthe wonderful works of God and incelebrating and making known these wonders.This is the same power that first accompaniedthe shadow of St. Peter, as the Holy Spirit assuresus it did,* and that afterwards, on the testimonyof St. Augustine, was communicated to thoserenowned chains that were the instruments ofhis generous confession and his guide to martyrdom.The Church's history supplies us withinnumerable examples of cases in which similar* Acts v. 15.C 178 IPrivate Use OnlyI

virtue was annexed to relics of the saints andto objects connected with the veneration of them,and in St. Rita's case we have a special confirmationof this fact. And, to keep to our subject,the truth of this assertion as regards St. Rita iswitnessed by immemorial report, by such examplesbeing recorded in the process for herbeatification, and by proven cases, some ofwhich we here record.Before the saint's body was removed to itsnew resting-place-that is, before the year 1745-it was the long-established custom of the nunsto cover it with a new veil every year, the old onebeing divided into minute portions and distributedto the faithful to satisfy their devotion. ' Manymiracles were worked through them,' says FatherRabbi, who cites the following case as an example :On the 27th of April, 1652, twenty-four yearsafter an office in honour of St. Rita had beengranted, a fire broke out in the house of GiovanniPolidori in Narni, and soon spread to an alarmingdegree. His wife Chiara, seeing that human aidwas of no avail in overcoming the increasingflames, and recollecting that she had a little pieceof the saint's veil, hurriedly sent her daughter tothe roof of a house that had not yet taken fire tocast from there the piece of veil into the flames.The daughter did as she was told, and for fear12-2More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

the relic, which was wrapped in a piece of paper,should not carry so far owing to its lightness, shetied it with a thread to a piece of mortar. Assoon as she had done so, she threw it, and thefire immediately ceased. Then Chiara, her family,and the others who were living in the house,went directly to St. Augustine's Church to offertheir thanks to God and His saint. They foundin the church the woman who had given the pieceof veil to Chiara, and who was of even greaterfaith than her. Chiara considered that the relicwas burned, but the woman maintained that itmust have escaped the fire, for the instrument ofthe miracle ought not to have become the foodof the conquered flames, and told them to go andlook for it amidst the ashes. They went, andChiara soon had reason to wonder at a secondmarvel, for she found the relic just as it had beenwhen it was thrown into the flames, and neitherthe paper around it nor the string was in theleast burned. They then returned to the churchto renew their thanksgiving for the wonderfulworks done in their favour. The report of theoccurrence was soon spread abroad, and a publicaccount of it was printed on the 25th of thefollowing May.It was also a pious custom of the nuns to distributeto the people the dust, the scrapings fromIPrivate Use Only

the walls, and such things, of the saint's cell, andof the first cofh in which her sacred body hadbeen placed and in which it had lain until 1745,and many marvellous results were obtained alsofrom the employment of these things. Amongstother wonders Father Rivarola relates this bne:A servant of Cardinal Fachinetti, Bishop ofSpoleto, had a daughter who was blind of one eye,and whose other eye was so diseased that no hopecould be entertained of curing it. She recoveredthe sight of both eyes by the sole use of that dust,which her mother cast into her eyes, an act which1 would naturally have further injured her eyesif the dust had not been made salutary by theOmnipotent, who, as we read in the Gospel,*gave sight to the blind by using clay. A certainFrancesco Armilli obtained a similar grace bythe same means. Both of these afterwards wentto Cascia to give public testimony of the facts,and to return heartfelt fervent thanks to St.Rita.P There are authentic documents in existence toprove that marvellous cures were also wroughtthrough the means of the oil of the lamp thatbums before the receptacle wherein the saint'sIbody is placed. By means of that oil AlessandroAlessandrini of Amatrice, who had been stabbed* John ix. 6.More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

in the side, and was almost at death's door, gotbetter in a moment of the violent pain he wassuffering, and was afterwards entirely curedwithout the use of any other remedy, nor did anysign of the wound remain on his body.Granita, the wife of Antonio Vanatelli of Atri,was cured in the same manner of a large abscesson her side. Signor Pompeo Benenati of Cascia,who was a captain in Ferrara, was cured of adangerous hemorrhage by the same marvellousremedy, and as a. mark of his gratitude sent asilver lamp to the sepulchre of the saint of hisnative town, his deliverer. A son of Signora diGiovanni Andrea of Nursia, whose feet, legs, andarms were so crippled that he could not stirfrom his bed, was healed by the virtue of thatsame oil, and was afterwards as able to go aboutas if he had never been ill. Don Sante Mazzuti,parish priest of Caste1 San Giorgio, near Cascia,who was attacked by the plague, which was devastatingmany parts of Italy in the time of PopeAlexander VII., was also cured by applying the!same wondrous oil.It was also customary with the nuns, from theyear 1500 at least, to bake little loaves on whichthey impress the image of St. Rita, and these,after having placed them in presence of the sacredbody, they distribute in large quantities, and evenPrivate Use Only

send them to distant countries. Devout peoplewho are seeking favours from the saint in theirnecessities, after reciting a Pater Noster and HailMary, or some other prayer, eat a little of thatbread, and they drink a little water, perhaps inmemory or in honour of the very little foodthe saint was accustomed to use, for bread andwater were her usual sustenance. Now, as manyauthors testify, on the authority of the processof beatification, and the witnesses cited for thecanonization confirm them, the sick have oftenfound this bread a very efficacious remedy ink. their illnesses, and especially those suffering fever.Moreover, in cases of storm by sea or land, it isa pious practice in some places to throw a bitof the bread towards the sky or into the seawhilst reciting a prayer to the saint, and it hasoften been observed that thereupon calm andtranquillity succeeded. It is, in fact, relatedthat many sailors have been thereby deliveredfrom shipwreck, and, amongst others, PompeoI Martini of Cascia and his companions whilst theywere on a voyage to Sicily. , They tell, too, thatin time af pestilence many were either preservedfrom infection by using this bread, or else regainedtheir lost health.With regard to this matter, there is one factat least which we ought not to pass over in silence.More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

We have already made mention of that contagious 1disease which was rife in the year 1656, to theigreat loss of many Italian cities, and whichbrought desolation to Rome itself. There lived 1Iin Rome at that time a girl of about twelve yearsof age, daughter of an innkeeper, whose housewas near the Church of St. Blase, which had beendedicated about that time to St. Rita. Thelittle girl, by reason of the great devotion which shehad towards the saint, was accustomed to makeuse of these little loaves. It happened that whilstshe was sleeping one night with her two aunts theywere both unexpectedly attacked by the pestilence,and both of them died that night whilstshe was asleep. When she awoke she was sofrightened by what had happened that she felloff into a faint so deep that she, too, was thoughtto be dead, and she was put with the two corpseson a car'and carried to the cemetery of St. Paulthat had been arranged for those who died ofthat disease. When they were removing thebodies from the car she was found to be alive 1and conscious, and was carried back to her homeamidst the astonishment and joy of all who werepresent. When she was asked at home how itwas that she was alive, she answered, 'I do notknow, except that when I awoke and saw thatI was lying between two dead bodies I said,Private Use Only

" Blessed Rita, help me." ' Now, let us ask howcould a person of tender years, after being so longbetween two persons just then dead of the plague,escape the contagion without the special favourof heaven, or of that saint who had been thespecial protector of her devout client? Howadmirable, indeed, is God in His saints !More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

CHAPTER IVIT was the Almighty's will that the body ofthe saint, born of a mother so long barren,visited by the wonderful bees, miraculouslybrought into the convent, marked by a woundfrom a thorn of the Crucified One, and in-deathcrowned with splendour and clothed with abeauty almost heavenly, should also be glorifiedin a singular manner after death. And so ithas remained for several centuries without showingthe least sign of decay, and may be seeneven to the present day miraculously preserved.Before the year 1628-that is, for a space of171 years-its eyes were always seen to be closed,and so they appear in pictures taken before thatdate ; but in that year there was a tumult excitedin the church by an insignificant cause on a dayon which ceremonies more solemn than usualwere being observed to celebrate the grantingof an Office in the saint's honour, and on that[ 186 IPrivate Use Only

occasion the eyes of the saint were seen to open,to the great amazement of all present. Thescandalous conduct of those who caused thetumult, and through passion violated the laws ofcharity and the sanctity of the holy place, seemsto have awakened that venerable body from itslong repose; for it raised itself aloft out of itsresting-place, whilst a perfume as from Paradisefilled the church, its eyes opened, and thus struckterror into the hearts of the brawlers, and filledthem with penitence for their deeds, so that thesacred offices were finished in peace.The scene we have described calls us to considera second prodigy, that of the odour which isoften observed in the vicinity of the saint's bodyanodour of unsurpassed sweetness, which invitesto devotion and brings spiritual comfort and consolation.It lasts sometimes for a considerableperiod, sometimes is very transient ; it diffuses itselfto a great distance at times, or is only apparentin the vicinity of the body, and at different timeshas different degrees of pleasantness. This, whichwe might call an odour of Paradise, is sometimesso widely diffused as to be noticeable not only inthe church where the body is preserved and inthe adjacent convent, but also in the neighbouringhouses and in the streets, and it is wonderfulthat it has never seemed unpleasant to anyone,More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

ut, on the contrary, has brought spiritual consolation,and excited the devotion of those whohave had the happiness of experiencing it.There are many documents in existence whichgive the fullest testimony regarding this wonderfulodour, and notably the processes of St. Rita'scanonization, which put beyond all doubt thefact that it is really supernatural, for neitherwas Rita's body ever embalmed, as we have said,nor were any spices or other odoriferous substancesever placed either within or near thereceptacle wherein it lies.Moreover, it is an ancient tradition in Cascia,which is confifmed also by the writers of her lifeand by the processes of beatification and canonization,that on the occasions of the triduurnsthat are accustomed to be offered at the altar ofthe saint for the sick who have recourse to her,it is not hard to discover whether they are goingto get back health or are going to die ; for asweeter perfume is given forth when the objectof prayer is to be granted, whereas an odour !somewhat like that of incense, or the absence ofodour altogether, is an indication of death.Stranger still, the same wonderful fragrance hasbeen experienced even in distant countries, whenextraordinary graces have been obtained bythe intercession and through the invocation ofPrivate Use Only

IiLSt. Rita. So the constant tradition affirms, andthe processes of canonization confirm traditionin this point. Fr. Rabbi quotes a specific casein proof of this belief. A medical doctor, SignorAndrea, came from Sinigaglia to Cascia with hiswife Violante to thank the saint for her intercessionand to present a silver votive offering forthe healing of their son, who had been cured ofa mortal illness. The healing of their son hadbeen signified to them a little before they came toCascia by the same wonderful fragrance. Thesesweet odours are also manifest, not to mentionmany other occasions, whenever the Bishop ofSpoleto or the Augustinian Provincial come tohold their usual visitations.Another fact calculated to cause still greatersurprise is that Rita's body has been seen toraise itself in its coffin from the bottom of thatreceptacle up to the grating on its top, especiallyduring the time of the Provincial's visitation.The same wonderful occurrence has also been .remarked during the visitations of the Bishopsof Spoleto in the convent, as if the saint therebywished to renew her homage to her episcopalSuperior. On these occasions the motion of thebody is not always the same. Sometimes it hasbeen remarked to be much slower than at othertimes, and it has on occasions been seen to raiseMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

itself for a moment and then sink back againinto its usual place. On many other occasionsbesides at times of visitation this spontaneousraising'of the body has been noticed. In ordernot to make so seemingly incredible a statementwithout sufficient evidence, we transcribe a depositionsworn by some of the most prominent peoplein the town of Cascia.NOTE TO CHAPTER IVIn the Name of God. Amen.ON Saturday the 16th May, 1682, in the churchcalled anciently St. Mary Magdalen's, but nowcalled B. Rita's, we the undersigned, of the territoryof Cascia, diocese of Spoleto, by means ofour oath, etc., in the presence of me a notary andChancellor forane of the bishop of the territoryof Cascia, give full and undoubted testimony,etc., for the truth, and not otherwise, etc., thatat the present the blessed body of our B. Rita isentire, uncorrupted, with its flesh white, withoutany stain of corruption, with its eyes open, andespecially the left, which is seen to be more openthan the right, and with the eyelids separated,and with the mouth somewhat opened, in whichare seen and ver clearly distinguished the whiteteeth, the hands ikewise white, etc.PiPrivate Use Only

