Rita of Cascia

The Saint Rita of Cascia (* 1381 in Roccaporena, † May 22 1447 in Cascia ) was an Italian nun.

Her birth name was Margherita Lotti. As a young woman she wanted to join in the Augustinian nuns, but was married against her will. Only after her violent husband was killed and her two sons had died of the plague, they could, following their original request, 1407 to enter the convent of the Augustinian nuns in Cascia, where she led a life of strict self-denial and penance. Later she received the crown of thorns as a stigma.

Rita's incorrupt body rests in the Basilica in Cascia. Your iconographic attributes are the cross, stigmata on his forehead and the rose. She is the patron saint of butchers, for hopeless concern assignments, tests, hardships and smallpox.

Rita sisters

The Rita Sisters are a religious community, whose patron saint the holy. Rita of Casia. It was first founded in 1911 by the Augustinian Father Hugo Linus roof and five young women as Krankenpflegeverein for poor families. Since December 1917, the sisters Rita wore a habit and transformed themselves to monastic living community. After the death of Linus P. Hugo (1918 ), the Bishop of Würzburg demanded the dissolution of community and connection to other religious communities. Only nine sisters stayed together and obtained the assistance of the public and Catholic associations ecclesiastical permission for continued existence as a congregation.

The Motherhouse of the Sisters Rita is located in Würzburg. In 2000, the congregation consisted of about 100 sisters. The Rita sisters devote themselves especially to the sick and family care. 40 years (until 2006) they performed a specialized school for family care. Furthermore, a new focus is on the spiritual accompaniment. The Rita sisters are among the Augustinians. Except in Germany, they act in Switzerland and the United States ( Wisconsin).

Canonization

Rita was in 1628 by Pope Urban VIII beatified and in 1900 by Pope Leo XIII. canonized. Your feast day is May 22