Fifteen Thursdays of St. Rita

Devotions

A fifteen-week devotion of prayer and meditation on the Passion in honor of St. Rita of Cascia, traditionally prayed on Thursdays leading up to her May 22 feast.

The Fifteen Thursdays of St. Rita is a traditional Catholic devotion in which the faithful pray on fifteen successive Thursdays, usually meditating on Christ’s Passion and on episodes from St. Rita’s life, in preparation for her feast on May 22. St. Rita of Cascia, an Augustinian nun known as the Saint of the Impossible and honored for the wound she bore in imitation of Christ’s crown of thorns, is invoked especially for desperate and seemingly hopeless situations.

Quick Facts

  • Category: Saint-Associated Devotions — Named Saint Devotions
  • Origin: Popular piety associated with St. Rita of Cascia (1381-1457); the fifteen-week structure is traditionally linked to the years she is said to have borne the wound of the crown of thorns
  • Associated saint: St. Rita of Cascia
  • Country: Italy / International
  • Feast: Fifteen successive Thursdays preceding May 22 (traditional), concluding on her feast
  • Church status: A permitted and established saint devotion when practiced consistent with Catholic doctrine and approved prayer texts
  • Private revelation: Not dependent on private revelation; particular graces attributed to the devotion require the same caution as any claimed answered prayer

What Is This Devotion?

The Fifteen Thursdays of St. Rita is an extended devotion of preparation, similar in spirit to a novena but stretched across fifteen weeks rather than nine days, in which Catholics pray each Thursday leading up to St. Rita’s May 22 feast. Its structure typically pairs meditation on an episode of Christ’s Passion with reflection on a corresponding moment from St. Rita’s own life of suffering and trust in God, and it is prayed both by individuals seeking her intercession in a difficult or seemingly impossible situation and by parishes and Augustinian communities that hold it publicly each spring.

Origin and History

St. Rita was born near Cascia, in Umbria, Italy, in 1381. After an arranged marriage that tradition describes as difficult, and after the deaths of her husband and her two sons, she entered the Augustinian convent of Santa Maria Maddalena in Cascia. There she is said to have received, in response to her intense meditation on Christ’s Passion, a wound on her forehead resembling a puncture from the crown of thorns, which she reportedly bore for roughly the last fifteen years of her life.

The number fifteen in the devotion’s structure is traditionally connected to those fifteen years of the wound, though this site could not independently verify the exact chronology given in various popular accounts of her life, which were compiled well after her death in 1457 and, like many medieval hagiographies, blend documented fact with pious elaboration. The devotion itself, as a formal fifteen-week prayer practice, developed later, alongside the broader spread of her cultus following her beatification in 1627 and canonization by Pope Leo XIII in 1900, and it remains especially associated with Augustinian parishes and the Basilica of St. Rita in Cascia.

Catholic Theology

The devotion rests on ordinary Catholic teaching about the intercession of the saints and about redemptive suffering united to Christ’s Passion, which St. Rita’s own life is held up to illustrate. Pairing weekly meditation on the Passion with her example encourages the person praying to unite personal hardship to Christ’s suffering in hope, rather than treating the fifteen weeks as a mechanism that produces a result independent of that disposition of faith.

How to Practice It

  • Choose to begin the devotion so that the fifteenth Thursday falls on or just before May 22, St. Rita’s feast.
  • Each Thursday, pray a chosen meditation on an episode of Christ’s Passion together with a corresponding reflection on St. Rita’s life, using an approved prayer book or parish guide.
  • Bring a specific intention, especially one that feels humanly difficult, entrusting it to St. Rita’s intercession.
  • Where available, join a parish or Augustinian community’s public celebration of the devotion rather than praying it only privately.

Associated Prayers

When It’s Observed

The devotion is prayed on fifteen consecutive Thursdays timed to conclude on or immediately before May 22, St. Rita’s feast day on the General Roman Calendar as an optional memorial; because Thursday dates shift from year to year, the exact starting Thursday varies annually.

Church Status

St. Rita was canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1900, and her feast remains on the General Roman Calendar; devotion to her, including the Fifteen Thursdays, is a permitted and long-established form of Catholic popular piety. The Church has not attached a single universally mandated text to the devotion, so parishes and prayer books vary somewhat in the specific meditations used for each of the fifteen weeks.

Common Misconceptions

“St. Rita is called the Saint of the Impossible because she guarantees miracles.”

The title reflects the kind of seemingly hopeless situations for which she is traditionally invoked — a difficult marriage, family conflict, serious illness — not a guarantee that any specific petition will be granted. Catholic devotion to her, like devotion to any saint, is an act of confident prayer offered to God through her intercession, not a claim on a particular outcome.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why fifteen Thursdays specifically, rather than a shorter novena?

The number is traditionally linked to the years St. Rita is said to have borne the wound resembling the crown of thorns after her intense meditation on Christ’s Passion, giving the devotion both its length and its Passion-centered content.

Can the Fifteen Thursdays be prayed at any time of year?

It can be prayed as a personal devotion at other times, but its traditional and most common use times the fifteenth week to conclude on or near May 22, St. Rita’s feast, which is when parishes and shrines most often celebrate it publicly.

What is St. Rita specifically known for?

She is honored above all as the Saint of the Impossible, invoked in seemingly hopeless situations, and is particularly associated with those enduring a difficult marriage, family strife, or the grief of losing a child, reflecting the hardships her own hagiography describes.

Sources

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