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LIFE OF ST. RITA OF CASCIA, O.S.A.
LIFE OF ST. RITA OF CASCIA, O.S.A.
from the Italian BY VERY REV. RICHARD CONNOLLY O.S.A., D.D. R. & T. WASHBOURNE 4 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON BENZIGER BROS.: NEW YORK, CINCINNATI AND CHICAGO 1903 Nihil Obstat: FR. JOANNES L. CONDON, O.S.A., CENS. DEPUTATUS. PERMISSION TO PUBLISH We approve of the publication of the 'Life of St. Rita of Cascia,' from the Italian, by the Very Rev. Fr. Richard Connolly, O.S.A., D.D. FR. W. O'SULLIVAN, O.S.A., VICAR PROVINCIAL. CORK, Feast of St.
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CHAPTER I CASCIA: A GLANCE AT ITS HISTORY
CHAPTER I CASCIA: A GLANCE AT ITS HISTORY
St. Bernard observes that the place in which our Saviour died attracts our devotion in a greater degree than any of those places in which He dwelt during His life, and can therefore boast of a certain pre-eminence. Speaking of St. Rita, we can say the same of Cascia compared with Rocca Porena, her birthplace. Cascia governed 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 years and died there, and there he
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CHAPTER II RITA'S PARENTS
CHAPTER II RITA'S PARENTS
The fortunate parents of Rita were Antonio Mancini, 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, but we may apply to him the praise which the Holy Spirit gives to Noah—that he was a just man and perfect in his times, and he walked with God. The Gracchi, the Scipios, the Cæsars among the number of their family honours cannot find a title greater or even equal to this. Every other superiority is vanity, and if the
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CHAPTER III RITA'S WONDERFUL CONCEPTION
CHAPTER III RITA'S WONDERFUL CONCEPTION
That God, who is wonderful in His saints, and who, to use a sacred expression, seems at times to play sport with the world, and especially with those creatures that form His delight, wished in the end, and at a time when in the natural order offspring could least be expected from these old and barren consorts, to grant them in a prodigious manner the fulfilment of their ancient desires—a fulfilment the more acceptable as more unforeseen, and the happier and more certain inasmuch as it was marked
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CHAPTER IV RITA'S BIRTH
CHAPTER IV RITA'S BIRTH
Now that we are about to describe Rita's birth, it will not be out of place to cast a passing glance at the unhappy state of those times, in order to see things more clearly as we progress with our history, and in order that the providence of God and His grace may more clearly be discerned to His honour and glory. The memories are still fresh in our minds, or, rather, the wounds which the avenging sword of the God of armies inflicted on us. There is not a moment in which we do not recall with ho
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CHAPTER V THE WHITE BEES OF ST. RITA
CHAPTER V THE WHITE BEES OF ST. RITA
When the godmother and her attendants returned from Cascia after the baptism, a feast was prepared for them and the relatives of the happy parents, to celebrate in a manner becoming their humble position the double birth of Rita in the order of nature and of grace. Meanwhile, the child had closed her eyes in a tranquil 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 were never before seen, made their appearance. The
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CHAPTER VI RITA'S CHILDHOOD
CHAPTER VI RITA'S CHILDHOOD
St. Augustine in his Confessions takes up two chapters in describing his infancy, and he discovers in that period of his life only misery and vestiges of sin, but he recalls these evils that spring from our sinful origin only to extol the triumphs which Divine grace obtained in his mature years. The time of infancy is, however, one in which, since there can be no acts of reflection, nor exercise of will, there can be no demerit or actual sin, nor merit or virtue. It will not, therefore, be stran
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CHAPTER VII RITA'S LOVE OF RETIREMENT
CHAPTER VII RITA'S LOVE OF RETIREMENT
St. John the Baptist experienced a similar strengthening of the spirit, as we read in that place in which it is also written that he went into the desert, where he hid himself, as Blessed Simon says, in order to give himself up entirely to prayer, contemplation, and penance. The comparison between these saints is often a fitting one, for Rita always follows closely in the footsteps of her great model. It is true that, according to the example of the Psalmist, she walked in the innocence of her h
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CHAPTER VIII RITA'S MARRIAGE
CHAPTER VIII RITA'S MARRIAGE
In the year 1393 Italy, not to say the whole world, was suffering under the evils that proceed from political disturbance, and the state of morals throughout the peninsula was deplorable. Still, the honour of the Church was upheld by the many saints whose lives then adorned it, not the least of whom was Rita. Urban VI. was dead, and Boniface IX. ruled in his place. But the Holy See had to withstand many a rude shock, for the anti-Pope Robert, then near his end, continued to dispute the possessio