Similarly have been observed b us, and recognised,the garments and the ve' I?'s, that she hason her head, which are the same that she worewhen she was alive, and with them was the blessedbody placed and arranged in the same coffin,where at present she is found, as by relation andcontinued ancient tradition of the nuns of thisconvent, which garments and veils have beenfound to be sound, entire, and not corrupted bymoths, nor by time, these garments appearing,as the veils also, as if they were worn at thepresent time by a living person.Similarly we attest as above, that we have feltmany times an odour and a fragrance wonderfuland of Paradise, without being able to say whatkind of odour it is, and this sometimes has beenobserved in a manner that it was felt outside thechurch. And by much more is this odour marvellousinasmuch as her body was not embalmed,or opened, but placed in the coffin where it isfound, with all the internal portions not separated,nor divided from the body.Similarly we fully testify as above, that wehave many times observed that her blessed bodyhad raised itself from the place where ordinarilyit lies up to the top of the little grating which isabove the said coffin, where reposes the sameblessed body, and especiall this happens on theoccurrence of her feast, an dY when she has workedsome miracle, as happened in the year 1628 forthe first time, when was celebrated the feast ofher beatification, of which appears authentictestimony made under date 13 June, 1660, bydeed of Signor Giuse pe Benenati, native ofMontefalco, with the I! egal form of this publicoffice, and so much we say and attest for the truth,More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

etc., not only, etc., but in every other betterway, etc.I Carlo Giudici, Vice-Governor of Cascia, waspresent, and affirm as above with my ownhand.I Raffaele Cittadoni, Archpriest of the collegiatechurch of said place, was present and affirm,etc.I Dionigi Panfili, Vic. forane of Cascia, waspresent and affirm, etc.I Ortensio Martini, Canon of the collegiatechurch of said territory, was present andaffirm, etc. 'I Antonio Frenfenelli, Canon of the collegiatechurch of said territory, was present andaffirm, etc.I Cerulino Berardi, Captain of the company ofthe cuirassiers of said place, was presentand affirm, etc.I An elo Graziani, Captain of the infantry ofEascia, was present and affirm, etc.I Alessio Martini, notary public of Cascia, waspresent and affirm, etc.. I Giovanni Graziani of Cascia was present andaffirm, etc.I Giovanni Battista Leonetti of Cascia waspresent, etc.1 tI4t the Name of God. Amesz.1In the year of our Lord 1682, the fifth declaration,on the 28th day of the month of May, 6thear of the Pontificate of Innocent XI., Pope by1bivine Providence, I Petrus Gedilis of Tutia in\Private Use Only

ICascia, of the diocese of Spoleto, by publicApostolic authority notary, etc.LtS.The ConsuZs of the Renowned Territory ofCascia.To all, etc. The aforesaid D. Petrus Gentilisand our other fellow-citizens are such as theydescribe themselves in their public and privatedeclarations, and in this the usual and due formswere observed, and in the present matter undoubtedfaith is to be given them, etc., and thereforewe have given these at Cascia from theConsular Palace this last day of May, 1682.: LtS.DOMIN~CUS DE LANCELLOTTIS,Canc. Secr.More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

CHAPTER VIMMEMORIAL WORSHIP OF ST. RITALiIT had been provided by the sapient PontiffAlexander 111. three centuries before Rita'sdeath that no one, however remarkable for holinessof life, and dying in the fame of sanctity,should receive public and ecclesiastical worship,unless after the approbation of the Holy ApostolicSee. But it must be admitted that Rita's sanctityand miracles had more effect than any decreethat interfered with the devotion of so many, and,indeed, the decree was unknown to most of them.Hardly was Rita dead than there was a greatconcourse of the people of Cascia gathered atthe feet of the sacred body, with hands raised ,in veneration and entreaty, beseeching the favourof their new protectress. The constant andwonderful works which it then pleased God toperform to the advantage of those faithful peoplejustified their confidence, and served to augmenttheir fervour and at the same time the venera-C I94 IPrivate Use Only

Ition and glory of the saint. Followi~ig theexample of the people of Cascia, and incited bythe fame of Rita's miracles, the peoples of otherplaces, near and far, hastened to offer her theirreligious homage also, in order to become participantsin her favours, or to make votive offerings,or to leave memorials of graces received. As aconsequence, lamps and candles were soon burningaround her venerated tomb; her picturebecame honoured, and many votive tablets andgifts in ever-increasing numbers were offered.Hence, also, devout processions began to be celebratedon the occasions of the more extraordinarymiracles, and hence her feast began to be kepton the anniversary day of her death, or, rather,of her birth to immortal life.This singular devotion to the saint never1 declined ; it rather acquired greater vigour andwider bounds as years went on. The processionstook place only in Cascia in the beginning, butin the course of time they began to be held byIthe faithful of the neighbouring towns and villages,who had begun to invoke, as they stillinvoke, the favour of their common advocate.These pious demonstrations of public and solemnveneration are usually celebrated about the timeof her feast, and are always accompanied bypious offerings. The feast itself, which at first13-2More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

used to be observed in an ordinary way, cameto be celebrated even magmficently when thedevotion increased, and to be regarded as a holidayof obhgation. The Offices of the Church, whichwere attended by great crowds of people, manyof them from distant places, were made moreimpressive by the aid of the choicest music andthe rich decoration of the church. But whathas ever caused the greatest edification in connectionwith this festival was to see the numberof strangers, and especially women, who came onpilgrimage in bare feet and humble attire.From that period the convent and church,which were formerly known as St. Mary Magdalen's,came, in a beautiful way, to be called,as they are so called at present, by the title ofSt. Rita. For the pilgrims, as they approachedthe goal of their journey, had no other care thanto find out where the convent of St. Rita was,and on their return were used to say that they hadbeen in the country and in the Church of St. Rita.Hence that manner of speaking, which has prevailedfrom an early date, has finally succeededin giving its fixed name to that venerated shrine.It is also deserving of notice here that the customof calling her the Blessed, which had been introducedeven during the century after her death,in a short 'time became public and general.Private Use Only

IselvesAbout eight years after her most glorious deaththe learned Cardinal Girolamo Seripando hadalready placed Rita on his list of the Saints andBlesseds of the Augustinian Order; Panfilo,Crusenio, Gelsomini, and Ferrario had in theirworks already confirmed these titles and honours ;the Fathers-General of the Order were alreadyaccustomed in their official documents and letterspatent to style her either by the title of Blessedor that of Saint, and distinguished her conventby the same title. In a word, the general bodyof the faithful had already beatified her longbefore the Vicar of Jesus Christ had her nameinserted in the Roman Martyrology or hadgranted an Oflice in her honour. Now, if theworship given to Rita was so great before it wasallowed by the Church to honour her publicly,we may imagine how much it was increasedwhen the decree of the Supreme Head of theChurch, who could do no less than add his voiceto the general chorus of praise, set his seal andapproval on it. Rehgous veneration to thefamous Rita then speedily spread throughout thewhole earth, and together with the people, Kings,Cardinals, Prelates, and personages of the greatestdistinction, bent their knees in devotion beforethe humble servant of God, and deemed themhappyin her patronage. Amongst theMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

countries remarkable for devotion to her, thekingdoms of Spain and Portugal were preeminent,both in their European possessions andtheir vast colonies in the Western world; forthroughout them all the name of Rita wasglorious, and their monarchs gave the most edifyingexamples of piety and munificence. And itwas in these Catholic dominions that, owing tothe very many great miracles she wrought, shebegan to be known by the title of 'the Saint ofthe Im$ossible,' and in them hard to find a churchwhich has not an altar dedicated to her honour.So much was her veneration extended that theinhabitants of the city of St. Sebastian, in Brazil,made a supplication to Pope Benedict XIII.to obtain the extraordinary faculty of consecratinga church under the invocation of B. Rita,and when the faculty had been granted theirpious intention was soon carried into effect.Seventy years before that Monsignor GiuseppeCruciani of Cascia, chamberlain of Pope Alex-. ander VII., had obtained possession of the Churchof St. Blase in Rome, with the intention of rededicatingit to B. Rita, and to-day we find it sodedicated, and it has become the church properto the people of Cascia in Rome. Still earlier,. and immediately after her beatification, MonsignorFausto Poli, himself a native of Cascia, whoPrivate Use Only

was then Maggiordomo to Pope Urban VIII., andIafterwards became Cardinal and Bishop of Orvieto,acquired possession of the house in which thesaint lived during her married life, and at his ownexpense had it converted into a little chapel;and so it remains to the present, and in it ispreserved as a relic the mantle she wore in theworld.We must not pass over in silence a noteworthyfact recorded by some biographers of the saint,which is confirmed by a tradition in Rocca Porena,and sworn to in a deposition included in thefirst process. It is this: The saint's roomreceived its light whilst she dwelt in it, and untilI it was changed into a chapel, from a little window,I or, rather, aperture, in the roof, and there, as isi piously believed, the angels used to appear whocame to comfort her in her sorrows. When sheI~ entered the convent others dwelt there until thetime of her beatification. Her successors in thehouse-and amongst them was a priest, DonDiamante di Pier Felice, who was examined as awitness in the first process-tried to close theaperture; but all their efforts were fruitless, foras often as they closed it they found it openedagain, and it was, moreover, observed thatthrough that opening neither rain nor snow everentered.More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

The convent cell, too, which Rita sanctifiedby so many years of her presence, by her profoundmeditations, and by the pitiless scourging of herbody, and where the two cofis in which she wasfirst buried are at present preserved, began tobe held in veneration from an early period andto be looked upon as a private oratory. In brief,it is an undoubted fact that the religious honoursshown to our saint began from the very time ofher death, and as time went on they increasedwithout any interruption and became more distinguished,till veneration to Rita was spread ina singular manner throughout the whole Catholicworld. Thus are the humble exalted by God,and thus are the just in the everlasting memoryof the ages.Private Use Only

CHAPTER VISOLEMN BEATIFICATION OF RITAPERIOD of one hundred and seventy yearsA had passed since Rita went to live crownedwith glory in the kingdom of the blessed, wherethere is no change of years or of things, and fromwhence she was regarding with compassionate eyesthe ever-changing vicissitudes of this valley oftears. In that interval between Rita's death andher solemn beatification the world had changed ahundred times its form and appearance. Convulsionsof nature, ruling passions, kingdomsceasing to be, new Governments, dominions extended,fires of war enkindled, extinguished, andenkindled again, heresies ever variable, nowspreading themselves, now kept within bounds,councils assembled, Apostolic enterprises, andthe barque of Peter always safe amid the shocksof tempests-these are the things that makeup the long history of that time, and, indeed, ofevery epoch.[ 201 1More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

However, at the time in which the honours ofbeatification were being prepared for Rita, theworld and the Church were enduring only minorafictions, and the aspect of affairs would havebeen still more serene but that the question ofthe succession to the extinct House of Mantuawas giving rise to some hostile movements inItaly, and that the rebellious Calvinists werecausing civil discord in France. Still, comparedwith the past, those were times of peace, ofgentleness, and of religion. In the East, in fact,the ididel Amurath IV., sunk in debauchery, hadlost the taste for war and conquest. The EmperorFrederick V., in the West, was keeping theheretics in subjection and preparing the wayto restore to the Church the rights and propertythey had usurped. Italy had no longer to toleratethose wandering troops of armed men of whichwe have elsewhere spoken, who, however theymay have bargained to bring help, were muchmore accustomed to bring ruin and mourningin their train ; nor was there that multiplicityof Governments, each as ambitious and tyrannicalas it was insignificant. Cascia, too, althoughfallen from its primitive splendour, was yet atpeace, as was the rest of the Pontifical dominions.The arts were flourishing and gaining newlustre in this time of tranquillity. But what is ofI1Private Use Only

