As a Medieval historian, one of the things I do is study saints of the Middle Ages — they were akin to our modern-day superheroes, and their special qualities give us a good lens for understanding the values of the distant past. The holy woman featured here today — Rita of Cascia, nee Margherita Ferri Lotti (1381-1457) — is interesting and macabre, because her devotees have spread around the world and become more pronounced since the 20th century than they were in Rita’s own times.
Rita wasn’t officially canonized as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church until 1900, when she officially became “the patroness of lost causes”. And certainly this is a quality that evokes empathy. But an examination of the account of her life, which was first published in 1610 by an Augustinian Friar named Agostino Cavallucci, is actually tragic, and her endurance of her marital situation is troubling from a modern perspective.
Rita grew up in Italy during a time of great political strife. Against her desires, her parents betrothed her at only age twelve to a reprobate of a man who abused her verbally and physically. But Rita’s religious beliefs had made her think that she should have patience with her husband and pray for his soul, and so she stayed married. Eventually her husband came round, but was soon murdered by his political rivals. By this time, Rita had two sons from this man, and they were old enough to want to seek revenge on their father’s killing. Fearful that her sons might go to hell if they took up a feud, Rita prayed to God for a solution. And a solution came, which was that God gave both her sons a fatal disease so that they ended up dying before they could have blood on their hands.
After her family’s deaths, Rita was able to join a convent, and one of the major miracles associated with her happened at this time, when a thorn started growing from her forehead as a sign of stigmata in imitation of the crown of thorns on Jesus. This stigmata proved yet another trial for Rita, because it made her smell incredibly foul.
The cult of St Rita has grown to international proportions over the last century, and she has become a patroness of abused women.
Sources: Fiorella Giacalone, “A transnational cult: St Rita of Cascia,” in _Local Identities and Transnational Cults within Europe_ Ed Fiorella Giacalone and Kevin Griffin, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, 2018, chapter 13. One paper published in 2019 by the _International Journal of Trichology _ argues that St Rita might have been afflicted with Frontal Fibrosing Alopecia. (Trüeb, Ralph Michel, International Journal of Trichology _ “St Rita of Cascia: patron saint for women with Frontal Fibrosing Alopecia?” 97-100, May-June 2019. Image from: https://www.piercedhearts.org/theology_heart/life_saints/rita_cascia.html