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CHAPTER IX RITA AS WIFE
CHAPTER IX RITA AS WIFE
The Apostle's saying, that 'all things work together for good to those who love God,' remains always true. Rita had passed from the state of virginity to that of matrimony, yet this step towards a lower state was destined to lead her to a higher grade of glory. Thus St. Monica, whose faithful follower our heroine was ever to be, would not have been St. Augustine's mother by nature, and in the order of grace would not have drawn the erring Patrizio, her husband, to God, would not have so wide a f
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CHAPTER X DEATH OF RITA'S HUSBAND AND CHILDREN—RITA AS WIDOW
CHAPTER X DEATH OF RITA'S HUSBAND AND CHILDREN—RITA AS WIDOW
Rita had succeeded, as we have said, in assuaging the cruelty that seemed to have been natural to her husband. The means she employed to effect this change were the gentle manner which she naturally possessed, and which Divine grace made still more gentle; the good advice she ever gave, her kindness and unwearying patience, her good example, and, above all, her fervent prayers. But whether it was that his enemies, brooding over old causes of hate, resolved to take revenge for past offences, or t
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CHAPTER I RITA'S MIRACULOUS ENTRY INTO THE CLOISTER AND HER RECEPTION
CHAPTER I RITA'S MIRACULOUS ENTRY INTO THE CLOISTER AND HER RECEPTION
All Rita's thoughts and all her affections were centred in heaven, and the reason why she desired to lead a more perfect life in the cloister was thereby to make more certain of attaining the object of her desires. But the world in that century of wickedness was engaged about far different things; the vortex of worldly hopes and ambitions had engulfed almost all the aspirations of men. In the East, rapine, vice, violence, murder, irreligion, and a long train of irreparable wrongs, had followed q
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CHAPTER II RITA AS NOVICE: HER PROFESSION
CHAPTER II RITA AS NOVICE: HER PROFESSION
From her early youth Rita had a great longing for a solitary life, but now that the Omnipotent God had placed her in the convent she had no further reason to sigh for the deserts of the Jordan, the solitudes of Tagaste, the silence of Valmanente, the groves of her native place, or any other home of hermits. The cloister constituted the fulfilment of all her desires, and her only remaining anxiety was to emulate the great virtues of her three holy patrons, the blessed hermits of Cascia, and the o
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CHAPTER III RITA'S CHARITY
CHAPTER III RITA'S CHARITY
What constitutes the greatness of the mystic city, the new Jerusalem, is not the number and variety of its inhabitants, or the fame of great undertakings, but charity alone. In fact, the Virgin Mary was exalted above all the choirs of heaven, and St. John the Baptist was called the greatest of the saints even before the testimony at the Jordan, although their lives were nothing more than a continuous exercise of charity. Hence, coming to speak of Rita, if she had charity she possessed all things
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CHAPTER IV OTHER VIRTUES WHICH RITA PRACTISED IN THE CLOISTER
CHAPTER IV OTHER VIRTUES WHICH RITA PRACTISED IN THE CLOISTER
That truth to which St. Augustine draws our attention in many passages in his works—that charity is the source of all other virtues and their life-giving principle—is confirmed by St. Gregory, who illustrates it by comparing the virtues to the branches of a tree, which all spring from the same root, which root of the virtues is charity. In fact, the virtue of Christian prudence, for example, is nothing else than a continued eagerness, in those who love God, to distinguish good from evil, and to
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CHAPTER V RITA'S OBSERVANCE OF THE RELIGIOUS VOWS
CHAPTER V RITA'S OBSERVANCE OF THE RELIGIOUS VOWS
There is a love which is the soul of every virtue, and another love which is an incentive to every vice; the former we call charity, the latter concupiscence. Charity, since it comes from 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—the pomp of the world, self-interest, and pleasure. According as one or other of these is stronger in us we attain sanctification and hap
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CHAPTER VI RITA'S PENANCES
CHAPTER VI RITA'S PENANCES
However hard and sharp penance may appear at the first glance, yet it, too, is a daughter of love, love that gives strength to put a curb on carnal appetites, which are ever striving to rebel against the first uncreated love, and which incites to reparation of past offences and atonement for 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, should carry her austerities even to the point of heroism. True, such innocence d