IIImost importance is good order, religious andmoral, and the Council of Trent had broughtback order into the bosom of Christianity, andthere it continued to rule.At that time the chair of Peter was occupiedby Urban VIII., whose virtue, learning, andillustrious enterprises have made his name immortal.Before ascending the Papal throne hehad governed the Church of Spoleto with greatedification and splendid success, and there he hadevery facility for inquiring into Rita's virtuesand miracles, and the antiquity and fame ofthe veneration paid to her. God afterwards sodisposed it that he should take upon himselfthe government of the Universal Church, andshould co-operate in the fulness of power in exaltingour saint. It is true that she had alreadybeen beatified by the people from the time ofher death, but in strict truth and in accordancewith the sacred Canons, it did not belong, nordoes it belong, to the people to declare anyonesaint or blessed, for the oracle of the ApostolicSee is needed. For Jesus Christ alone sanctifiesin the Church triumphant, as He teaches in theBook of Leviticus, where He says, ' I am theLord who sanctifies them,' and so in the Churchmilitant it is the prerogative of His Vicar onearth, the Roman Pontiff, to set the seal of hisMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

approval on sanctification and publish it to theworld.Never was there a more favourable opportunitythan that which then presented itself, when thePapal throne was occupied by a Pope who hadbeen himself a witness of the devotion with whichthe faithful flocked to Rita's tomb and of theever-increasing veneration in which she washeld ; and therefore the Augustinian fathers,the nuns, and the Council of Cascia, determinedto unite their influence with that of MonsignorFausto Poli and other distinguished persons,amongst whom was pre-eminent the Lady CostanzaBarberini, the Pope's sister-in-law, insupplicating him graciously to proceed to theanxiously desired beatification of Rita. Theirpetitions were sufficient for the Pope, who orderedthe Sacred Congregation of Rites to set aboutthe affair. The Congregation committed to theBishop of Spoleto the task of investigating intothe fame of the sanctity, the virtues, and miraclesof the saint, and instructed him to prepare whatis called the informative process.On the 16th of October, 1626, the legal inquirywas therefore begun, and in due time brought toa happy conclusion. In the month of March ofthe following year the results of the Bishop ofSpoleto's investigation were submitted to a rigorousPrivate Use Only

examination by the Sacred Congregation and approved of. The Cardinals of that Congregationdelivered the canonical relation of the investigationand its issue to the Pope, who was rejoicedwith the success of their labours. Thereupon, bya Special Brief of the 2nd of October, 1627, hegranted leave to the whole Augustinian Orderand the Diocese of Spoleto to recite the Officeand celebrate Mass in honour of B. Rita, and thisprivilege was extended four months later by a Briefof the 4th of February, 1628, at the instance of theFather-General of the Order, to all priests celebratingMass in any church of the Order, or ofthe Diocese of Spoleto, on the day of Rita's feast.The joy of the Augustinian Order and of Spoletofor so sovereign and gracious a concession maynot be described. But the solemn beatificationwas not promulgated until the 16th of July, 1628,when the religious ceremony was celebrated in theChurch of St. Augustine in Rome in the presenceof twenty-two Cardinals and a great, numberof other prelates. We make no mention of thesplendid festivals organized in honour of theillustrious Blessed Rita, of the panegyricspreached, of the poetical compositions with whichher virtues and miracles were celebrated. Thedevout clients of Rita vied with one anotherin defraying the expenses of these pious festivities,More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

ut the most distinguished for his liberality wasCardinal Antonio Barberini, the nephew of thereigning Pope.The pomp of the ecclesiastical functions wasrenewed in all the churches of the Order, but thepeople of Cascia and the nuns of Rita's conventrightly determined that their celebrations morethan any other should be remarkable for magnificence.The joyful pealing of the bells, whichcontinued for several days and nights ; the bonfireson the hill-tops that illuminated the wholecountry around; the silken hangings and richornaments that decorated the church within andwithout ; the new paintings representing Rita'sglorious deeds and her miracles ; the solemnprocession in which all the clergy, secular andregular, and all the confraternities of the townand district took part, bearing in triumph thebanner of the blessed one ; the band of childrendressed to represent angels that accompanied it;the many wax torches and gifts ; the enormousconcourse of the faithful, many of them fromdistant places ; the solemn religious functions ;the sacred plays and representations ; and otherlike pomps, all publicly testified the commonapplause and universal joy.Even the body of the saint seemed as if, on soglorious a day, it wished to add to the splendour1iPrivate Use Only

lIIand gladness of the extraordinary festivity ; for,after the many years that had passed since Rita'sdeath, it opened its eyes, as if to take pleasurefrom the solemn feast and general rejoicing, andat the same time to appease that momentarytumult of which we have already spoken. Then,too, the church was filled with that sweet odourwe have described, and the sacred body raiseditself to the height of the grating at the top of itsresting-place. And, lest anything should be leftto mar the tranquillity of that happy day, sheimposed silence on the demons by then liberatingfrom their influence two women--one from Spoletoand the other from Sinigaglia-who had beenobsessed. But all that we have hitherto narratedwas only accidental honour, and but a shadowof the immortal glory which Rita enjoys inheaven.More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

CHAPTER VIIMIRACLES WORKED BY RITA AFTER HERBEATIFICATIONIT is related in the holy Gospels that oncewhen the Saviour was going to Jerusalem,as He entered into a certain town He saw tenlepers coming to meet Him, who began to shoutfrom afar off, ' Jesus, have mercy on us,' and thatall of them were miraculously healed by Him,but only one fulfilled the duty of gratitude bypublicly giving glory to God and going back togive thanks to his Divine Benefactor.We are forced to think that something similarmust have been the case with those who havereceived extraordinary favours and graces throughthe invocation and protection of Rita. For, onthe one hand, the constant appeals of the faithfulfor her intercession, the numerous triduums andnovenas which the sick cause to be celebratedin many places in order to be cured of theirdiseases, and the fame which is spread throughoutE d 1Private Use Only

the earth of the benefits she has conferred andthe miracles she has worked, show with sufficientclearness the truth of them and their frequency.But, on the other hand, there are few who givefull praise to God by publishing the wonderfulworks He has done in honour of His beloved,or, at most, they content themselves with hanginga tablet or votive offering on her altars. Thepresent author, too, may perhaps be not altogetherfree from fault, for he confesses in hisnothingness that he has neither sufficient zeal,nor correspondence sufficiently wide, to enablehim to know all the facts. Nevertheless, weshall for the last time, for the glory of God andof Rita, relate a few of the more striking miracles-we have been able to gather, and which seem bestauthenticated.When we were speaking of the marvels donethrough such relics of the saint as the portionsof the veil or by the use of the little loaves, wetook occasion to mention some miracles that tookplace after the time of her beatification, and now,in order to avoid repetition and to pass overwhat is hidden in the obscurity of a period longpast, we shall conline our attention to the centuryin which the cause of her canonization was resumed.-A youth of fifteen years, by name Francesco14More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

Cavalieri of Cascia, was in the year 1746 confinedto his bed by gangrene of the leg, which hadbroken out in five different places, and was so badthat the surgeons had resolved to amputate thelimb. His father thereupon made a vow to thesaint, who heard his prayer, and deigned to appearto the sick youth, first in the silence of the night,and again at dawn, telling him to get up and goto her church. He went as told by the saint,and was restored to perfect health.Sister Chiara Isabella Garofili, professed nunof the convent of Cascia, was twice cured throughthe saint's intercession in ways that were certainlymore than natural. The first case happenedin 1775, when she had been suffering foreight years from a complication of diseases, ofwhich the description would be long, and whichhad then become incurable. St. Rita appeared, Ito her in a dream, telling her to get up--that sheIwas cured. When she awoke she found that shehad been restored again to health. The secondcase occurred in 1786, in which year Sister1Chiara's right arm unexpectedly lost all powerof motion, and she was also deprived of speech.She tried several medical remedies without avail,and ultimately abandoned their use, and put allher confidence in the help of Rita alone. Hertrust was rewarded, for then, to the surprise ofPrivate Use Only

the doctor and of the community, she found herselfwell once more. Yet the impediment in speechstill remained to some extent ; but she went tothe saint's tomb accompanied by her sisters inreligion, and the Superior anointed her tonguewith oil from the lamp that was burning there,and in an instant her cure was perfected. Thisfact is confirmed by the legal testimony of thedoctor, Laurenti.During the year 1777 Giovanni Graziano ofPoggiodomo, in the district of Cascia, fell fromhis horse, and was dragged for a considerabledistance along the road, receiving a number ofbruises and lacerations ; but as soon as he invokedSt. Rita she appeared to him, and restored himto his former health and strength.Another miraculous recovery, which has beenauthenticated in legal form, was that of SisterVittoria Teresa Bargagnati, which took place in1781, when she was a novice in the convent ofSt. Teresa in Terni. Her malady was that shecould retain no food in her stomach. She had inconsequence been confined to bed for severalmonths, and seemed at the last extremity. Inthis state, seeing that all the resources of medicalscience were of no avail, she resolved to haverecourse to more effective aid, the intercession ofSt. Rita. Animated, then, by that lively faith14-2More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

which is able even to move mountains, she appliedto her stomach a picture of her saintly advocate,and immediately after rose from her bed, went tothe refectory, and ate the same food as the others,nor did she ever after experience any trace ofher malady.There is a still more marvellous recovery, whichis also proved and confirmed by legal testimonythatof Rosa Mazzi, a young lady of Cittei diCastello, who was afterwards Sister Anna Ritaof the Augustinian convent of St. Maria Maddalenain Spello. In the year 1780 she began tosuffer from pains, difficulty of breathing, andvomitings of copious quantities of blood, andafterwards from inflammatory fevers and ischury,so that in two years she was reduced almost tothe point of death. In this desperate crisis herconfessor, who was attending her as a dyingperson, told her of the miracle we have just related,which had recently happened in Terni, andencouraged her to have equal confidence. Shedetermined to make a devout tridu~un to thesaint. The triduum was hardly finished whenRosa felt herself well again, rose from her bed, andcontinued to be even haler and stronger than shehad been before her long and mortal illness. Thiswonderful miracle occurred on February 6, 1783.Signora Rosalia, the daughter of FrancescoPrivate Use Only

Pelagalli- of St. Anatolia, but then living inCamerino, was seized in the year 1802 by constantrheumatic pains, which tormented her for twoyears, and brought her to asdeplorable state.One evening, when she was suffering more thanusual, and so much that she was forced by thepains to cry out aloud, she thought of recommendingherself in her extreme anguish to the mercifulintercession of Rita. She put into her mouthone of the little loaves blessed in her honour, andthat instant was completely cured, and she continuedto enjoy good health from that time.The documents, drawn up in legal form, whichattest this remarkable recovery, are still extantin the archives of the convent.For the sake of brevity we omit many otherwonderful cures obtained by those who soughtthe assistance of St. Rita. But we must notaltogether neglect to speak of the solemn transpositionof her body. After death, as we havealready said, Rita's body was placed in a coffinwhich was enclosed in another coffin, and there itremained for public veneration for the space of288 years, from the year 1457 till 1745. But inthat year a devout client of the saint resolved toprovide a more worthy resting-place for thosevenerated remains, and a new urn, ample andbeautiful, was sent. to the convent. This theMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

Augustinian nuns adorned with hangings andornamentations, so that its appearance shouldin some way correspond with their devotion.Monsignor Paolo Bonavisa, Bishop of Spoleto,added by his presence to the solemnity of theoccasion, and on Sunday, October 24, in thepresence of many notable witnesses, carried out !with due formality the transposition of the sacredbody into its new place of repose, where now itlies. So may God grant us, through the abundantmerits and powerful intercession of Rita, to keepour minds and hearts raised above earthly things,so that we may one day be transported with herto participate in the immense and eternal joyof Paradise.Private Use Only

