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

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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

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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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THE SYMBOLISM OF SAINT RITA AND SAINT AUGUSTINE The use of the symbol is so common that everyone is familiar with it. The Stars and Stripes as the symbol for one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, and the ring as the symbol of marital love and fidelity, are known almost to everyone. The symbols of the seal of St. Rita High School have come under the eye of all its graduates, but perhaps their meanings are not too clear, These symbols are eye-words that appeal to the mind and heart by their wealth of meaning. They constitute the story behind the story of St. Rita High School, for they blend nicely the events of the lives of two great Saints, Augustine, the Founder of the Augustinian Order, and Rita, the great Patroness of the School. The center portion of the seal represents the various figures of St. Augustine. The heart burning and pierced with an arrow is symbolic of his great love for God. The crozier, cross, and mitre denote his Episcopal office. The cincture is part of the Augustinian habit, it having been given originally to St. Augustine's Mother, St. Monica, by Mary the Moth- er of God. The book is symbolic of the writings of St. Augustine and is particularly apro- pos in the seal of the School since a book in Christian symbolism has been connected with the office of teaching. The inscription Tolle lege! Tolle lege! calls to mind the time Saint Augustine was praying for the light and heard the voice of the Angel repeating these unforgettable words: Take and read! Take and read! For in following such advice he opened the letters of St. Paul and read: Let us walk honestly, as in the day: not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in contention and envy. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. lRomans Xlll, l3, l4J. This was the final touch in St. Augustine's conver- sation. g 1 W ,ww , SCI 65,-ngrv.vA bl 4 7 W1 'S' 3' s-gfg g are symbols of The day after bees, white as on her lips and mouth without are significant of her title Saint of the lmpossible, for at her request God caused roses to grow in January, something her cousin had told her was impossible. The Bees and Roses our Patroness, Saint fRita. her Baptism a swarm of the driven snow, alighted were seen to enter her ? harming her. The roses nit. W The Cascian urges St. Rita stu- dents to have this legend at hand while studying its impression on their class rings, etc. To St. Rita and to her sym- bols is dedicated this 1950 Edition of I 's,xug,,3p7l7,9 O Q . O F717 K no O X' NJ ' fs ii' - if vo 3 'L A' if 5 I :lg t gs, I st O o ' fo Qc ' ' ex 'U N QD fb O 46 o, i LU The Cascian .