Before 22 May

Nine days for the impossible.

St. Rita of Cascia endured eighteen years of an abusive marriage, lost her husband to a vendetta and her two sons to illness, and was refused entry to the convent three times before being admitted. She is the patroness of impossible causes, of abuse victims, and of difficult marriages.

Prayer for Each Day

O holy patroness of those in need,
St. Rita, so humble, so pure, so devoted in your patience,
so powerful in intercession:

you who in your last sickness bore the wound of Christ's crown of thorns,
obtain for me from the heart of Jesus the favour I ask [name it].

And if it is not granted, obtain for me
the strength you were given to carry what could not be changed,
and the peace you found in carrying it.

St. Rita, advocate of the impossible, pray for us. Amen.

The Roses of Cascia

She asked, on her deathbed in January, for a rose from her family’s garden. Her cousin found one blooming in the snow. Roses are blessed at her shrine on her feast, 22 May, and distributed to pilgrims.

About This Novena

Rita is invoked by women in violent marriages, and it is worth saying plainly: her patronage is not an argument for staying. If you are being harmed, seek help and safety. Rita’s holiness was not in the endurance of cruelty but in what she became despite it.