CHAPTER VIII*MOREwRECENT MIRACLES OF ST. RITAE must not pass over in silence themarvellous fact that, as the time of thecanonization of our heroine was drawing nearer,it pleased the Lord to let men see more clearlyhow powerful before the throne of His infinitemercy is her patronage in favour of those whopiously invoke her.The devotion towards St. Rita, which wasalready of ancient date and widely spread, has,in fact, in these latter years become more universaland more fervent. Amongst every class ofpersons are found some who confidently haverecourse to her intercession ; triduums and novenasare offered in her honour, her pictures are lookedfor everywhere, relics of her are eagerly sought,and in the severest crises her name is invoked.This great increase of worship is due principally,we believe, to the very many signal graces which* Added to this edition.[ 215 IMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

have been obtained in every country throughRita's intercession.It would be too long to narrate all those cases, we have knowledge of, but we must not entirelydisappoint the pious curiosity of devout readersby omitting them all. We select, therefore, a fewcases from a collection of these extraordinaryfavours made by Monsignor Casimiro Gennari,titular Archbishop of Lepanto, who is himself amost devoted client of St. Rita and most zealousin spreading veneration towards so powerful anadvocate. We have chosen those which in ouropinion are most extraordinary and miraculous.At the same time we wish to protest, out ofveneration to the decrees of Urban VIII. of the13th of March, 1625, and of the 5th of June, 1831,and of those of the Congregation of Rites, thatif anything we have hitherto written or areabout to write of the miracles of St. Rita benot approved by the Holy See, it ought toreceive only that amount of credence to whichthe evidence adduced entitles it.Sister Mary Consiglia Giona, a native of Naples,who entered the convent of St. Cosmo in Conversanoin the year 1859, contracted in 1863 avery painful malady of the eyes, which gave herno rest night or day. During six years she consultedmany doctors, who prescribed variousPrivate Use Only

internal and external remedies, but always withoutresult. Ultimately she had to leave theconvent and go to live at Bari for six monthsunder the care of an expert oculist, but even thenshe experienced no relief. The malady went onincreasing, till, to her great grief, she lost the sightof her eyes, whilst the pain in them continued asgreat as ever. She thus returned blind to theconvent, and having lost all confidence in humanaid, she turned to God and asked Him to cure herthrough the patronage of the Blessed Virgin andthe saints. She thought many times that in adream she had seen the most Blessed Virgin, whowas blaming her for having too much complainedof her sufferings, and who exhorted her to offerher pains to God. One night when Sister MaryConsiglia had been suffering more than usual,worn out she fell asleep, and she seemed to seein a dream the three Babylonian youths, whowanted her to give them some bunches of grapesthat were not yet ripe which were hanging froma branch near her room. She refused, and theyouths then said : ' Why do you want a grace thatis not yet ripe ?' They disappeared as soon asthey had uttered these words, and the nun wascovered with great confusion.She continued, however, to have Masses celebrated,and ti address her prayers to the mostMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

holy Virgin and to various saints, but the graceshe sought was still denied her. About this timeshe heard people speak of Rita of Cascia as thesaint who obtains from God what is otherwiseimpossible, but having lost her confidence shehad no desire to have recourse to that saint.Nevertheless, she was induced, and almost constrainedby violence of pain, to begin a novenaof prayer in her honour. Shortly after thesaint appeared to her in a dream, and assured herthat she should soon be cured. And so it was.Her recovery had not long to be waited for ; itwas speedy and complete, without any humanaid, for once more she joyfully opened her eyesto the light of heaven, and her pain ceased as ifby magic. She has preserved her sight strongand perfect even to the present day, nor has sheany need of spectacles even for reading, as somany of her sisters in religion have.This nun, grateful for the great favour conferredon her, began to spread devotion to St.Rita with the utmost zeal. She had her statueplaced in the convent church and exposed forveneration by permission of the Holy See, andher proper Mass is said on the feast day, whichis celebrated with great solemnity and attenckdby a large concourse of the faithful. In this wayspecial devotion to St. Rita began in ConversanoPrivate Use Only

and the neighbouring towns, and many wonderfulgraces have been granted in those places by thismost powerful patron.Sister Anna Rosa Biscozzi, a nun of the sameconvent, was, in 1885, attacked by a violent painin the ear, which continued for four months,and not only rendered her completely deaf, butnearly drove her mad with agony. The diseasemade such progress that one evening blood beganto pour from her ear, and no means of stanchingit could be found. The doctor's efforts werequite useless, and not being able to suggest anythingbetter he ordered the ear to be dressedwith oil of almonds. But the invalid, instead ofusing the oil that was prescribed, made use of oilfrom St. Rita's lamp, and she anointed the affectedpart with it for seven days, reciting three Gloriasand an Ave, whilst she made the sign of the Crosswith the oil, and finally saying the ejaculation,'Blessed Rita, pray for me.' On the seventhnight she had a feeling as if something inside herhead had opened, and from that momenrshenoticed she could hear the ticking of the clock,and in a short time every trace of her malady haddisappeared.Signora Nicoletta de Bellis of Rutigliano wasoften complaining of an intolerable pain in herhead, which came on every fifth or sixth day,More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

and had reduced her to a condition of the utmostemaciation. She had consulted many physicians,amongst them some of the most distinguishedin Naples, and had submitted to many courses oftreatment, but all to no effect. The maladywas obstinate, and her health was failing day byday. Her aunt, who was a nun in the convent ofSt. Cosmo in Conversano, of which we have hadreason to speak already, told her of St. Rita'smiracles, and persuaded her to have recourseto that saint by a fervent novena. The invalidfollowed her advice, and we may imagine herjoy and wonder on finding herself freed from hermalady at the very beginning of the novena.The recovery was a perfect and lasting one, andno vestige of disease was left.A poor man from Conversano had the misfortuneto get a fistula on one of his eyes, which couldbe got rid of only by a difficult and costly surgicaloperation. He would have to go to Bari and pay200 lire to the surgeon, which it was quite impossiblefor him to do. He had recourse to St.Rita in his trouble, and besought her interventionwith a lively, ardent faith. His prayers wereheard ; the fistula disappeared from his eye withoutthe intervention of the surgeon's knife. Hehad a solemn Mass of thanksgiving sung everyyear in honour of his deliverer.Private Use Only

MORE RECENT MIRACLES OF ST. RITA 221IIIIn 1886 a little boy of four years fell on the fireof a brazier, and besides being badly burnt, hiseyes were so seriously injured that he could nolonger open them. His afflicted mother calledin the doctors, and applied the remedies theyprescribed, but without effect. Day passed afterday, and the child remained blind, nor was thereany hope left that he would recover his sight.His pious mother then betook herself to prayer to -God and His saints ; she addressed many appealson her child's behalf to various heavenly patrons,but the favour she sought was not granted. Onenight, whilst she was sleeping, there appeared toher a nun, who said, 'You have had recourse tomany saints : why have you not applied to me ?'' And who are you ?' asked the woman. ' I amBlessed Rita.' was the reply, ' whose statue is inthe Church of St. Cosmo. I promise you that ifyou come to visit me your son's eyes will be openedwhen you return.' The woman was in the churchearly next morning to pay the visit suggested toher and to beg the saint's intercession. On herreturn she heard her son calling, and on going tohim found him with eyes open and entirely cured.In March, 1887, Signora Maria Soria Carcaterraof Conversano received a remarkablefavour from St. Rita, which she herself thusdescribes :More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

' I, the undersigned, testify that I have receivedthe following favour from B. Rita of Cascia. Acyst having appeared on my right eyelid, I consultedvarious distinguished doctors, who told meI should have to undergo an operation. But Ithought it better to recommend myself to B. Rita,and after many prayers she did me the favour ofcausing the cyst to disappear without any needof doctors or of medicine.' MARIA SORIA CARCATERRA.'Signor Giovanni Biscozzi had in 1887 been illfor a long time with a painful malady. Thephysicians thought he was suffering from diseaseof the heart, and therefore incurable. It iscertain that he had to remain shut up in his room,for every changing of place caused him grievoustorment. When his aunt, who was a nun in theconvent of St. Cosmo in Conversano, came tolearn this, she sent him one of St. Rita's blessedloaves, advising him to take a little piece of itevery day and then drink a little water in memoryof the saint's fastings, and to recite three Gloriasand an Ave and the invocation, ' Blessed Rita,pray for me.' The sick man followed the advice,and immediately had experience of its salutaryeffects, for he felt consherably better, and verysoon was restored to his former health. As aPrivate Use Only

mark of gratitude he sent the convent a presentof oil to be used in the lamp at the saint's statue.Paolina Giannetti, a lay sister of the same conventof St. Cosmo, had a large pustule on her armwhich was very painful, and since she could notbe dispensed from working, it festered, and herwhole arm became swollen, and in consequenceof this she fell into a violent fever. It wasthought indispensable that a doctor should becalled in, and that evening a message was sent tothe doctor asking him to come next day, that alay sister had need of his services. That nighta picture of St. Rita was given to the sick nun,and she placed it on her diseased arm all night.Hardly had she awakened from sleep when shefound that the swelling had entirely subsided,that the fever had left her, and that every traceof the pustule had also disappeared. The doctorcame later, and was told there was no need forhis services.Signora Natalizia Scattone of Conversanorelates that her husband had a large tumour onone of his legs, which forced him to keep his bedfor many days, and which had ultimately to beI removed by an operation. His wife was very1 much afraid that the wound made by the surgeonIwould become a fistula, for even the slightestscratch on her husband took several days toMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

heal. She had before received many favours fromSt. Rita, and was therefore very devout towardsher ; and on this occasion, hardly had the surgeondeparted after the operation, than she placed arelic of the saint over the bandages, and prayedwith all her heart for her husband. On the followingday the surgeon returned to dress thewound, but when .the bandages were removed,it was found to be completely healed, to his greatamazement and that of the family.Signor Domenico Lopriore of Conversano had atooth extracted in 1887, and perhaps owing tothe damp to which he exposed himself by goinginto the country at an early hour, an abscesswas formed in his mouth, which reduced him tothe last extremity. A very high fever, withswellings in his throat, face, and tongue, deprivedhim of all repose. His tongue especially hadgrown so large that he had perforce to keep itfull two hgers' breadth hanging out of hismouth. The doctors, seeing that he was growingworse, ordered him the last Sacraments. Hehad a cousin who was a boarder in the convent ofSt. Cosmo, and who was very devoted to St. Rita.She, with the nuns, prayed very fervently tothe saint for the sick man's recovery, and hisuncle, a priest, offered Mass for the same intentionon the saint's altar in the church. The holyIPrivate Use Only

I sacrifice and the prayers soon brought about1 the desired effect, for the sick man suddenly,became much better, and in a short time wascompletely cured.Devotion to St. Rita has not only brought healthto bodies, but salvation to souls, as the followingshows : Sister Generosa Perrini, nun of the conventof St. Cosmo, having to live out of clausurafor some time owing to ill-health, had occasion togo to Ban one day with her brother, CanonFrancesco Perrini. In that town they heard of ayoung lady who was dying, and who, masqueradingas a freethinker, refused to have anything todo with priests .or Sacraments. Her relatives,who were in the utmost affliction at such a misfortune,begged the Canon and his sister to go andsee her, in the hope that their visit might excitesome good thought in her. They went to see theinvalid, but as soon as she caught sight of themshe began to abuse them bitterly. Said theCanon to her: ' Signora, I am only come to payyou a simple visit, and also, if you please, tobring you a cure for your disease.' ' What cure ?'asked she, growing calmer. ' If, indeed, you havean efficacious one, you are welcome.' By goodfortune the Canon had a little picture of the saint,and, offering it to the sick lady, he said : 'Hereis the cure. If you will have recourse to this15More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

advocate, who is called the Saint of the Impossible,you will be saved.' The sight of the picture,indeed, worked a wonder. Instead of flying into apassion and throwing it back to them, as she had 1done on other occasions, the invalid freely acceptedIit, took it with devotion, and placed it under herpillow. After this the Canon with his sister tookhis leave and went away, but hardly had he gone afew yards than he was called back in a great hurry,and when he went to the invalid she asked himto hear her confession. The Canon showed herthat he could not hear confessions outside hisown diocese, and he exhorted her to avail herselfof a confessor of the place. She allowed herselfto be persuaded, a confessor was called in, andshe made her confession with great sorrow.She said that Rita had appeared to her as a nun,and incited her to die well. She received theHoly Viaticum and Extreme Unction with signsof sincere piety, and then delivered up her soul toGod.In March, 1888, Signora Caterina Bianchinihad, a little son of five years of age who wasattacked by cancerous diphtheria in the throat,.which soon placed him in extreme danger ofdeath. The physicians had despaired of him, andgave him only four hours to live. His mother,1who at other times had received signal favours4Private Use Only

