St Rita of Cascia High School - Cascian Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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Beside lhe lhree vows, liila plaeed her own mor- lifiealions. Her bed in hel' small eell eonsisled ol' a hardwood heneh wilh a slone nsed as a pillow. She had merely one meal a day, eonsisling ol' bread and waler. She had selll in l'lieled punishs menls. Wishing lo par lake in Chrisl's Slll.l'Cl'll1Q, she s e o u 1' g e d hersell' lh1'ee lilnes daily. These seourgings eonsisled ol one wilh a small ehain, a seeond wilh ll'2lllll'I' lhonggs, and lhe lasl wilh small ropes. All lhese lhings were physieally laking effeel on liila. Tliroughoul her env medilaled on lhe Passion ol' Om' l.o1'd. XYhen a l raneisean l' I' i a 1' , lhe lilessed .lames ol' Nlounl lirandone, eame lo Sl. hl2ll'j',S Chnreh-llila had aeeoms pai lied olhel' nuns lo heal' him speak on lhe Passion and Dealh ol' .lesus. lilessed .lames's eloqnenlly-delivered sermons al'l'eeled all who heard lhem. l'pon relnrning lo lhe llonyenl, liila ardenlly prayed lhal she loo eould share, as Sl. l'll'ZlIlClS, in lhe snllering ol' Cln'isl. I ask only for one ol' lhe seyenlyl-lwo lho rns whieh piereed your head and eaused you so mueh pain, so lhal l may feel a parl ol' lhe pain yon fell. llei' wish was granledl An ugly wound, one ol' lhe many llhrisl reeeived from lhe Crown ol' Thorns was liyed in lhe l'L'llll'l' ol' her li0I'CllC'Ill Page 8 , . . L . lire lil'e, liila had forever'

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meeting of Saints Augustine and Nicholas. lt was this Saintly trio that told her The impossible is overeome in your behalf and took her into the eloister of the eon- vent at Ntaddalena. l'pon finding her the next morning, the superioress and nuns welcomed her into the community after she related the forenighl's happenings to them. ller wish had been realized and she beeame a melnber of the great Order of St. Augustine after she had made her solemn professional vows. The same obedienee, which she had so eom- pletely given her parents and husband previously, was ever present to her religious superiors. Une of her earliest miraeles was the result of this vir- tue. To prove tiila's obe- dience, the superioress eommanded her to water a plant that had withered e and died. After a few f- -..v.,,,.a,, , K, p months, the plant had again taken leaf, and where the dead plant had onee before withered, it had bloomed into the most beautiful flower in the Maddalena Con- vent Garden. lleing pitiless with herself, Rita ob- l served the vow of poverty to a superlative 1 degree. Before she had taken her solemn vows, Rita had distributed all of her temporal wealth to those in need. 'I'hrough- out her entire life as a nun, Rita had worn the same habit she had reeeived upon entering the Order. Her vow of ehastity was militantly guarded, also. Page 7

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This wound remained so offensive that she was soon confined to her room. The wound was as miraculously healed for one season, as it had so miraculously penetrated the skin and bone of her head. The year of 1450 had been proclaimed -as this present year has, five centuries later - a Jubilee Year. In want of the graces given by the Church, Rita asked for permission to journey with other nuns. The su erioress immediately ave her ermission when the miracle of the cure oc- u nv 'K p curred, and Rita accompanied the nuns to Rome. She was overjoyed with returning to the Convent, and as she crossed the threshold of the cloister, the wound returned! It was four years after her pilgrimage to Rome that the fever had so violently overtaken her. During these agony-filled days, a cousin froln her native city visited her. St. Rita asked her cousin: Bring me a rose from the garden of my old home in Rocca Porrena. .lourneying back through the .January cold, believing that the impossible could not be, the cousin found a rose in full bloom on a sapless bush. In the same month of January, St. Rita asked her cousin for two figs which she would find on the leafless tree in the garden of tl1e convent. Thoroughly believing her, the cousin rushed to look for the figs, which were found, as St. Rita said, on the tree in the garden. VVith these last two miracles, St. Rita of Cascia had known her death was steadi- ly approaching. Only four months later, on May 22, 1457, St. Rita was welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven. After seventy-six years of superlative holiness on earth, St. Rita reaped her final reward. Let friends of St. Rita hail May 22, as a signal day in their future lives, and let them designate as important in their present lives May 24. For it was on this day, fifty years ago, that Blessed Rita was proclaimed by Pope Leo XIII, to be hon- ored, publicly and privately, by the Universal Church, as a Saint. Evviva Santa Rita da Cascia-Hail Saint Rita of Cascia! I J -r r - ' 'V .awww Page 9