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CHAPTER VII RITA'S SPIRIT OF PRAYER
CHAPTER VII RITA'S SPIRIT OF PRAYER
If Rita's body, oppressed by fastings, imprisoned in hair shirts and galling bonds, made livid by scourgings, was forced to groan and sigh, it was far otherwise with her spirit. The more the body was crushed under the weight of penances, the more were the spaces of the soul enlarged, the greater its liberty, the more readily might it raise itself above all earthly things, to be plunged into the sublime depths of heavenly things and taste of their ineffable sweetness. And if her spirit sighed, it
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CHAPTER VIII A THORN FROM THE SAVIOUR'S CROWN OF THORNS WOUNDS RITA'S FOREHEAD
CHAPTER VIII A THORN FROM THE SAVIOUR'S CROWN OF THORNS WOUNDS RITA'S FOREHEAD
Rita had lived thirty years in the convent, leading that saintly life we have described, and had attained her sixty-second year, when, in the year 1443, it pleased God to mark in a wonderful manner, and, as it were, put His seal on her merit by conferring on her a privilege that is well worthy to be described. There lived at that time St. James of the Marshes, one of those Apostolic men whom God then raised up, like St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Laurence Giustiniani, St. Bernardine of Siena, and St. J
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CHAPTER IX RITA GOES TO ROME TO GAIN THE INDULGENCE OF THE JUBILEE
CHAPTER IX RITA GOES TO ROME TO GAIN THE INDULGENCE OF THE JUBILEE
If Rita's life till the time when she received the wound in her forehead may be called a hidden life, from thenceforward it was a buried life, and invisible to the eyes of men. On that account, passing in silence over an interval of eight years, our history proceeds to describe the events of her life in the year 1450. The intervening years were not, however, years of idleness for our holy nun, or if she did enjoy repose it was not very dissimilar from that of the blessed in heaven, and perhaps o
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CHAPTER X RITA'S LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH
CHAPTER X RITA'S LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH
Rita survived seven years after her return from Rome. The first three of these, like the eight preceding years, are hidden under the veil of God's deep designs, for it is not granted to us to discover anything of her exterior life during that period. Of her interior life, too, there is nothing left, if we except certain general knowledge of her spirit of penance, her continued love of prayer, and her union with God ever becoming closer. Three years passed, and Rita had reached the seventy-second
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CHAPTER I WONDERFUL EVENTS THAT HAPPENED AT RITA'S DEATH—BURIAL OF HER SACRED BODY
CHAPTER I WONDERFUL EVENTS THAT HAPPENED AT RITA'S DEATH—BURIAL OF HER SACRED BODY
In describing Rita's mortal life, we judged it expedient to give from time to time some idea of the trend of events and of the calamities of the times in which she lived, and we have hopes that it will not be displeasing to the reader nor outside the scope we proposed to ourselves if we continue to follow the same plan now that we are come to speak of her immortal life in so far as it may be said to be visible in those works in which God willed to give glory to His servant even on earth. For her
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CHAPTER II MIRACLES WROUGHT BY GOD THROUGH RITA'S INTERCESSION BEFORE HER BEATIFICATION
CHAPTER II MIRACLES WROUGHT BY GOD THROUGH RITA'S INTERCESSION BEFORE HER BEATIFICATION
The primary object of miracles is to establish the Catholic religion, and this is the reason why the Son of God and His disciples performed so many miraculous works that filled the world with amazement and invited men to embrace the faith. Even when the kingdom of Christ had been established miracles did not altogether cease, but rather it pleased God for His greater glory to raise up miracle workers in every age for the edification of the faithful, to place a more distinctive mark on His Church
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CHAPTER III EFFICACY OF RELICS OF ST. RITA
CHAPTER III EFFICACY OF RELICS OF ST. RITA
It is quite certain that the power of working miracles belongs only to Omnipotence; nevertheless, the many wonderful works done at the tombs of the saints seem to indicate that in those holy places there breathes an air participated through that incommunicable virtue by means of which not only those sacred bodies, but everything that belongs to them, co-operates in performing the wonderful works of God and in celebrating and making known these wonders. This is the same power that first accompani
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CHAPTER IV MARVELS OF ST. RITA'S SEPULCHRE