from St. Rita, had recourse to her, confident inher assistance, and beseeching her with tears tohelp her. She anointed the child's throat withthe oil of the saint, and, most wonderful to tell,hardly had the oil touched his throat than hemoved himself, recovered consciousness, spoke,and in a few days was well. On the following daythe doctor and their relations called rather to visitthe parents than the child, who they thought wasdead, but imagine their astonishment on seeinghim restored to health ! 'My mother,' said he,' rubbed me with St. Rita's oil, and said, " SaintRita, give me my son," and I was well again.'In 1890 Signorina Susanna Pallieri of Conversanohad suffered from a severe pulmonary complaint,and when she recovered from it she wastroubled by a gathering in one of her eyes whichremained from that disease, and which resistedall the efforts of her doctors. When she foundthat none of the doctors of her native place couldeffect a cure, she put herself under the care ofDr. Vitali, a distinguished oculist of Bari, forthree months. But the gathering in her eyegrew worse instead of better, and finally the oculist,seeing that all his attempts produced no result,had to throw up the case. It would be impossibleto tell the sorrow of the poor young lady at sounfortunate a result of her efforts. Having lost15-2More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

all hope in human aid, she, With her mother,began to beseech St. Rita either to cure her ofher malady or else take her out of this worldto escape the intolerable anguish of the painshe had to bear. Their prayers were not in vain,for on the very next day after beginning theprayers her eye was very much improved, andthat evening she was entirely cured. Dr. Vitaliwas immediately informed of what had happened,and at first did not believe it ; but when he sawthat she had really been cured, he declared openlythat such a cure ought to be regarded as a realmiracle. From that day Signorina Palliexi wasentirely cured of the disease of her eye, and enjoyedexcellent health, nor does she cease to returnthanks to the Saint of the Impossible.In the town of Turi,:in February, 1893, a boy offive years of age~named~Filippo dYAddabbo,C;whohad just had anlattack of scarlatina, developedsymptoms of violent fever accompanied byswellings of his whole body. For two days hehad remained in bed unable to speak, and thedoctors gave him up for dead. In this state hesuddenly opened his eyes, made a sign towards apicture of St. Rita that was hanging in the room,and said to his mother : ' Take down that picture,and light some candles before it,' and they did so.Early on the following morning he said : ' Mamma,IPrivate Use Only

write to Aunt Chiara Maria (she was a nun inthe convent of St. Cosmo) in Conversano to havea Mass said to St. Rita.' And they immediately1 did as he wished. On the evening of that daythe child grew worse, and they were afraid he wasI dying, as the doctors had assured them. At acertain time of the night, however, he becamenoticeably better. When the doctors came nextday to visit him they found him, to their astonishment,entirely recovered, and repeating the words,' Blessed Rita has cured me.'Natale Esperti, a shoemaker of Conversano, hadbeen in a deplorable state of health for a longtime, for his feet and legs were swollen, and apain in the heart deprived him of all chance ofrepose. The heart disease became worse, andthe doctors attending him lost all hope of savinghis life. On Tuesday in Holy Week, 1895, hereceived the last Sacraments, as he was almoston the point of death, and his end was expectedevery hour. His sister-in-law, who was mostdevoted to St. Rita, pitying his sad case, went topray for him in the Church of St. Cosmo, andbrought some candles to light before the saint'sstatue. Whilst all the others were weeping aboutthe bed of the dying man she obtained a littlepicture of the saint, which was placed on his breastwhilst' they recited the invocation, ' St. Rita,More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

pray for him.' They also gave him a little pieceof the saint's blessed bread, which he tried toswallow. A wonder was instantly seen, for theswelling decreased considerably, and the pain atthe heart disappeared. In three days the manwho had been dying was able to rise from hisbed cured, to the incredible wonder of all whohad assisted him dying.Signora Antonia Bernardi of Cisternino alsoobtained a stupendous favour from our saint.In May, 1895, she had an attack of scarlatina,which was epidemic in that town, and had provedfatal in many cases. In her case it was soviolent and so much resisted all the skill of thedoctors that she was declared incurable, and shewas preparing herself to receive the last Sacraments.Her parents were distracted with grief,but knowing the miracles that St. Rita works inevery place, they had recourse to her patronagein their sorrow. The dying woman also recommendedherself confidently to St. Rita, and joinedher to those of the others. Whilst shewas in a paroxysm of fever, and hence could notsay whether she was sleeping or waking, St. Ritaappeared to her, and with her another saintwhom the sick woman could not distinguish.The saint came close to her bed, and said to her,' I have cured you ; now you will be well, butPrivate Use OnlyIi

mind, return me the visit at Conversano.' Thesaint disappeared, and the sick woman foundherself instantly well. Her parents and relativeswere seized with the utmost astonishment, andthey took care to betake them to Conversano toreturn the visit of their beneficent visitor. Thereis no need to say that after this event the worshipof St. Rita was extended to people of every rankin Cisternino.Amongst the very many places into which theworship of St. Rita has been publicly introducedin very recent years, Noci, a large town in thediocese of Conversano, is deserving of specialmention. There is an altar, richly ornamented,erected in the principal church there in honour ofthe saint, and never a day passes that crowds ofthe faithful do not go there to offer their prayersor pay their vows. And Rita, looking. withpleasure on the piety of the people of Noci,repays them every day with help and favour.For brevity's sake we shall mention only threeexamples of this, and in the first place that obtainedby the priest, Don Francesco Morea, whois remarkable for promoting devotion to St. Rita.Here are his words :' About midnight on the 10th of April, 1895, Iwas awakened by violent beatings of my heart,so frequent and continuous that I could notMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

eathe. I remained a long time sitting up inbed with my hand tightly pressed over the regionof the heart, in great trouble, without being ableto utter a word. However, I turned to BlessedRita in thought, placed her picture over myheart, and vowed a silver heart if she liberatedme from this sudden illness. I recited threeGlorias in her honour, adding, " 0, BlessedRita, pray for me." As soon as I had done this Iwas quite well. The beating of my heart becameregular ; I was able to lie down and sleep. Fromtime to time since this nervous palpitation hasreturned, but never in the same form as thatnight, nor for so long. I redeemed my vow onthe 14th of May by hanging on her picture thesilver heart I promised.'The influenza, which was rife in many parts ofPuglia in 1895, did not spare the town of NociAmongst others, Maria Luizzi, wife of SimoneSansonetti, a bleacher, was attacked by it.After struggling with the disease for several daysat last it left her, and the doctor allowed her toleave her bed. Hardly, however, had she putfoot on the floor than she felt entirely prostrated,and experienced such a feeling of dizziness thatshe fell at full length on the floor, and was withgreat difficulty got into bed again. On the nextand three following days the same feelings ofPrivate Use OnlyIII

weakness and dejection continued. On theevening of the fifth day, animated with strongconfidence in St. Rita, to whom, as we have said,an altar in the parish church was dedicated,she prayed in this way : ' 0 Blessed Rita, Ipromise to present you with my breloque if youallow me to remain out of bed all day to-morrow.'When the time came to get up, she left her bedand dressed herself, without the least doubt thather prayer had been heard. She tried to walkabout her room, and found she could do so withoutdifficulty, for she felt herself fortified with newstrength, and all the ill-effects gf the influenzavanished. She redeemed her vow to the saint onthe 5th of June, 1895.The following fact that happened in Noci on the28th of June, 1895, crowns all the wonderful workswhich the Saint of the Impossible performs everyday. It is the case of a doctor-as pious andreligious as he is skilful in the healing art-whowas unexpectedly attacked by cerebral congestionand reduced to the last extremity, and eventhought to be dead, who, after simply beinganointed by the saint's oil moved himself,revived, and completely recovered. But let usleave it to himself to tell the story, for out ofgratitude for the favour received he has writtenthe following with his own hand :More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

'On the 28th of last June, in the forenoon,whilst I was making my usual round of medicalvisits, I began to feel unwell; and about eleveno'clock, whilst I was standing by a sick man, Icould not complete my visit, for I almost fell 1into a swoon. The women who were standingopposite me noticed that I was ill and gave thealarm. The priest, Don Pietro Gentile, nearwhose house I was, was sent for and soon arrived.He asked me how I felt, and I replied, " I mistrustImyself." " Do you wish to go home ?" said he." Yes," I answered, " let us go." h d with theutmost difficulty I got there. I threw myself onthe bed, lost all sense, was seized with epilepticconvulsions of the Jacksonian type, proceedingfrom congestion of the brain. I had three attacksat short intervals, each more serious than thepreceding one. Blood was let, leeches wereapplied, many mustard cataplasms were used,ice was kept constantly to my head. My colleagueswho affectionately attended me alreadydespaired of my recovery, and had the last Sacramentsadministered to me; the priests werereciting the prayers for the dying, and it wasrumoured that I was dead. The good peoplepoured into the church, and now had no hopeexcept in a miracle. Ceaseless prayers wereIoffered, especially before the altar of BlessedPrivate Use Only

Rita. The oil of the saint was requisitioned. Iwas conscious of waking as from a calm sleep,whilst I felt a hand anointing my cheeks ; Iafterwards learned that the same thing had beendone over my stomach and on my temples.From that moment I WAS COMPLETELY RESTOREDTO HEALTH, and but for the concern of myfriends I would have dressed myself and goneabout my usual occupations. This event, reallyextraordinary, believed by all the people to havehappened by the intercession of Blessed Rita, Iconsecrate in this account of it, as a proof of mygratitude, to the glory of the same BlessedRita.' NOCI,' 2nd of bly, I 895 .'PASQUALE TATEO, M.D.Since this case is so singular, and the miracleso great, we subjoin the account of it given bythe zealous priest of the place, Don FrancescoMorea :'The deaths of the three ladies, Vavalle,Mansueto, and Anguilli, had impressed the townwith sadness, when a new and unexpected sorrowcame to disturb all the people. In less time thanit takes to relate the sad tidings had passed frommouth to mouth ; people of every condition wereseen to stop in astonishment, to ask news ofMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

one another, and turn their steps to the housewhere the sick man lay. It was singular to seethe stairs crowded with little children of bothsexes, to see the people come out tearfully onthe balconies and ask news of the passers-by, andthe universal sorrow would have told you thegreat esteem in which he that was so near thetomb was held. The news that he had alreadyreceived the last Sacraments, and that thepriests, who with the doctors were about his bed, 1had begun the prayers for a soul departing,made it clear to all that very few hours of liferemained to Doctor Pasquale Tateo. In themidst of such heartfelt sorrow there were some,however, who were offering fervent prayers forhim to the Most High through the intercessionof the Saint of the Impossible. There were somewho, whilst they slept, felt inspired by the sameblessed servant of God to light a lamp before thepicture of the miracle-worker, and thus obtainfor certain the favour they desired ; there weresome who began in secret a triduum for the sick ;and by the dying man's bed were some who,provided with the miraculous oil, anointed withit, whilst reciting the usual prayers, his head, hisstomach and abdomen, that were swollen to anextraordinary extent. And such great faith inthe intercession of our new protectress wasPrivate Use Only.II

crowned by a most singular grace. As soon asthe anointing was completed there came on amore violent fit of convulsions than any that hadpreceded it, and it was thought the doctor's lasthour had come. But that fit was the last, andit seems that the powerful advocate wished tohave it understood that she intervened on behalfof her faithful clients exactly when they werein direst peril, and when all hope of recoveryby human means had been abandoned. Whilstthe convulsive fit was in progress they began againto anoint him with the marvellous oil, and then hecame to himself, and looked as if he were wakingfrom a calm sleep of three hours.' The transition from death to life was so suddenthat those who were present could not butacknowledge that the recovery was a true miraclegranted to the prayers of the entire town by itsnew protectress, Blessed Rita. Pleasant to relate,there was no time of convalescence, no gettingbetter by degrees, no further remedy applied tohim; but on the 30th the doctor, without anytrace of weakness from the blood-letting, but fullof energy, cheerful, and witty, as he usually hadbeen, woke early in the morning, and, hearingthe bell of the Capuchin church ringing, wanted toget up and go to Mass, as it was a feast day, buthe was not allowed to do this. He rose later inMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

the day, was able to take his meals, and returnedto his house without assistance, amidst the wonderand applause of the people. The next day,early, he resumed his ordinary professionalduties. These circumstances were such as wouldmake those who did not know of the miraclebelieve that the occurrence must have been theresult of an excited imagination rather thanundeniable fact. Yet such they were, and themiracle is all the more wonderful on this account,and worthy of being published for the glory ofGod and Blessed Rita. To this end the doctor,out of gratitude, promises to make the altardedicated to her in this principal church evenricher than it already is, by presenting a beautifulsilver lamp to be hung from the arch in frontof it.'On the 20th of January, 1896, Signora AnnaGregori of Rome was seized by aviolent fever, whichat first:was thought to be simply rheumatic fever,but which very soon developed into that terriblemalady pleuro-bronchial pneumonia, which is inmost cases fatal in Rome. In spite of the promptand skilful treatment of the well-known ProfessorMasciarelli, the disease continued to gain forceso rapidly that the patient, who was also enciente,received the last comforts of religion on the25th of the month, and also the blessing of thePrivate Use Only

