As her sons grew, their characters began to change as Bernardo became their tutor. Bernardo convinced Rita's sons to leave their manor and live at the Mancini villa ancestral home. Paolo Mancini's brother, Bernardo, was said to have continued the feud and hoped to convince Rita's sons to seek revenge. Rita gave a public pardon at Paolo's funeral to her husband's murderers. As time went by and the family feud between the Chiqui and Mancini families became more intense, Paolo Mancini became congenial, but his allies betrayed him and he was violently stabbed to death by Guido Chiqui, a member of the feuding family. Rita eventually bore two sons, Giangiacomo (Giovanni) Antonio and Paulo Maria, and brought them up in the Christian faith. According to popular tales, through humility, kindness and patience, Rita was able to convert her husband into a better person, more specifically renouncing a family feud known at the time as La Vendetta. Rita endured his insults, physical abuse and infidelities for many years. The marriage lasted for eighteen years, during which she is remembered for her Christian values as a model wife and mother who made efforts to convert her husband from his abusive behavior. Her husband, Paolo Mancini, was known to be a rich, quick-tempered, immoral man, who had many enemies in the region of Cascia.

Her parents arranged her marriage, a common practice at the time, despite her repeated requests to be allowed to enter a convent of religious sisters. She was married at age twelve to a nobleman named Paolo Mancini. Īccording to pious accounts, Rita was originally pursued by a notary named Gubbio but she resisted his offer. Her parents, Antonio and Amata Ferri Lotti, were known to be noble, charitable persons, who gained the epithet Conciliatori di Cristo (English: Peacemakers of Christ).

She was affectionately called Rita, the short form of her baptismal name. Margherita Lotti was born in 1381 in the city of Roccaporena, a small suburb of Cascia (near Spoleto, Umbria, Italy) where various sites connected with her are the focus of pilgrimages. Her incorrupt body remains in the Basilica of Santa Rita da Cascia. At her canonization ceremony, she was bestowed the title of Patroness of Impossible Causes, while in many Catholic countries, Rita came to be known as the patroness of abused wives and heartbroken women. Various miracles are attributed to her intercession, and she is often portrayed with a bleeding wound on her forehead, which is understood to indicate a partial stigmata. Rita of Cascia, born Margherita Ferri Lotti - Mancini (1381 – ), was an Italian widow and Augustinian nun venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.Īfter Rita's husband died, she joined an Augustinian community of religious sisters, where she was known both for practicing mortification of the flesh and for the efficacy of her prayers. Spousal abuse, feud, family honor, loneliness Lost and impossible causes, sickness, wounds, marital problems, abuse, mothers

Mother, Widow, Stigmatist, Consecrated Religiousīasilica of Santa Rita da Cascia, Cascia, Italy Patron Saint of the Impossible, abused wives and widows

5 miracles of st rita