CHAPTER IV MARVELS OF ST. RITA'S SEPULCHRE
It was the Almighty's will that the body of the saint, born of a mother so long barren, visited by the wonderful bees, miraculously brought into the convent, marked by a wound from a thorn of the Crucified One, and in death crowned with splendour and clothed with a beauty almost heavenly, should also be glorified in a singular manner after death. And so it has remained for several centuries without showing the least sign of decay, and may be seen even to the present day miraculously preserved. B
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CHAPTER V IMMEMORIAL WORSHIP OF ST. RITA
CHAPTER V IMMEMORIAL WORSHIP OF ST. RITA
It had been provided by the sapient Pontiff Alexander III. three centuries before Rita's death that no one, however remarkable for holiness of life, and dying in the fame of sanctity, should receive public and ecclesiastical worship, unless after the approbation of the Holy Apostolic See. But it must be admitted that Rita's sanctity and miracles had more effect than any decree that interfered with the devotion of so many, and, indeed, the decree was unknown to most of them. Hardly was Rita dead
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CHAPTER VI SOLEMN BEATIFICATION OF RITA
CHAPTER VI SOLEMN BEATIFICATION OF RITA
A period of one hundred and seventy years had passed since Rita went to live crowned with glory in the kingdom of the blessed, where there is no change of years or of things, and from whence she was regarding with compassionate eyes the ever-changing vicissitudes of this valley of tears. In that interval between Rita's death and her solemn beatification the world had changed a hundred times its form and appearance. Convulsions of nature, ruling passions, kingdoms ceasing to be, new Governments,
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CHAPTER VII MIRACLES WORKED BY RITA AFTER HER BEATIFICATION
CHAPTER VII MIRACLES WORKED BY RITA AFTER HER BEATIFICATION
It is related in the holy Gospels that once when the Saviour was going to Jerusalem, as He entered into a certain town He saw ten lepers coming to meet Him, who began to shout from afar off, 'Jesus, have mercy on us,' and that all of them were miraculously healed by Him, but only one fulfilled the duty of gratitude by publicly giving glory to God and going back to give thanks to his Divine Benefactor. We are forced to think that something similar must have been the case with those who have recei
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CHAPTER VIII[1] MORE RECENT MIRACLES OF ST. RITA
CHAPTER VIII[1] MORE RECENT MIRACLES OF ST. RITA
[ 1 ] Added to this edition. We must not pass over in silence the marvellous fact that, as the time of the canonization of our heroine was drawing nearer, it pleased the Lord to let men see more clearly how powerful before the throne of His infinite mercy is her patronage in favour of those who piously invoke her. The devotion towards St. Rita, which was already of ancient date and widely spread, has, in fact, in these latter years become more universal and more fervent. Amongst every class of p
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CHAPTER IX HER CANONIZATION
CHAPTER IX HER CANONIZATION
In reading the wonderful and miraculous facts of the life of St. Rita and the very many prodigious works done by God through her intercession, the reader must have asked himself more than once how it is that so grand a soul, whose heroic virtues shine so brightly, and who was, like the greatest saints of the Church, favoured by God with most singular graces and sublime privileges, should be adorned with the aureole of a saint and raised to highest honours of the altars only after more than four
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CHAPTER X THE THREE MIRACLES APPROVED FOR HER CANONIZATION
CHAPTER X THE THREE MIRACLES APPROVED FOR HER CANONIZATION
First Miracle .—The odour which is felt near St. Rita's body, especially when miracles are worked through her intercession, and which is diffused in a wonderful manner. As regards this miracle, we told in full everything about it in the fourth chapter of the present part. We have only to add our joy that the oracle of the Holy See has solemnly confirmed what historians have written regarding this sweet odour, and what has been alleged in the processes and confirmed by experience. Second Miracle
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CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
We have now come, oh, reader, to the end of our journey, and however short it has been, you, the faithful follower of our steps, cannot fail to look back, as travellers do after a difficult passage, and consider with us the difficulty and roughness of the way that Rita traversed in order to reach her sublime goal. We are convinced that it is not simply curiosity that has moved you to follow our plain narration of facts, but the proposal to follow on the path that Rita has travelled by, and walk
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