Holy Father, and after having tearfully givenher last messages to her friends, she was awaitingthe call of the Lord with resignation.Meanwhile her husband, Signor AugustoGregori, who was inconsolable at the loss thatthreatened him after only eight years of marriedlife, turned with confidence to Our Lady ofPompei and to St. Rita of Cascia, that wellknownsketch of whose life he had read a fewdays before, called ' The Saint of the ~m~ossible.'He fervently besought her aid, promising topresent a silver votive offering and to spreaddevotion to her. Even before midnight of thatday the invalid felt relief, the fever went down,her strength came back, and after two days thedoctors declared her out of all danger. She wasshortly after able to rise from her bed completelyrecovered. The favour was a complete and perfectone, for after her serious illness there was no traceof tuberculosis, which was feared, and after lessthan a month she gave birth to a strong andhealthy little daughter. Her husband, whoquickly redeemed his vow, does not cease to giveglory to the Saint of the Impossible.Simone Rotunno and his wife, Rosa Naracci, ofConversano, were overwhelmed with grief at aserious illness that threatened the life of theirlittle daughter Maria, a child of four years. OnMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

the 27th of January, 1896, about five in the morning,they found her writhing in convulsions andalmost at the point of death. Immediately theybesought the help of their great patron St. Rita,and anointed the child's members with oil fromthe saint's lamp whilst they were offering ferventprayers. They had not long to wait, for at eleveno'clock on the same morning the child, who had .hitherto shown no signs of life, stirred in bed,opened her eyes, and began to speak, and afterten days was restored to perfect health.A boy and girl, children of Doctor Vito AntonioArgenti of ~olignano, on the sea-coast, caughtthe influenza, which was rife there in 1896. Thedisease took a very serious turn in the boy's case,and developed into pneumonia, accompaniedby high fever and pain in the shoulder. Thedangerous development of the disease causedconsternation in the family.They immediately began a novena to St. Rita,to whom devotion is very generally practisedin that place, and in whose honour an altar isdedicated in the Church of the Sacred Heart.They had two lamps lighted before her picture,and promised many gifts if their son should berestored to health. Their prayers were answered,for the child grew markedly better during thenovena, and was completely cured by the timeIIIPrivate Use Only

it was finished. The same remedy was adoptedin the case of the little girl, on whom the diseasehad told severely. They put a picture of thesaint on her breast, which she often kisseddevoutly, another novena was begun for herrecovery, and an improvement was soon evident,and continued till she was restored to perfecthealth.A woman from Casarnassima, who was marriedat Bari, had an only son of about seventeen yearsof age, who was very wild and dissolute. Hewas for ever running away from home, gettinginto trouble, and giving vent to his viciousinclinations, and staying out at night more oftenthan not. Seeing that all good advice and eventhreats were thrown away upon him, his afflictedparents applied to St. Rita in prayer, for they hadheard of the wonderful deeds she had done.They began a novena of certain Paters and Avesas well as they could. On the third day their sonappeared at home, but shortly after went off againand returned no more. Nevertheless, they stillhad confidence in the saht, and began a secondnovena after the manner directed in a little bookthey got from an aunt of theirs. When the novenawas nearly finished the son came back quitechanged from what he had been. He threwhimself at his parents' feet, and with tears asked16More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

their pardon for the grief he had caused them,promising to lead a new life for the future. Toremove all occasion of giving way to his vagrantpropensities, he asked them to have him taughtsome business in which he could by his conductgive proof of his sincerity. His parents, besidethemselves with joy, hastened to Conversano toreturn thanks to St. Rita, and as a proof of theirgratitude they had a lamp lighted before her altar,which they made arrangements to keep burningon Friday in every week.The brother-in-law of a certain Sister of Charitywas dangerously ill of pneumonia in February,1896. The doctor who was called to attend himdid not let his friends know how critical the casewas, in order not to frighten them, but he onlysaid to the patient's wife, ' Pray to God for yourhusband.' Luckily for her, she had a copy of thebook ' The Saint of the Impossible,' which hersister the nun had given her, and she entrustedeverything to the saint, and earnestly begged herhelp for the sick man. One night he almostswooned from the violence of his cough, and hadto sit up in bed. About midnight he saw a nuncome close to him and gaze at him fixedly withoutspeaking. She stood by his side for halfan hour and then disappeared. From that timethe longed-for recovery commenced, and to thePrivate Use Only

doctor's astonishment went on rapidly till hewas entirely restored to health. It would be impossibleto describe the joy of the family at thismarvellous result. The fame of it was spreadabout, and devotion to the Saint of the Impossiblespread to such an extent that a picture of St.Rita had to be placed in the parish church tosatisfy the people's veneration.Twelve children of the house of Ventimigliawere all suffering from the measles in March, 1896,in Vatolla, which is a town' of the province ofSalerno, and the youngest, a little girl of twoyears of age, was, in addition, attacked so badlyby laryngitis that it was feared she would chokeevery moment. Her eldest sister, beside herselfwith grief, took her little picture of St. Rita,and, fastening it about the little patient's neck,earnestly prayed for the grace of her recovery.Only a few minutes passed when little Teresa-1 for so the sick child was called-raised herselfwithout assistance in her cot and asked for milk.That evening the fever, which had been very high,had almost disappeared, and her cough, too, hadceased to a very great extent. A few days laterthe child was able to get up, fully recovered.The family, out of gratitude to their great protectress,had a Mass celebrated at her altar inConversano.16-2More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

. .. . ., ..244 LIFE OF ST. RITA OF CASCIAL? ..- 1896 the marriage of Giuseppe. Centrone toMaria Rotunno, two very good and pious youngpersons and fairly well off, was -to have takenplace. Through' a slight quarrel, however, themaniage was 'broken off by the bridegroom.The bride, troubled at this sinister turn of events,together with her .parents had recourse to St.Rita, and promised to present a golden votiveoffering if the groom should of himself reopennegotiations for the marriage that had been- aban4oned. On the vigd of her feast the .saint .appeared to the bridegroom in his sleep, andsaid : ' Beppino, your wife must be Maria andno one else.' This .was enough to bring him backto his bride and to have the maniage take place,as it did, in fact. The vow to the saint was not 'only fulfilled, but they had a High Mass offeredon her altar.One night in 1896 a young woman from Castellanawas sleeping on the top of a very highrick of straw, when suddenly it gave way and fellto the ground. The young woman, who wouldhave been crushed to death under its weight,immediately invoked St. Rita, and was rescuedfrom danger without receiving the slightest injury.The saint appeared to her the following nightwhilst she was asleep, and said :' I have savedyoufrom death, and I want in return that new dressPrivate Use Only

you have made.' The poor girl had, by dintof ,careful saving, made a new dress for herself,with which she wished to make an appearance'' on the feast days, but she made the requiredsacrifice to the Saint of the Impossible. Shesold it and brought its price to be used in spreadingthe devotion to St. Rita from the church inConversano.In 1896 there was a family in St. Vito deiNormanni which was plunged in the greatestmisery owing to its head having entirely abandonedhbself to a disgraceful vice, which he stillcontinued to practise in spite of the terribleconsequences it brought upon him. For althoughsymptoms of paralysis and rheumatism showedthemselves, and he was reduced to a state of the1 utmost weakness and almost blindness, he stillwent on to follow the path that ends in ruin ofbody and soul. His unfortunate family, havingheard of the innumerable miracles of the Saintof the Impossible, had recourse to her. Theymade a most fervent novena in her honour,and ended it with receiving Holy Communion,and very soon the good effect of their prayerswas evident. After a couple of days the man whohad been brutalized by his base pursuits beganto take heed for himself ; the spirit of prudenceawoke in him again ; he abandoned his wickedMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

practices, regained sight and strength, and recoveredthe health he had squandered. It is nowonder that the name of St. Rita is glorified inthat family, or that the eldest daughter has madea vow to recite the prayers of St. Rita's novenaevery day as long as she lives.A young lady named Franceschina Gabrielli,from Noci, fell dangerously ill in 1896, whilstshe was on a visit to some relatives in Rutigliano.All the doctors of the town were called in successivelyto prescribe for her, and others were broughtfrom distant places, but they could not stopthe progress of the disease that was killing her.The grief of her family and relatives was indescribableon being informed by the doctorsafter three consultations that nothing but amiracle could save her. The young lady, wornout by the disease and in her la& agony, hadreceived the last consolations of religion, and thespecial benediction of the Holy Father, and waspreparing herself for the passage to eternity.All preparations were made for her funeral, thedress for the corpse and the coffin were got ready,and the clergy and confraternities appointed toassist in the procession to the tomb.But Franceschina had very special devotion toSt. Rita, and was recommending herself to herprotection with most fervent prayers. She heldPrivate Use Only

IIIIa picture of her in her hand, which she was kissingevery minute, and although resigned to makethe sacrifice of her life to God, she promised thesaint to honour her by procuring a little statueof her if she should obtain the grace of recovery.One evening she was suffering a great deal, andthe doctors foresaw that she would die thatnight. The priests were watching by her bedsideand comforting her by reciting the prayers for thedying. At midnight she thought that St. Ritawith St. John appeared to her, and that St. Ritasaid : ' Do not be afraid ; you will be well.'What is certain is that just at that time she brokesilence and began to sing a hymn of St. Rita.But the really astonishing fact is that all dangerwas at an end from that moment, and her diseasedisappeared as if by magic. The next morningshe was convalescent, and the doctors in theirastonishment had to confess that in this wonderfulrecovery God had intervened.The Salesian Missionary Sisters of the SacredHeart amongst other occupations are employed inthe religious and literary education of younggirls, whom they watch over with a care that istruly maternal. Their mother-house is in Rome,and there is attached to it what is styled aprovidential boarding-school for young womenwho attend the normal schools, and at the endMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

of their course get a Government certificate thatentitles them to teach. Providential this collegereally is, for its pupils attend the Governmentschools and yet are carefully preserved from everydanger. In 1896 the annual examinations atthe end of the scholastic year were approaching.The students were in a state of trepidation, forwith all their diligence and labour in study verylittle was needed to have girls make mistakes in 1the presence of examiners who were perhaps notItoo favourable to them. Having heard of theImiracles of St. Rita of Cascia, they confidentlyturned to her, and confided to her care theIresult of the examinations. They had recourseto her patronage, they offered prayers in herhonour, and other works of piety. Nor were theirhopes frustrated. The examinations resultedmost brilliantly, and to the entire satisfaction ofall who took part in them. To thank her for soremarkable a favour the grateful girl studentselected St. Rita their special prdtectress.On the 29th of May, 1897, a Calabrian gentlemanarrived in Conversano 011 a pilgrimage, and, goingIinto the Church of St. Cosmo, he went to the altarof St. Rita, and, prostrate before it, offered histhanks to the Saint of the Impossible. He afterwardstold the nun who was promoter of thedevotion that his name was Luigi Naccarato,Private Use Only

of the province of Cosenza, and that he had cometo redeem a vow made to the saint for a remarkablefavour granted to him. He had been sufferingfor many years from a disorder of the brainthat rendered him incapable of doing anything.His brother, a doctor, had used every means toeradicate his disease ; he had consulted the mosteminent medical men in Naples and elsewhere,but without any good effect. Having lost allhope in human means, he had recourse to the aidof Heaven by prayers to several holy patrons,but it seemed that Heaven, too, was deaf to hisappeals. At last a lady in Cosenza had advisedhim to trust himself to the Saint of the Impossible,who had granted many extraordinary graces tothose devoted to her. The young man, whowas truly religious, willingly followed her advice.He began to invoke the saint, and made a vowto visit Conversano if his prayers were heard.His petition was granted ; the disease that hadhitherto baffled every remedy disappeared, andhe felt himself free in mind and vigorous inhealth, as if he had never suffered from anymalady.Not dissimilar from the preceding case was thedisease from which the' Princess Telesio Antonacci .of Naples suffered, and by which she was broughtto a deplorable state. Her brain was so weakenedMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

that she could not fix her mind on anything or doanything. When all the efforts of medical sciencehad proved vain, her sorrowful sister, who hadthe book we have so often mentioned, wrote toConversano to have a novena offered to thesaint. The novena was made, and some of theblessed oil was also sent to have the invalid'sforehead anointed with it. Instantly a wonderfulchange was wrought. As they anointed herforehead the disease grew less, her mind becameclear, and her strength caqe back. The applicationof the oil was perseve)ed in and so did theimprovement continue, and the oil of St. Ritawas recognised as the only remedy against thatterrible disease. The Princess, in gratitude forso signal a favour, sent a present of a barrelof oil to Conversano, and money also to be employedin worship in honour of the saint.A little girl, the daughter of Sebastiano Giannuli,a merchant of Ban, had suffered from herearliest from a tumour in the knee. Thedoctors of the town held different opinions asto the nature of her disease, and the well-knownDoctor Giuseppe Luciana was consulted, whodiagnosed the case as caries of the bone, and declareda surgical operation indispensable for acure. This operation would be painful, difficult,and full of danger. The family by this opinionPrivate Use Only

was reduced to a state of consternation, and hadrecourse to prayer, and by the suggestion of a nunmade a novena to St. Rita, but the favour theyprayed for was then denied them. The operationhad to take place on the zznd of July, 1897,and the tibia was almost entirely separated fromthe thigh-bone ; the knee-pan was almost entirelyremoved, nearly four fingers' length of the tibiawas removed, and as much of the thigh-bone, andboth were united so as to form one bone only,whence all power of &ding the joints was lost.Owing to the difficdy of the operation thedoctors could not promise that she would surelyrecover; they only said the child would have tosuffer a great deal. And, indeed, the poor childdid suffer a great deal from high fever, excruciatingpains, and a weakness so extreme that shecould not even cry out.On the next day the child, who up to that time,owing to the pain she was suffering, had not evenopened her mouth, asked for a picture of thesaint that was hanging in the room, and began tosay, '0, Blessed Rita! oh, grant me the favour,because I am suffering very much! It is truethat I have been ungrateful towards you, becausewhen the others were saying the novena I wasdistracted, and I took very little care to pray toyou ; but now I know how wrong I was, and I askMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

your pardon. Oh, grant me the favour, for I :Athink I cannot suffer any more.' And whilstthe attendants were drawing close to her bed,she added : ' Make way ; she is coming now.''Who ?' they asked. ' A nun,' answered thechild. ' Where is she coming from ?' ' From there-from that door.' ' What is she doing ?' ' Sheis moving about my bed--coming to sit near me.'The child then iemained motionless, as if shewere listening to something being said to her, andsoon after said: 'With the help of the saint,doctors, how well she has settled my leg! Shehas put her beautiful hands on me and cured me !'and, turning to those near her who were weeping, .' Do not cry any more,' she said ; ' be all veryglad. Do you not see how glad I am at gettingso beautiful a favour ? I have no more pain.Blessed Rita has told me that all my pains willend in three days ; with my injured leg I shall beable to dance, to jump, to run about withouttrouble.'And so it turned out. The child was able toget up after three days free entirely from all traceof disease. But the most stupendous part wasthat her right leg, from which half a palm's lengthof bone had been cut off, and which would beshortened, even supposing her cured, and quiteincapable of bending, was found after the inter-IPrivate Use Only

vention of Blessed Rita to be of the same lengthas the .left, and equally flexible and sound.Most grateful for so great a miracle, the familydid not put off going to Conversano to returnthanks and redeem their vow to the Saint of theImpossible, +d many people took notice of thechild that had been cured, how she walked with- ,out difficulty and without a halt, both her legsbeing precisely of the same length.The following stupendous fact that happenedin the case of a person who had never even heardt.he name of St. Rita of Cascia shows how muchGod wishes glory to be given to His famousservant.To Vito Palazzi and his wife Rosina Surico ofGioia del Colle, near Bari, a child was born in. 1897, who was christened Filippo. From birththe infant had one of its feet turned, so that theso!e,of the foot was twisted to a right angle from. the place it ought to occupy. Doctors were* consulted, but to no .effect. They declared nocare could remedy the defect, and that an operationwould be dangerous and useless. The poormother could only weep distractedly. One night,after crying excessively, she was sleeping, whena nun appeared. to her in her sleep. ' Rosina,'said she, ' why do you weep ? Can you not haverecourse to me in your diction ?' 'And whoMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

are you, 0, blessed sister ?' said she. ' I amBlessed Rita of Cascia,' said the nun. ' 0,Blessed Rita,' said the afflicted woman, ' cure mylittle Filippo for me;' and she showed the sainther infant's twisted foot. ' Have faith, Rosina,'said the saint to her; ' the defect in the child is aserious one, but God can do all things;' and sosaying she made the sign of the Cross threetimes on the foot and disappeared. When thewoman awoke on the following morning she rememberedthe vision, and, hurrying from her bed,she ran to the infant's cradle ; she undid thebandages and looked at its feet, and found themboth as they ought to be, for the deformity of theleft foot had disappeared. She knelt on the floorand thanked the saint most earnestly. She thencalled her husband, showed him the infant'sfoot, and told him of the vision and miracle.She remembered St. Rita, and wrote to Conversanofor a large picture of her, which she had framed,and before which she keeps a lamp burning nightand day ; and she likewise had a High Mass sungbefore the saint's altar, nor is she ever weariedin telling the miracle and giving glory to the saintto whom she owes it.Private Use Only

CHAPTER IXHER CANONIZATIONIN reading the wonderful and miraculous factsof the life of St. Rita and the very many pro-digious works done by God through her intercession,the reader must have asked himself more thanonce how it is that so grand a soul, whose heroicvirtues shine so brightly, and who was, like thegreatest saints of the Church, favoured by Godwith most singular graces and sublime privileges,should be adorned with the aureole of a saint andraised to highest honours of the altars only aftermore than four centuries had passed since shehad gone to immortal glory in heaven. .The only reasonable answer to this question,the only explanation of a delay not by any meansunique in the history of the canonization of thegreat heroes of the Church, is that the judgmentsof God are incomprehensible and His ways unsearchable,and the Divine wisdom which in Hisown time makes each cause produce its effect, and[ 255 IMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

all things regulates in number, weight, andmeasure, so disposes it that the exaltation ofHis servants on earth then takes place when itis for the greater glorification of His Church andthe greater spiritual advantage of Christians.This just reflection ought to console us in thesorrow we naturally feel at the long delay thathas occurred in bringing to a happy terminationthe process of the canonization of our heroine.After the privilege of reciting the office andcelebrating Mass in honour of the saint had beengranted to the Augustinian Order and the Dioceseof Spoleto in 1627, as soon as the solemn festivalswe have described were brought to an end,devotion to St. Rita increased to such an extent,and the desire of the faithful became so ferventto have their great advocate enrolled by theChurch's supreme authority in the catalogue ofthe Blessed and afterwards of the Saints, thatin August, 1737, her cause was resumed in thestate and terms in which it was found. On the3rd of August in that year an ordinary session ofthe Congregation was held to dekte the pointwhether the case excepted in the decrees of PopeUrban VIII. was fully established, and in theresult the Congregation found th& answer tobe in the affirmative, and Pope aement XII.,on the 13th of the same month, cenfirmed thePrivate Use Only

finding of the Congregation. On the 25th of Jdyin the following year remissorial letters were thereforesent to the Ecclesiastical Courts of Spoleto,in whose jurisdiction Cascia then was, authorizingthem to institute an Apostolic process of inquiryregarding the virtues and miracles of BlessedRita, it being the unbroken practice of the HolySee not to grant the supreme honours of thealtars u~iless it be shown that the theological andmoral virtues 'were practised in a heroic degree.But the process then begun was interruptedby various events, and was not resumed until1851. Without further interruption it was finallyperfected in 1855, and its validity was approvedin 1856 in Rome by Pius IX., of happy memory.Meanwhile the fame of the extraordinary gracesand miracles granted by God through thesaint's intercession was everywhere increasing,but it is hard to collect the proofs and institutea process that will satisfy the rigorous requirementswhich the Church exacts in those matters.Nevertheless, juridical proofs of some of thesemiraculous occilrrences were not wanting. Infact, in the years 1851 and 1852 there was heldby Apostolic permission in the EcclesiasticalCourts of Nursia, under the jurisdiction of whichCascia had pasged, a process of inquiry into thereported case . ~ instantaneous fcuring of a girl-More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

Elisabetta Bergamini, who had been sufferingfrom conjunctivitis complicated with ulcerouskeratitis. Owing to the efforts of the Most Rev.Mons. Casirniro Gennari, then Bishop of Conversano,and at present titular Archbishop ofLepanto and Assessor of the Inquisition, who ismost zealous, as we have said, in spreadingdevotion to St. Rita,, the authorization of theHoly See was asked for and obtained in 1887 toinstitute a formal Apostolic process of inquiryinto the case of Cosimo Pelligrini, of the town ofConversano, who was reported to have beenmiraculously cured. As soon as the inquiry wasperfected, it was scrutinized in an ordinary Congregationof the Rota on the 28th of June, 1892,and its validity recognised. On the 17th of thefollowing month the Holy Father deigned toconfirm the sentence of the Sacred Congregation.Almost at the same time there was held, byvirtue of remissorial letters of the 18th of February,1892, in the Ecclesiastical Courts of Nursia, aspecial inquiry, in which the Promoter of the Faith,Mons. Agostino Caprara, intervened, into themost sweet and miraculous odour which fromtime immemorial is at intervals experienced aboutthe blessed body of St. Rita. By other remissorialletters of the zznd of August following, thePromoter of the Faith was empowered to examinePrivate Use Only

the venerable body itself, in order to make certainthat it had never been embalmed, nor anyodoriferous substances placed in it.When this process of inquiry into the marvellousodour was brought to an end, it was decided tojoin it to the process that had been executedin the courts of Spoleto by ordinary authority in1626. On the 25th of February, 1896, the SacredCongregation of Rites delivered its judgment thatthe validity of the two processes of 1626 and 1892had been established, the reporter of the causebeing his Eminence Cardinal Gaetano Aloisi-Masella, Prefect of that Congregation. As regardsanother process of inquiry executed in 1775, withonly ordinary authority, into the instantaneousand miraculous curing of an Augustinian nun ofthe convent of Cascia, it was decided to supplicatethe reigning Pontiff, Leo XIII., that he would deignto make good the defect of jurisdiction, and makethe acts of that process valid. But the HolyFather, rather than grant the convalidation, waspleased to dispense, by most special favour, withthe fourth miracle, for from time immemorial theproof of four miracles has been required for thecanonization of the servants of God.Owing to the sovereign concession- of the HolyFather, the promoters of the cause of canonizationhad high hopes of bringing it to a happy17-2More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

conclusion before much more time should pass.They obtained leave to introduce the OrdinaryProcess of 1626 as having equal value as proofwith the Apostolic Process that closed in 1855 ;and the presence of the consulters and their votingbeing dispensed with, on the 6th of April, 1897,in an ordinary.meeting of the Congregation, thewritings of St. Rita were inquired into, and itwas further debated and discussed ' Whether tlievirtues of Blessed Rita had been so clearlyestablished that the discussion of her miraclesmight be proceeded with ?' The session gave anaffirmative decision, which was confirmed bythe Sovereign Pontiff on the 9th of the month.The way was thus prepared for the discussion ofthe miracles. Information regarding them andsummaries were prepared, and the opinions oftwo distinguished experts were added. On the27th of June, 1899, the Congregation met underthe presidency of the Most Eminent CardinalAloisi-Masella, reporter of the cause, to discussthe miracles, and on the 9th of January, 1900, thepreparatory Congregation held its meeting in theVatican palace, and on the following 27th ofMarch, in the general Congregation, assembled,as is customary, in the presence of the HolyFather, the following subject was discussed :' Whether any, and what, miracles have beenPrivate Use Only

conclusively proved, after veneration had beenallowed to the Blessed, in case and to the effectof the present discussion ?' And by a veryspecial favour of the Holy See the following wasalso discussed : 'And granted the approval of themiracles, whether her canonization may safely beproceeded with ?'The Most Eminent Cardinals and Most Rev.Consulters delivered their opinions on bothmatters, and were heard most attentively bythe Sovereign Pontiff ; and although he describedthe cause as mosl rare and most noble, he nevertheless,according to the usual custom, deferredgiving his definitive decision, but redoabled hisprayers to implore the help of Heaven.On Palm Sunday, the 8th of April following, theHoly Father, after having most fervently offered toGod the Eucharistic Sacrifice, had the decree ofapproval of the three miracles, of which we shallspeak afterwards, read and published with theaccustomed solemnity by Monsignor the Secretaryof the Sacred Congregation of Rites. He nextpublished the decrees, called the ' Tuto,' for thebeatification of seventy-three Venerable Martyrsof China, Tonquin, and Cochin China, members ofthe Dominican and Franciscan Orders, the Congregationsof Missionary Priests, and of ForeignMissions ; and the decree of beatification of theMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

Venerable Martyrs of the West Indies, members ofthe Order of Discalced Carmelites, and that of thebeatification of the Venerable Servant of God,Maria Cresenzia Hoss, professed nun of theThird Order of St. Francis. His Holiness thendeigned to address to the assembly a Latinallocution, in which he manifested the joy thathe felt, especially for the decrees regardingBlessed Rita of Cascia, the glory and ornamentof the Augustinian Order, and the jewel of theUmbrian province, which gave birth also toSt. Benedict and St. Francis, and where for manyyears the Sovereign Pontiff himself had exercisedas Bishop his pastoral ministry. All the moredid he rejoice since it was a question of this mosthumble and most holy woman's canonization, asolemn religious ceremony, and supreme act ofthe Pontifical authority and of the infallibleteaching of the Vicar of Jesus Christ. He addedthat it was desirable that the marvellous odourwhich is diffused and given forth from time totime near the sacred remains of the Blessed Rita,and called prodigious from the time of Urban VIII.,should soon be renewed, as a happy augury of abetter future in this Holy Year and in thiscentury that is about to commence.Private Use Only

THE THREE MIRACLES APPROVED FOR HERCANONIZATIONIRST MIRACLE.-The odour which is feltF near St. Rita's body, especially whenmiracles are worked through her intercession, andwhich is diffused in a wonderful manner.As regards this miracle, we told in full everythingabout it in the fourth chapter of the presentpart. We have only to add our joy that theoracle of the Holy See has solemnly confirmedwhat historians have written regarding thissweet odour, and what has been alleged in theprocesses and confirmed by experience.Second Miracle.--Complete and instantaneousrecovery of Elisabetta Bergamini from conjunctivitiscomplicated by ulcerous keratitis of thesmall-pox form.Elisabetta Bergamini of Terni, about sevenyears before the time of which we wrote, had beenattacked by the small-pox in so virulent a formthat it left her whole face pitted, and destroyed[ 263 IMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

the sight of her eyes, so that she could hardly distinguishlight from darkness. Several physiciansconsulted by her parents had submitted her todifferent forms of treatment for the recovery ofher sight, but t.o no purpose. She was then sentas a boarder to the Augustinian convent ofCascia, where her father's sister was a nun,known as Sister Maria Maddalena, in order topray the Lord through St. Rita's intercessioneither to restore her sight or else take her to Himself.She was there principally because herfather's stepmother had been miraculously curedby St. Rita some years before.The girl was brought to the convent and confidedto the nuns' care in 1833. Pitying the sadcase of the afflicted child, they took most lovingcare of her. The doctor who attended the conventwas called in to visit her, and he confirmedthe opinions of the doctors of -Terni that herdisease was incurable, and that only a miraclecould restore her sight. The poor child sufferedgreat pain, and even the light caused her so muchinconvenience that two patches of green silk hadto be hung over her eyes. Besides, there was aconstant flow of humour mixed with tears, whichwas so corrosive that it ate away channels on hernose and cheeks, and gave forth a nauseatingand insufferable stench. To give some reliefPrivate Use Only

IIIto the little patient, her aunt and the mistressof the boarders used to wash her eyes, by thedoctor's directions, with a decoction of marshmallows;but even from this treatment shesuffered a good deal, for in the course of it hereyelids had to be raised as much as possible, andthis caused her acute pain.Elisabetta continued in this deplorable state tillSeptember of that year, when the nuns thoughtof getting her to wear a black votive dress inhonour of St. Rita. This dress was first blessedby the confessor and touched to the receptaclein which the saint's body lies. She was dressedin that habit and her eyes touched with a littlesilver rod, which tradition says once touchedSt. Rita's forehead. The mistress noted thatafterwards the flow of humour from her eyes haddecreased, and this fact gave Elisabetta courage tohave greater confidence in the saint's protection.That morning the nuns, according to custom,were sorting in the courtyard the corn to be employedin making the little loaves of St. Rita.The mistress brought Elisabetta to them, andshe sat down near one of the nuns, and, owing toher blindness, began, instead of selecting the best,to mix what had already been sorted with theinferior corn. The nun told her to keep quiet,and the mistress then gave her a cup with someMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

corn in it to play with. As soon as Elisabettagot the cup she began to stir the corn with herlittle hand, and suddenly called out that shecould see, and as she did not know what cornshould be rejected, she held out a grain in herhand and asked whether that should be putaside or not. At the same time she threw offthe green patches, and the nuns ran in astonishmentto look at the child's eyes, and saw thatthey were most beautiful and entirely cured. Tomake sure that she had recovered her sight theymade her sort all the corn that she had in the cup,and she did it perfectly. Then they all wenttogether to where the saint's body was to thankher for so great a miracle. The child then sawfor the first time the body of her benefactress,and she wept with love, and with her arms crossedreturned her thanks in a loud voice. When thedoctor of the convent saw Elisabetta he declaredthat the saint had worked a great miracle, and thatotherwise she never would have been able to see.The child remained in the convent for nearlythree years after, and her eyes were alwaysstrong. She learned so well to read that she usedto recite the office in choir with the nuns, and readinstruction for the lay sisters. She also learnedto write and sew, and do other feminine workthat needs very acute sight.Private Use Only1I

As a complement of the narration of thismiracle, we judge it right to quote the words ofa famous Roman physician, who was called on togive his judgment on this prodigious event. Hislearned opinion, delivered in writing, ends thus :' It is a matter of conscience and of necessityto reiterate my opinion that this cure has beeninstantaneous, perfect, and lasting, in no waycaused by art or by natural forces, impossible totake place except by miracle, which by scienceand by conscience must be classified with the greatinexplicable portents which the Omnipotent Godallows to be performed by His faithful servants,and in our case by Blessed Rita of Cascia ; andthis I again repeat in my depositionunder my oath.'Third Miracle. - Instantaneous and perfectcuring of Cosimo Pelligrini from chronic catarrhalgastro - enteritis, hemorrhoidal affection, andserious and permanent chronic anemia.Cosimo Pelligrini, of the town of Conversano,in the province of Bari, a tailor by trade, andfifty years of age, broken in health by long yearsof labour and by troubles of mind, began to lose -strength, and his eyesight became so weak thatalthough he used very strong glasses he coulddistinguish only with difficulty objects a shortdistance away. He had, besiaes, grown so deafin both ears that it was necessary to speak in aMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

vev loud voice to make him hear, and so greatwas his deafness that he did not 'even hear thestrokes of a hammer with which on one occasionhis cloak was nailed for a joke to a bench on whichhe was sitting.Besides his great loss of strength and theweakening of his organs, he also suffered fromserious disorders of the stomach, pains in theabdominal region, frequent vomitings and haemorrhoids.He, moreover, experienced frequentsudden attacks of dizziness, which were so seriousas to make him fall to the ground unless hespeedily retired to bed, and stupefied him forhours, during which time his sight was altogetherobscured. At night he often suffered frommuscular contractions, and if he spoke for longor listened to others for any length of time hewas seized with shakings in all his members. Hisways of curing himself made his already sufficientlydeplorable state of health still worse. For, insteadof consulting a doctor, following his owncaprices he took frequent purgatives, and bledhimself so often and to such an extent that hedeveloped chronic anaemia, which showed itspresence in his pallid, emaciated countenance.He was thus often forced to keep his bed, and his!bodily weakness and mental agony made lifea burden.Private Use Only

!Such for many years was Pelligrini's miserablecondition. About the year 1877, on the aznd ofIMay, the feast of St. Rita, to whom he had greatdevotion, when he was entering his house afterhearing Mass at the saint's altar in the churchof the nuns of St. Cosmo, he fell to the ground,deprived almost entirely of sense. He was put tobed, and the doctor immediately sent for. On hisarrival the doctor instantly saw the very gravestate of the man, prescribed some remedies, ofwhich, however, almost no use could be made,and ordered the last Sacraments to be adminis-, tered. After being anointed, Pelligrini becameso ill that he lost all strength and the use of hissenses, and was hardly able to breathe ; his facebecame corpse-like in its pallor as he lay motionlessin bed. In this state he passed two days, andon the third day the doctor was of opinion thathe would not live till evening.Meanwhile a lay sister of the convent, who wassister of the sick man's wife, sent to ask how hewas, and in sending an answer his wife requestedthe nuns to light the lamp at the saint's altar andoffer prayers for her husband, who was in hislast agony. The request was immediately attendedto by all the community. Little over anhour passed when Pelligrini, as if waking from aprofound lethargy, opened his eyes, began toMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

move his arms, and, calling his wife, said to her, ' Iam cured. Blessed Rita has made me well.' Hethen began to tell how the saint had appeared tohim, had touched him on the forehead, shoulder,and breast, and assured him that he would becured, and that after only a day or two of weaknesshe would be entirely well. He also gavethe same account of the vision to others who cameto see him, and the fact proved that the sainthad miraculously saved him from imminent death.The next day he left his bed completely cured,as Rita had told him he would be. He was ableto eat and digest his food as well as any personof strong robust health, and all those chronicills that afflicted him for so many years wereinstantaneously and entirely eradicated, and hisdeafness and lack of vision also were entirely gone.He could see as well as if he had never been shortsighted,and could detect the least noise, andalthough he was seventy years of age he had regainedfull vigour and strength.Many people went to see Pelligrini, who seemedas one raised from the dead to a new life, and whowas filled with a new strength. All who saw himgave glory to God and to Rita for so wonderfuland surprising a fact. After ten years, when hewas eighty years old, he was examined by doctors,and found perfectly healthy and full of vigour.Private Use Only

CONCLUSIONwE have now come, oh, reader, to the endof our journey, and however short it hasbeen, you, the faithful follower of our steps,cannot fail to look back, as travellers do aftera difIicult passage, and consider with us thedif5culty and roughness of the way that Ritatraversed in order to reach her sublime goal.We are convinced that it is not simply curiositythat has moved you to follow our plaip narrationof facts, but the proposal to follow on the paththat Rita has travelled by, and walk in herfootsteps, for the lives of the saints are writtenand read for no other'object than with the Divineassistance to cause their virtues to be imitated.And you must have remarked that Rita'svirtues have this peculiar characteristic-thatpersons of both sexes, of all ages and conditions,may put themselves in the way of practisingthem and turning them to account. The young,married persons, parents, widows, persons inreligious life, the troubled and acted of both[ 271 IMore Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com

sexes, have each in the life of this saint a brightand shining mirror wherein to behold their stains,their weakness, their imperfection, and see alsohow to remove these blots under Rita's care andprotection.The incident of the wondrous bees fitting abouther cradle, described in the first part, seems tous to symbolize the great multitude of Christiansouls, each of which in its proper place mayextract, like industrious bees, the honey andfragrance of virtue from this mystic, odoriferous,and precious garden. She is indeed the jewel ofthe Umbrian province, as the inspired Pontiff,Leo XIII., styled her in most happy phrase onApril 8,1900, whose beauty can never fade, aboutwhich thousands of souls may gather and beexcited to. thoughts of ineffable sweetness thatwill produce good fruits in time and in eternity.You young people, you parents, you religious,you troubled and afflicted, never lose sight ofyour model! Have recourse to her in all yourtrials, and even when your troubles seem irreparable,do not lose courage, for she who is commonlycalled the Saint of the Imfiossible and ofdesfierate cases will then especially guard you andbring you consolation.R. & T. WASHBOURNE, 4 PATERNOSTER ROW. LONDONPrivate Use OnlyL~LJ9 ckcy